E. D. Abbott Ltd

Abbott (E D Abbott Limited) was a British coachbuilding company based in Farnham, Surrey.

Edward Dixon Abbott had been employed in the design department of the Wolseley car company before joining the coachbuilders Page and Hunt which had started operations in 1920. Abbott became their London Sales Manager and when Page and Hunt failed in 1929 he took over their Farnham works forming a new company taking his name.

Many of the early orders were for commercial vehicles keeping the new company afloat during the worst of the depression but some car body making continued. From 1931 Abbott took a stand each year at the London Motor Show. Cars fitted with bodies included the Austin 7, Daimlers and Talbots.

The company built a glider called the Farnham Sailplane and in 1931 the company established a subsidiary Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes Ltd to build more sailplanes. The parent company continued to sell and advertise the sailplanes.

In 1934 Abbott got a major contract from Lagonda to provide all the bodies for the new small Rapier and work from Frazer-Nash for coachwork on imported BMW chassis.

During the second world war the company manufactured experimental radar aerials for the Royal Aircraft Establishment.

After World War 2 the company restarted its coachbuilding activities building production runs of coupés for Sunbeam-Talbot and Healey, as well as some special bodies for Jowett, Bentley and Lanchester. Large orders came from Ford for estate car versions of their Consul and Zephyr models which kept the firm in business during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The days of the special coachbuilder were numbered and orders declined through the 1960s and the company finally closed in 1972.

Farnham Estates for Ford

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References

*Walker, Nick. "A-Z of British Coachbuilders", Bay View Books, 1997. ISBN 1-870979-93-1