Lightweight body kit from Rydgeway
Page 43
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A body kit of plastics/aluminium sections produced by Rydgeway Vehicle Mouldings Ltd (Southern Division), Howard Chase, 2nd Industrial Estate. Basildon, Essex, is devised to enable a bodybuilder to complete the assembly ready for the road in 20 hours, using semi-skilled labour. The one-piece roof is the company's recently introduced 2-70 type having moulded reinforced plastics panels with gutter sections based on aluminium roof sticks that are adjustable and have anti-vibration rubber cushioning strips, alloy brackets, alloy longitudinals and alloy edge-capping. Attached to an aluminium framework, the plastics side panels are of the ribbed type, while the floor is a one-piece glass-fibre panel with a patterned non-slip surface that is supported on alloy cross bearers which bolt to chassis connection plates.
The rear opening is closed by an alloy shutter mounted in an aluminium frame. A glass-fibre skirt panel is included in the preassembled rear end and includes rear-light and number-plate recesses together with rear-entry steps. The panels of standard kits are impregnated white; in the case of an order in quantity, the customer can specify the colour he requires. Pilot holes are pre-drilled in the sections, which the bodybuilder opens up by drilling to the standard size for inserting the bolts.
The first bodies to be produced are designed for mounting on Ford Transit and Bedford CF chassis and are available in box-body and Luton form. These bodies weigh less than 6001b and enable the unladen weight of typical 35cwt vehicles to be reduced to less than 30cwt. They have a capacity of approximately 550 cu ft.