FLM Panelcraft
FLM (Panelcraft) Limited was a small coachbuilding firm in Battersea, London which, in addition to other work, specialized in converting saloon cars to estate cars or convertibles. FLM also did major restoration of valuable old cars and design and build work under contract for more famous coachbuilders whose name appeared on the finished product.
01Founders
Founded in the early 1950s by former staff of James Young, Corsica and Alpe & Saunders, the initials stood for H.S. (Nobby) Fry, Robert (Dick) Lee (founders) and W. McNally. They were joined by J.R. (Jack) Stammers from Corsica, nephew of Robert Lee.
02Production
FLM provided bodies for Healey and HWM cars. Their most famous products were their series of bespoke "taxis" on Austin taxicab chassis for Nubar Gulbenkian and their Aston Martin estate cars.
Much of their later work was on Rovers. They lengthened the first 2-door Range Rovers 10 inches (25 cm) and converted them to 4-door cars, a body style not available from the factory until 1981. They also built other special variations to Range Rovers, including six-wheeled eight-seaters, open top versions, and they built estate car versions of the Rover 3500.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “FLM Panelcraft”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Crayford-W115.jpg by Christian Dannert at de.wikipedia, Public domain
- Rover 3500 Estate rear.jpg by Redsimon, CC BY 3.0
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