In
1961 the streamlining of resources by Rolls-Royce united two
legendary names in British coachbuliding, HJ Mulliner Ltd
& Park Ward & Co Ltd, both already owned by Rolls-Royce
HJ Mulliner, a member of
a well known family of coach builders, established his company
in Mayfair in 1900. It quickly prospered, concentrating
on the leading makes of chassis, and caught the attention
of CS Rolls, for whose personal use Mulliner built a two
seater roadster on an early Silver Ghost chassis. After
the factory was moved from central London to Chiswick the
business reached such a size before WW1 that Mulliner himself
was able to sell out and retire.
By 1930 HJ Mulliner came to be regarded
as the best of the 'new' firms and was being spoken of in
the same breath as the finest traditional firms such as
Hooper & Barker. Between the wars HJM constructed hundreds
of fine bodies for Rolls-Royce chassis, their 1936-39 razor-edge
saloons and coupes with thin windscreen pillars being unmatched
for elegance and considered the epitome of the pre-war British
style. Bentley was another specialisation, over 240 being
bodied in the 1920s alone.
Throughout the forties and fifties
HJM once again produced superb designs of the highest quality,
including the alltime classic Bentley R Type Continental
2 door sports saloon, and used advanced (for the time) 'stressed
skin' technology to lighten and strengthen its bodies. However,
the market for expensive bespoke bodies was gradually contracting
and the company's eventual purchase by Rolls-Royce in 1959
was probably an attempt to retain the necessary skills in
a declining industry.
While most of the top names in coachbuilding
established themselves in the days of the horse drawn vehicle,
Park Ward was only founded in 1919, with the express purpose
of producing high class coachwork on high class chassis.
It bodied its first Rolls-Royce in 1920 and its first Bentley
in 1923. An already high reputation was growing rapidly,
based on not only the highest quality workmanship, but also
flair for design and innovation. Increasingly the firm was
able to concentrate on two makes of chassis - Rolls-Royce
& Bentley - commissioned by customers who were drawn
by this reputation.
In 1933 Rolls-Royce bought a minority
stake in the business, apparently because it was concerned
about the ability of other coachbuilders to adopt new methods
and wanted its own facility to use as a testbed. Park Ward
continued to expand and experiment and in 1936 patented
the all steel body framework. Eventually it reached "large
scale" production for this type of coachwork; Park
Ward eventually bodied more Derby Bentleys than the next
nine coachbuilders put together, up to eight chassis a week
going through the works. This culminated in the purchase
of Park Ward by Rolls-Royce in 1939.
After the war Park Ward resumed its
intended role as in house supplier of bespoke bodies for
the Rolls-Royce & Bentley marques. There was one interesting
departure in 1958, when Park Ward undertook a contract to
supply bodies for the Alvis TD21 and subsequently the TE21
& TF21 until 1967, when about 1500 bodies had been built.
From 1961 the new
Mulliner Park Ward operation was located at Park Ward's
Willesden premises and, after the phasing out of Silver
Cloud, concentrated on building and trimming the Phantom
V & VI and fitting out the monocoque 2 door saloon &
drophead versions of the Silver Shadow, which later becamethe
long lived Corniche. In 1982 MPW moved to new premises and
transferred all bodywork production and trimming to Crewe,
where the Mulliner Park Ward name now lingers on soley as
the brand name for special fittings for standard bodies.
