Abbey Panels Ltd.
Plaque on Jaguar XJ220 Chassis no.1
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| Industry | Automotive and Aerospace |
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| Founded | 1941 |
| Founders | Edward Loades FRSA, Les Bean, Bill Woodhall, and Ernie Wilkinson (Company Secretary) |
| Headquarters | Exhall, Coventry, United Kingdom |
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Key people
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Tony Loades, President Robert Loades, Chairman Aart van der Temple, Director (Netherlands) John Carolan, Engineering Director |
| Products | Coachbuilder |
| Website | www |
Tony Loades, President Robert Loades, Chairman Aart van der Temple, Director (Netherlands)
Abbey Panels Ltd., originally known as The Abbey Panel & Sheet Metal Co. Ltd., was a Warwickshire-based coachbuilding company founded on Abbey Road, Nuneaton in 1941, initially assembling Supermarine Spitfires for the war effort. The early partners were Edward Loades, Les Bean, Bill Woodhall and Ernie Wilkinson. As the business grew they expanded to Old Church Road, Coventry before having their main manufacturing plant on the well known Bayton Road Industrial Estate in Exhall. In 1967, Ted Loades listed the business on the (LSE) and it became known as Loades PLC, with Abbey Panels its main brand, alongside Albany Zinc (castings), Loades Dynamics (machining) and Loades Design (automotive styling) (previously known as Descartes Design). It then went on to be run by Ted's sons.
The company specialised in producing handmade prototype car bodies and did so for many notable car companies including: Jaguar Cars, Bristol Cars, Rover,MG,Lea Francis,, Healey,Rolls Royce,, Buick, and Lincoln amongst others. They fashioned the bodywork of cars such as the Le Mans winning Ford GT40, numerous Jaguars (XK120,C-type,D-type,E-type,XJ13,XJ220,XK180), the original Mark I Land Rover Station Wagon,Jim Clark's Lotus 38 and Stirling Moss's 1957 Pescara Grand Prix winning Vanwall. They also produced many specialist parts for the aerospace industry, particularly Rolls Royce PLC, such as the Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine duct of the Harrier Jump Jet.
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Wikipedia