Private company

Corsica Coachworks

British coachbuilding business

Corsica Coachworks was a small British coachbuilding business founded in 1920 just after World War I. They were builders of bespoke car bodies, employing no in-house designer. They realised customers' designs for them; almost every Corsica body is unique.2 It ceased to exist in 1939.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1920Founded1
  • HeadquartersLondon1
  • Legal formprivate company limited by shares1
1930 Bentley Speed Six by Corsica
Photo: Anton van Luijk, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

Corsica Coachworks was a small British coachbuilding business founded in 1920 just after World War I. They were builders of bespoke car bodies, employing no in-house designer. They realised customers' designs for them; almost every Corsica body is unique.2

The story

Corsica Coachworks was run by Charles Henry Stammers (1884-1945), his brothers-in-law Joseph and Robert Lee, and Albert Wood. The company name referred to the address of its original premises in Corsica Street, Highbury (Islington, North London). After a few years the business relocated further out of town to an alleyway off The Broadway, Cricklewood (Northwest London). Throughout its existence Corsica Coachworks remained small, never employing more than 20 people.

From Wikipedia’s article on Corsica Coachworks, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

Most Corsica bodies were fitted to the more sporting types of car, with bodies produced for Daimler, Bentley, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, British Salmson, Frazer Nash, Humber, Lea-Francis, Rolls-Royce and Wolseley models.

At least 14 Bugatti Type 57s were furnished with Corsica bodies. One of the most notable Corsica bodied Type 57 cars was made using a chassis with parts from a famous Bugatti racing car. Bugatti was known for reusing and re-purposing chassis from their racing cars, then shipping the bare chassis to a customer for a new custom body. The Corsica Bugatti Type 57 Surbaisse 3.3-Litre Four-Seat Sports (1937) was made with an English style sporting body, completely unlike the typical Type 57 sporting bodies from continental European coachbuilders. And the chassis rails have been identified as the very same parts used in a Le Mans Type 57 "Tank" Streamliner.

Just as the business was closed at the beginning of the Second World War, the company completed a Rolls-Royce limousine for Princess Marie Louise "and there may have been a few others like it".

From Wikipedia’s article on Corsica Coachworks, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1939Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1920Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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