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Templewood Engineering Light Alloy car - body partially completed - 1938/9   Templewood Engineering Light Alloy car - body partially completed - 1938/9

Templewood Light Alloy car body under construction, 1938/9  


Two photographs taken at an early stage of the construction of the body of the Templewood Engineering prototype Light Alloy car.  The wheels and registration plate did not belong to the car!  A problem identified at any early stage of design was to find ways of reducing chassis corrosion and erosion from salt, grit and other substances that were laid on the road or naturally found by the seaside - even aluminium and other light alloys can corrode.  The car was due to have rubber suspension, an aluminium sleeve-valve engine and may, in part, have been financed by (Sir) Roy Fedden.  These photographs are believed to have been taken towards the end of 1938 or beginning of 1939.  The project was never completed due to Stewart Tresilian, the company's chief engineer and co-manager, being appointed chief engineer of Armstrong Siddeley in about early June 1939 and, of course, the outbreak of war 3 months later.

Templewood was based on an industrial estate in Slough, just to the west of London.  It was set up by Devereux of High Duty Alloys (itself part of the Hawker Siddeley empire) specifically for Tresilian and Bertelli, formerly of Aston Martin.  It brief was to exploit the non-aero uses of aluminium alloys.  Templewood was, it seems, the first English company to extrude aluminium alloys commercially.  The management arrangement was odd though worked well, as Tresilian was manager "four days a week" and Bertelli, who also had other interests at that time, manager "one day a week"!  Bertelli became 5/5 manager for a while after Tresilian's appointment to ASM, and also worked on a light alloy van.

An article about Templewood Engineering will appear at a later date.  In the meantime, a little further information about Templewood and the car appears in the articles listed below.

The above photographs of the body, taken by Stewart Tresilian, were made available by kind permission of his family.


© 2000 Richard Hodgson (only as to text) - may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission

 

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