The mystery of this car lies not in its chassis, which is a 1936 BG 110, but in its rather
unusual bodywork.
Unusual, firstly because the body isn't quite what it appears to be at first glance (namely,
a 2-seater drophead coupé), but is in fact a very late example of a 2-seater & dickey - a
style one would normally associate with the Vintage period rather than with the lateThirties
in general, and not with an advanced piece of body-design - having no runningboards
- in particular.
And, secondly, because of the somewhat 'peculiar' nature of its alleged makers. The
Bowers note states: "10.8.37 d/h coupé Offord?" - and this very car was indeed on the
Offord stand at the 1936 Olympia Show.
In his "A-Z of British Coachbuilders, 1919-1960" Nick Walker wrote of Offords (inter alia):
"A pronounced change of policy came in 1930. Instead of being a general 'bespoke'
house, albeit of high quality, Offord now sought to produce standard designs on the better
sort of chassis, preferably to be included in the manufacturer's catalogue. The first such
connection, and the longest-running, was with Talbot, whose products appeared on
Offord's Olympia stand every year from 1930 to 1937 (1938 if Sunbeam-Talbot is
included). On this firm's chassis Offord made drophead-coupé, continental tourer and
sports two-seater bodies with attractive lines." (Presumably, the last-mentioned is the car
actually under discussion).
However, the role of general-provider of Talbot drophead bodywork really belonged to the
Carlton Carriage Co., not to Offord & Son, and in ten cases out of ten in the Talbot
production-ledgers, a body described as an "Offord 4-seater coupé" appears in the
Coachbuilder column as 'Carlton'! Moreover, my friend the Rolls-Royce and coachbuilding
Jan/Feb 2005 Page 13
historian Tom Clarke has established with reasonable certainty that, after 1923, Offord no
longer possessed any 'conventional' coachbuilding facilities of their own, and that most if
not all of the later bodies they claimed (on their Motor Show stands) to have built, were
actually built for them by a variety of 'second-tier' London coachbuilders such as Abbey,
Mayfair, and Carlton.
James Fack
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