John Charles & Co was a British coachbuilding company founded in 1932 and based initially near Kew Gardens, London.
On the collapse of coachbuilders Chalmer & Hoyer two ex-employees John I. Dalrymple and Charles H. Livesay purchased some of the equipment and set up as a new company John Charles & Co[1] at South Avenue, Sandieombe Road, Kew Gardens.
They quickly assembled an impressive range of customers and produced a variety of saloons and open bodies on chassis as varied as the Alvis Speed 20, Ford 8, Lagonda M45, Lagonda Rapier, Morris 10, Singer 9, Wolseley Hornet, Railton and Lancia Dilambda.
In 1934 they moved to larger premises in Brentford, West London and gained orders from Citroën and Crossley Motors.
This design was by Vehicle Developments, a company started by H. W. Allingham who had been a founder of Chalmer & Hoyer.