RS Panels - Panel Craftsmanship

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Panel Craftsmanship

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James Smith hopes to race this E-Type which is equipped with a working Lucas fuel injection system

Word spread quickly that RS Panels were producing some of the best work around and apart from the Aston Martin work, Bob got involved with Jaguar E-Types. They had only been around for a few years at the time, but things get bent and need repairing. “This was about thirty-five years ago and the next phase of the business was starting the sheet metal work side. Making body panels, up to that point I had not got involved in that.” The first body panels they were commissioned to do was the Lister, they made a complete bodyshell. Bob recalls, “The first body jigs that we made were for XK wings and also the Lister. Because of the work that was now coming in I decided I needed to get more workers in as panel beaters. The first person was someone I had worked with when I was an apprentice and he wanted an incentive to join me. So I set up another business; we had RS Panels so to distinguish the new Company I called it RS SVV, which stood for Sports, Veteran and Vintage. This was in partnership and separate from RS Panels. My son James now uses RS SVV.”

Jaguar XK engine, as fitted to E-Types at RS Panels

More metal work came in and Bob began taking on more staff to deal with the panel work. Bob acquired another building in the brickyard to accommodate the extra work, but even this was not enough and he looked around forlarger premises. “I had an uncle who was in Hinckley, a few miles from Nuneaton and he had a business where he had just moved out to take arger premises and he owned the unit. It was about 5,000 square feet, and I moved the sheet metal side into that, leaving the crash repair work where it was.”

Business continued to expand and then Bob was awarded a major contract that gave RS Panels a new profile. “We started to build Jaguar D replicas for Lynx. The first body was built by Jensen, they also built the body jig. Lynx came to me as they had seen one of the Lister bodies we had made in bare metal. The body that Jensen had made was really not that good, they had made a cracking job of the jig, but their metal work was really not up to scratch. We spent a bit of time tidying it up and then carried on with the production. I think we made about 25, all the production until about 1982 when production stopped.”

JS Panel's Craftsmen at work RS Panels did not just make replica D-Types, they also worked on the genuine article. “We were also involved in quite a few original cars because Lynx were getting original D-Types to rebuild and needed body repair work. So we actually built quite a few bodies for them, those that been crashed. We were given the monocoque that we took apart and used what we could, sometimes a tail or a bonnet was required. Any D that was going through Lynx that needed body work was done by us.

“We were involved with all sorts of things, I remember we did an Aston Zagato and we did a couple of DB3Ss and that sort of thing. The business had grown and we took on extra staff, but I was running two businesses four miles apart. It worked out alright, but by about 1980, I thought we should have both businesses under one roof.” Bob began to look around for premises large enough to accommodate the workforce that he could rent. However, when he costed it out, he realised that paying rent was not the answer, he needed to own his building outright.

Jaguar Shell “I worked on the basis that if I could get a loan from the bank and build my own premises and not be paying them back any more than I would in rent, then I’m on a winner. It made sense, even though I committed myself to the bank, at the end of it I would have something.” Bob looked around and found a plot of land in Nuneaton which was owned by the local County Council. They agreed to sell it and he set about contracting the construction out, but organising the interior layout as he wanted it. “It is split into two equal parts, 5,500 square feet in each. One part is the sheet metal side and the other is the paint and restoration side. We have a showroom and above it is a work area. I wanted to have a frontage rather than just a wall.”

RS Panels had a full order book when they moved and a staff of twenty-two skilled workers.They took on work from all quarters, some more interesting than others. Bob remembers with affection the late Bob Jankel. “He had ideas that did not always progress further than a prototype. We converted a Jaguar XJ40 into a two-door Coupé; he was going to offer that as a small production run, but after the prototype left here nothing more was heard. We also began a conversion of an E Class Mercedes into a six-door limousine, that too was not progressed before Bob’s death.”

Good view of a Low-drag coupé and Lightweight E-Type in the bodyshop

It is for his Jaguars that Bob is probably bestknown. Over the years, apart from the D-Type, RS Panels have made bodies for the C-Type, XK-SS and Lightweight E-Type. RS Panels has also made complete Jaguar XK 120 ash frames and bodies for restoration projects. “We have made other bodies, such as the Ferrari GTO, Testa Rossa and 250 Pontoon among others. I think we have made as many Ferrari bodies as we have Jaguar bodies. We make all the jigs ourselves and they are accurate. A panel from us will fit a genuine car without modification.” In fact the quality that RS produces far outstrips the originals in many cases. This is to be expected; many cars from the 1950s and 1960s would not have had such time and effort lavished on them as the craftsmen at RS do. Bob has been fortunate with his workforce; they are dedicated and will work on a project for as long as it takes. There is also enormous pride in the work that RS engineers and metal workers turn out, they really care about what they are doing and delight in the finished product. Proof that they enjoy working for Bob is evident, as he remarked, “I give gold watches out for twenty-five years service and I have given five so far. We must be doing something right.”

Jaguar Shell Bob’s son James has taken on much of the mantle at RS, but Bob shows no signs of retiring, as he puts it, “I take it slightly easier now” but he is still in at eight in the morning and works until six. Nearly complete is Bob’s project for himself, asuperb E-Type Coupé, with custom-built air conditioning and a five-speed transmission.

Bob has lost none of his enthusiasm for the business he started in 1964, he relishes being around cars and likes nothing better than talking about them, when he is not working on them that is! His son has inherited father’s enthusiasm and is preparing a Lightweight E-Type – made by RS – for racing in 2007.

It is heartening to visit a family enterprise that takes such pride in their work and enjoy the respect and patronage of almost all the important classic car collectors in the world. Next time you look at a Jaguar that has been restored, chances are that RS Panels provided the bodywork and maybe the mechanical elements also.

RS Panel's 40th Anniversary commemorative painting

To celebrate forty years in the business, Bob commissioned this painting showing some of the RS cars

This article first appeared in issue number 30 of the Jaguar Heritage Archive magazine, 2006, and is reprinted here with the kind permission of Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, and Francois Prins, Editor of Jaguar Heritage Archive. (Photos:François Prins)

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