Peel Coachworks Kingston-upon-Thames 1950s

In 2020 I was informed that car restorer, Bushells Restoration of Barham, near Canterbury, Kent had a very attractive body shell awaiting restoration in a corner of their workshop. The name of the car to which this bodyshell belonged was a Sheen-Peel. I had never heard of it but further investigations revealed that it used a Hillman Imp engine and running gear. However, the most interesting part of that research was the discovery of what lay behind the Peel part of the car’s name.

First of all, I came across the ‘imps4ever’ website which has a page dedicated to the Sheen Imperator GTS, to give the car its proper name. The information told me that the car had been sketched out by a Peter Sheen who was a wine importer based in Surrey. Peter must have also been a car enthusiast to have come up with this attractive concept. He took his sketch to a local, to him, sheet metal company, Robert Peel Sheet Metal Works, who specialised in making car bodies. They quickly converted Peter’s sketch into an attractive body shell. It is believed that two shells were made and built up into Sheen Imperator GTS cars. Sheen had ideas of producing limited runs of these cars but to do that he needed to buy engines and other parts from Rootes at advantageous prices. After initially showing some interest Rootes decided not to follow through, thus the project died. Both cars survive, one running to the best of our knowledge and the other in bits awaiting restoration at Bushells.

For me, this was only the beginning of an even more fascinating story which has particular resonance for Austin Healey enthusiasts. It is the story of the ‘Peel Coachworks‘, as far as it goes, by that I mean, ideally, much more information is required. It was only a small company that had a relatively short life, so, company records would be very limited in the first place and the likelihood of them being archived, either by local libraries or families of the two owners, is pretty unlikely. Nevertheless, it would be an interesting challenge for someone who lives in the Kingston-upon-Thames area to try to find out more about the company. Maybe such research will develop from the restoration of the Sheen Imperator GTS. by Bushells, that has been the inspiration for this post.

The Robert Peel Sheet Metal Works was established at 50, High St. Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, by Alec Goldie and Fred Faulkner, in the late 1940s, early 50s. It took its name from the nearby public house the ‘Sir Robert Peel’ (named after the British statesman who introduced a police force to the streets of London in 1829); neither business or original premises are extant. Alec and Fred met during WWII when they were both working for Hawker Siddeley, based at Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey. This was the location of one of England’s first airfields as well as the famous, banked oval, motor racing circuit. Before the war, Fred had been a foreman panel beater at the nearby AC Car company. In 1954 AC launched the Ace ‘open top’ sportscar which was the basis of Carol Shelby’s Cobra.

Maybe it was always their intent to concentrate on car bodywork, influenced by Fred’s work with AC: In any case, they soon developed a reputation as the “go-to” guys for bespoke car bodywork. It was a case of, present your desired car shape, either on the back of the proverbial envelope or, via a carefully crafted orthographic drawing and it would see the light of day in a very short while, made to a very high standard to boot.

The ‘Peel Coachworks’, as it became known to its customers, found that it was being asked to produce some very exotic sports racing cars, sports cars, GTs and sports saloons. Their work was very similar to that undertaken by the larger and better known company, ‘Williams & Pritchard’ of First Avenue, Edmonton, London N18. Here are some examples of Peel’s work –

Robert Peel Sheet Metal Works Business Card

Sheen Imperator GTS

Sheen Imperator GTS rear three-quarter view.

Sheen Imperator, Front View, during one of its previous restorations.

McLaren M1 A – The first car to carry the McLaren name, styled by Tony Hilder who also later styled the Piper range of cars. Before working with Mclaren Hilder had worked for Specialised Mouldings which, at the time, was renowned for the plastic (fibreglass) moulded bodies it produced for single-seater and sports racing cars. The Lola T70 was one such car.

Bruce McLaren (1st L.H.) with model of his MIA sports racing car. These three photos are courtesy of the GP Library.

McLaren M1 A unpainted with Oldsmobile 3.9Ltr. V8. Later stretched to 4.3Ltr. by Traco Engineering of California.

ParSon MG

1955 ParSon MG. .’ParSon’ stands for the father and son who commissioned the car. They ran a company called WeldanGrind, by coincidence, located at Parsons Green, a district of Fulham, London. Photograph, 2013 Goodwood Revival, courtesy Jane Sanders

ParSon Maserati 150 S

Frazer Nash Continental

1957 Frazer Nash Continental Sales leaflet

Unipower GT

1966 Unipower GT (Rear-mounted Mini engine)

Jaguar XK 150 Estate

1967 Jaguar XK 150 Estate

WSM Cars

WSM stands for (Douglas) Wilson-Spratt and (Jim) McManus who introduced their first car in October 1962. It was based upon an AH Sprite (see below).

WSM MG 1100

WSM AH Sprite Coupe

Paul Woolmer’s Peel Coachworks bodied Austin Healey Sebring Sprite. Photographed by the author at the Classic Car & Restoration Show, Birmingham NEC March 2025.