Arnold of Manchester, a northern coachbuilder© Tom C Clarke, UK 2004
Author’s note: this article first appeared in the US Club’s Flying Lady in July/August 2002 p6640-5. In shortened form it appeared in The Automobile December 2004 p40-43 as ‘Cotton-town coachbuilder’ and full length in the Australian Club’s Praeclarum August 2004 p4339-4343 Part 1, October 2004 p4370-4374 Part 2. Finally, a brief Bentley version appeared in the BDC Review no 239 June 2005 p137-142 . During this time more material has come to light and the version seen here reflects this. I began to survey early Manchester coachbuilders to discover which ones Royce could have used (but didn’t) to body his very first cars in 1904. In the event he used a virtually unknown coachbuilder closer to his Hulme works. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see how strong the provincial coachbuilding trade was in Manchester and more individual histories might therefore appear in the future. Tom Clarke
Looking at coachbuilders from a purely Rolls-Royce or Bentley perspective distorts our view of their range and abilities. For smaller coachbuilders, particularly provincial ones, it was not an easy ride as they coped with fluctuating demand and the limited opportunities for experiment or small batch production. The coachbuilder William Arnold provides a good example, a provincial firm which spread its interests to ensure survival. Using its engineering origins as its base it took on motor agencies alongside coachbuilding so that all aspects of the motor trade could be offered within the business. Provincial coachbuilders are not highly rated in general, at least for style although quality was often incredibly high. By looking at Arnold’s work beyond Rolls-Royce and Bentley it will be seen that they could be elegant and adventurous. The firm should not be confused with W. H. Arnold of London who became known for their ‘Eclipse’ hood system. William Thomas Arnold was the founder in the mid 1890s of what would become one of Manchester’s best coachbuilders but his son John William Arnold (1874-1967) was responsible for its rapid growth. His family was linked to Wm Arnold & Sons of 3 Chorlton Terrace in central Manchester, cab proprietors. J William Arnold was a trained wheelwright and served his time at Hoyle’s of Altrincham near Manchester. From before 1902 he operated as a carriagebuilder at 1 & 9 Upper Brook Street, Manchester, and by 1906 was at 105 Upper Brook Street (105A was the Halliday Motor Accessory Manufacturing Co), later extending to 115 at the corner with Dover Street. This was close to the main university. The firm grew quickly and occupied more area around the original premises and showroom. Although not as big as the principal coachbuilder in the city, Cockshoot, about 100 people were eventually employed of whom around ten percent undertook mechanical repairs. The other local coachbuilders – amongst them Knibbs, Newton & Bennett, Davidson at Trafford Park and Crawford’s Motor Body Builders (both for Fords), and Kelly Davies - were of a smaller size. By 1914 Arnold had bodied their first Rolls-Royce, Silver Ghost chassis 31PB. Around 1920 they rebodied 1909 Ghost 1118 for paper manufacturer JB Wrigley of Bury not far away (a buyer of Royce Ltd equipment and always a keen Rolls-Royce owner) and 1911 Ghost 1607 for William Kayley of Manchester. In the early 1920s a small showroom was established in St Ann’s Square, central Manchester although it was given up in the 1930s. The firm was quite early in the bodying of quality cars and W O Bentleys were soon in the showrooms. The first recorded was 3-litre 444, an allweather in January 1924, but an ‘Elysee’ saloon de ville had been at the 1923 Olympia Show on the Arnold stand. At least ten 3-litre, seven 6½-litre, and four 4½-litre cars were bodied. Several Hispano-Suizas and more Rolls-Royces were also bodied. Arnold showed it could move with the times by being the thirteenth British coachbuilder to take a Weymann licence and C T Weymann was pleased to note this in La Vie Automobile for 25 September 1924. Alongside coachbuilding some motor agencies were taken on such as Hispano-Suiza by 1923, Delaunay Belleville by 1924, Minerva by November 1928, Lea-Francis in late 1929 and Ford in May 1931. In this Arnold heyday a talented artist, A Radcliffe, was retained to produce stylish illustrations for quality magazines. In July 1930 the Skipton trailer was being promoted. Clearly Arnold was prepared to widen his range.
In addition to Rolls-Royce and Bentley, bespoke coachwork was fitted to Crossley, Riley, Lanchester, Humber, Standard, Wolseley Hornet, Daimler, Alvis and Sunbeam (at least eight limousines on the latter ca 1932-34 for the local dealer Rosenfield, and others in the 1920s including a twin-cam model for the 1926 Show), generally luxury cars. The figures for Rolls-Royce Ltd. products were at least seven on 1920s Silver Ghosts ( 8GE, 115LG, 8LK, 78NK, 36AU, 59EU and 91EU), twenty-six 20 hp, twenty-seven 20/25 hp, fourteen 25/30 hp, nine Phantom I, three Phantom II, one Phantom III 3BU38 (although this might have been an Arthur Mulliner delivered via Arnold), thirteen 3½-litre Bentley and eight 4¼-litre. The firm displayed at all Olympia and Earl’s Court shows from 1919-38 and often in Scotland as well.
JW Arnold’s son J Allan Armitage Arnold (1906-70s), was educated at Wellington and Malvern Colleges, and Cambridge. As a director in the company he was called the technical adviser in the business but his main interest was pursuing his love of motor sport. Early on he used a Lea-Francis Hyper for sprint work. In December 1936 the Frazer-Nash BMW agency was added to the range and at least two had Arnold bodies. As one might expect, Allan Arnold used a Frazer-Nash at sprint events as well. This was his ‘Terror’ acquired from RGJ Nash (not connected to the car firm). It seems likely that Allan Arnold’s influence can be seen in the choice of German cars for subsequent agencies and in the sporting styles tried by Arnold pre War. Further encouragement for Allan Arnold’s sprint work came from his friend Peter Crummack. The Crummacks, owners of a cloth rubberising business, were good customers for William Arnold cars. Many cups were won at coachwork competitions most notably perhaps at the 1928 Southport Rally with Arnold’s own two-year old 6½-litre Bentley! It is not clear who Arnold’s designer was. William Arnold himself was not a designer and it is thought George Donaldson undertook this task. However, Allan Arnold also had a part in designs from the early 1930s, modifying Standard 9s and 16s into the company’s ‘Arnaulet’ offering. This included replacement radiator, bonnet, and stoneguard to his design. As with all coachbuilders full size layouts were drawn on a wall for measurements and templates to be made. The firm’s ‘Arnaulet’ design was initially a landaulette but developed into a saloon with Pytchley sunroof in later years.
From the early 1930s, when several car makers and coachbuilders experimented with airflow designs, Arnold developed their ‘Slipstream’ and ‘Airline’ saloons. Arnold pursued the type with vigour even though the ‘Airline’ cannot have been to many customers’ taste. (Knibbs & Parkyn in Manchester emulated Arnold’s lead with a close copy on Bentley B141KU.) The notion that these ‘fastback’ designs improved performance is at odds with the frontal resistance of cars in the period. Yet it was only the rear that offered scope to coachbuilders. It is not entirely clear what types ‘Airline’ and ‘Slipstream’ described. For some ‘Airline’ is Arnold’s bulbous airflow type without spare wheel on the rear, and ‘Slipstream’ with the spare wheel. But it seems likely that ‘Airline’ referred to those with and without the rear spare, and ‘Slipstream’ to the subsequent design with a flowing stepped-boot, also with and without boot-mounted spare. These designs shared the same main body tub and, sometimes, front semi-pontoon wings. A shorter swept-tail type with normal wings was also made. From surviving pictures it is clear that at least half of Arnold’s 3½-litre Bentley, and over half of 4¼-litre, were airflow or related types. At least one Alvis Speed 20 was also bodied as a ‘Slipstream’ with boot-mounted spare. A flatter roofline with falling door tops, a bowed-up waist line, large boots, and some convoluted mouldings are other features that make Arnold cars from this period distinctive, if not entirely elegant, compared to their stylish 1920s designs.
 A 1934 Rolls-Royce 20/25 hp, either GAE12 or GRF4 when new, with semi swept-tail and the high waist which Arnold employed.
 1936 Rolls-Royce 20/25 hp GCJ38 photographed new outside Manchester Grammar School. The design has the usual angle to the door tops and, unusually, hidden front but exposed rear hinges. The door bottoms splay out slightly which could be the reason exposed rear hinges were needed.
It was not until February 1937 that the business became a private limited company to take over John William Arnold’s business. (An unresolved claim has it that Cockshoot built the last few bodies for Arnold just before the outbreak of war in 1939. John Norris, who owned Cockshoot, and Arnold were good friends, but in this period Cockshoot was building very few bodies and Norris’s son Brian, 1915-2003, recalled no work done for Arnold.) In these immediate pre-war years the Standard as well as the Hudson agencies were taken on. Former employee Edwin Dunn (1914-2002, retired 30 June 1975) recalled the company for me. He joined in 1928 in the stores section before becoming an apprentice mechanic. Miss Murdoch and Mrs Brown worked as secretaries for the formidable Mr Arnold. Ernest Parker (b 1888, at Royce Ltd 1903-06 on the sales side, then to Wolseley, and Crossley) joined in 1911 and was general manager, becoming a director and company secretary in 1937. His son Geoffrey C Parker was managing director many years later, and his brother J Fred Parker was sales manager and also later a director. Charles L Davies was accountant (and post-war the company secretary, later succeeded by James LE Wright). Jim Briggs was foreman, Ronald Marchant the engineering supervisor 1934-46 (died 2003), and Robert Silcock a tester. On the coachbuilding side Willie McGregor was the foreman maker and Fred Lake, William Cooke, Tommy Cooper, Bill Price, A Bethell (b 1920, served 1935-36), and Fred Mottram were talented panel beaters and coachbuilders. They made wings in 18 gauge steel with splash deflectors sweated into the inside. Frank Braddock, who had won awards from the Institute of British Carriage & Automobile Manufacturers as well as the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers, was an Arnold coachbuilder who began work on his own account after 1945 at 80 Temperance Street in Ardwick. Arnold had begun to move into war work some time before hostilities began. Premises were taken at 23 Upper Brook Street for this work though it was bombed in the Blitz. In August 1943 a government building in Macclesfield Road, Hazel Grove (adjoining the Marcliff Cinema) was bought by Arnold under the Shadow Factory scheme. During the early part of the War the firm did vehicle conversions for civilian emergencies but its main role was in the making of aircraft parts. The Upper Brook Street works had for some time been making parts for Fairey Battle and Halifax aircraft. At Hazel Grove Marchant and Dunn controlled the making of the massive and complex bomb-bay hatches Manchester and Lancaster aircraft, a tribute to the engineering skills a firm such as Arnold could offer.
Dunn worked on all the chassis customers brought in for repair and, post-war, also doubled up as Allan Arnold’s racing mechanic on both his Bugatti type 51 with Wilson pre-selector gearbox (registered GXJ-96, before becoming GP-1000 taken from a Frazer-Nash) and the ‘Terror’ already mentioned.
At the end of the war the Hazel Grove premises were used for about a year to make prefabricated houses for an outside contract and the building was given up before 1950. New but unsold pre-war cars that had been stored around the outskirts of Manchester were recovered, a small amount of coachbuilding was done until 1948, including some Austin buses and double-decker Crossley buses for Manchester City Council (called ‘54s’) but the firm then turned to motor agencies again. In 1946 the agency for the ill-starred Kendall 6 hp car was proclaimed, including on bus tickets! In 1950 Arnold also claimed the Alta agency, reflecting Allan Arnold’s sporting interests. The showroom displayed legendary cars when it could, the ERA in late 1952 and the Mercedes-Benz racers W125 and W163 with their famous transporter in June 1958. For a period the Bradford and Jowett were sold and the Mercedes-Benz and Armstrong Siddeley agencies were acquired. Mechanical repairs were still a large part of the company’s work, particularly on Rolls-Royce and Bentley, and Dunn was sent to Rolls-Royce at Hythe Road for training on the new models. A Silver Ghost had been converted some years before as a tow truck and was used not just for customers’ cars but also for Mr Arnold who seemed to break down a lot in his various Bristols, Lagondas and Mercedes! His long-suffering driver was Jim Bates. In 1953 Dunn was sent to Germany for retraining when the Volkswagen agency was taken on. This became the firm’s staple offering. Arnold himself had lived at ‘The Thatch’, Fallibroome, near Prestbury in Cheshire for many years and survived to a great age. In his later years, still the stern but kindly Victorian, he relied on one of the first motorised wheelchairs to move around his business. He had acquired a 1905 De Dion (not Arnold bodied) during the War and had it restored for display in the showroom. Cups for all the coachwork competitions the company had won were also there but are not now known. He remained managing director of an unrelated company, Lewis Green & Co of London, but his real interest was the rearing of cattle on his smallholding and in his last years he played little part in his old company. The firm stayed under the control of Davies and Parker. In late 1973 the firm moved to new premises in Southmoor Road, Wythenshawe (see Manchester Evening News 26 March 1974 p 13) when the Upper Brook Street premises were compulsorily purchased for redevelopment. About 180 were in the workforce here and in other branches opened around Cheshire. The firm moved to Altrincham in 1975, traded until around 1982 and was dissolved in 1985. As with Cockshoot yet another reputable Manchester engineering and coachwork firm had ceased to be a northern landmark.
(My thanks to Jim Facinelli for spurring on my quest, and to the late Edwin Dunn, Philip Baker, Bill Yarwood, and the late R Marchant for their recollections; Steve Hubbard for Silver Ghost information; John Humphreys for local recollections; and to the late David L Gandhi of Arnside and Ted Richards of Kendal for personal knowledge of Arnold.) |
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