Fabric bodied on old cars

Hi,

Am being asked at work to explain to the CEO, in german, what fabric bodied means when talking about old cars.

Now I know that this is talking about the old cars from the 1920's and the fabric body that is stretched over a wooden frame...but surely they are only refering to the roof of the car and not the actual body???
oder???

if it's the same as planes, then it is the WHOLE car... over a frame...

Very fucking rare though I should have thought - lemme do a little research, but I was under the impression that most cars were made from steel, even in the 20s, and the VERY early cars didn't have bodies at all. (EDIT: At least not as such).

ahhh think I may be wrong. I found this
1928 18/50 fabric bodied star luna and you can see the body of the car is different to the bonnet which is clearly metal so it would seem the body of the car was made of fabric.

can this really be true??

[img]http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/classic_cars_archive/30_lagonda_2.jpg[/img]

This is a picture of a 1930's Lagonda!
It is described as being "Fabric Bodied" and as you can see the vody of the car is covered in Fabric

A quick look and yes, fabric bodied cars certainly were kicking about post-WWI. Fabric bodied cars were a lot lighter than the more expensive and more desirable metal cars (i.e. cars that had coachwork) - however, I can't find much about the frame of the car, but I doubt wood would have been used - I was under the impression that it was mostly metal that allowed the mass production of cars. Having said that the current Morgan Aero 8 uses a wooden 'chassis' AFAIK.

I think this link will tell you all you need to know
Fabric Body Corp

"Kenneth L. Childs, an ex-textile executive of Standard Textile, hoped to convince Detroit to adopt his own rigid-type fabric body for mass production. In 1923 Childs formed the Fabric Body Corporation in Detroit, intending to sell licenses for bodies paneled in Meritas cloth, a product comparable to Zapon and Rexine and manufactured by Standard Textile.

Childs had been experimenting with. fabric bodies since 1919, first with California-type tops for open touring cars, then closed bodies. In Childs' eyes, fabric was not a substitute for pressed steel, it was a replacement, superior. He backed the outer fabric of his bodies with an expanded metal mesh which gave "fullness" to the material."

All Morgans have the same wooden Chassis

Actually we're both wrong, Rus, the Aero 8 DID use a balsa chassis, but since then they've switched to an aluminium alloy monocoque on the Aero 8 - I think to meet more modern NCAP requirements.

thank you guys!!!

Now I know what exactly it is. Just have to try and explain it in German now

I bloody well hope someones not wanting to rent one of them!

Do you rent classic cars then'?

nope, just your bog standard modern saloon etc.

There are quite a few specialist classic & vintage hire firms out there although I dont think any of them rent anything thats from the 1920s without chauffeur.