Thrupp & Maberly

Thrupp & Maberly was a British coachbuilding company based in London. It was formed by a merger in 1858 of the carriage builders Joseph Thrupp, who established his business in George Street (near Portman Square) in 1760, and George Maberly.

From horse drawn carriages they moved into making car bodies in 1896 with an order from the Queen of Spain. More commissions followed and the business grew leading to large numbers of bodies for staff cars being made during World War I.

After the war the company produced a range of bespoke bodies for up-market British and European marques. In 1924 they moved to new premises at 108 Cricklewood Lane, Cricklewood, London but kept a showroom in North Audley Street in the West End of London which in 1925 was bought by the Rootes brothers.

Rather than becoming an in-house coachbuilder for Rootes, Thrupp & Maberly remained a prestige coachbuilder concentrating on luxury bodies for Rolls-Royce, Daimler and Bentley. In 1929 they built the body for Sir Henry Segrave's land speed record car the "Golden Arrow". The Rootes brothers had bought Humber, and with it Hillman, in 1928 and from 1932 some bodies were made for the top of the range Humbers.

Additional premises were obtained in 1936 in the old Darracq works in Warple Way, Acton, London adjacent to a company called British Light Steel Pressings with whom they merged in 1939. During World War II they again built staff cars on Humber chassis.

When peacetime production resumed the Acton works was disposed of and as the market for luxury coachbuilt vehicles was in major decline they concentrated on special bodies for Rootes Group vehicles including making all the open top models. By the mid 1960s this work was declining also and the Cricklewood factory closed in 1967.

References

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

* Coachbuilding in London. Robert Vickers. London's Industrial Archaeology, No. 5, March 1994