Frank Gerald Feeley was born on 16 January 1912 in Staines upon Thames, Middlesex to Jeremiah Feeley who worked for Lagonda. Frank Feeley is probably best known for his work at AML during the David Brown years. He designed the DB1 and the racers that morphed into the DB2 and later DB2/4. His gently flowing designs would no doubt be an inspiration for the Jaguar E Type FHC, particularly the DB2/4 with its hatchback much copied by generations of subsequent cars.
The hatchback was a brainwave of Frank’s when he decided to make the larger rear window of the DB2/4 into an opening door with a frame, which would make luggage access so much easier. His design predates what is considered the first hatchback, the Austin A40, by some six years (the A40 being designed by the Italian company of Pininfarina). Whilst Mulliners built the body for the DB2/4, with panel work contracted out to Airflow Streamlines of Northampton, they had no input on the design other than to suggest that the sill and the A and B posts be an aluminium casting rather than steel. Although Frank left Aston in 1956, the new grill of the DB Mk III was his handiwork - no doubt based on the DB3S.
Frank joined Lagonda straight from school as an office boy working under Arthur Thatcher, the works manager responsible for the coachwork section of Lagonda. He later worked under Lagonda’s coachwork designer Walter Buckingham. Frank’s first complete design was the 4-seat Lagonda Rapier in 1933, no doubt under the watchful eye of Walter Buckingham since Frank was only 21 years of age at the time. That car became Lagonda’s demonstrator.
Within a couple of years of that first complete car design, Lagonda were in financial difficulties and the receiver was called in. Frank left to join the coachwork company Newns in Thames Ditton. Newns traded as Eagle Coachworks and one of Frank’s first jobs for Eagle was designing a body for Sir Malcom Campbell’s tuned Lagonda Rapier. Sir Malcolm incidentally was the first owner of an early Aston Martin 1.5 litre Le Mans painted in his Bluebird colour.
As an interesting aside, I had a very slight involvement in obtaining the handbook for this car. I was staying at Burford in the Cotswolds with my Aston and two chaps who were on a cycling holiday stayed at the same pub. One of them was Phillip Haslem who had recently purchased the Sir Malcolm Aston Le Mans and we were to meet again in a few months, being entered in the same rally through Europe starting in Brussels.
Meanwhile, the original handbook for the car came up on eBay and sadly I missed buying it and presenting it to Philip when we next met. I did keep all the details of the auction and pass them on to Phillip, who subsequently bought the handbook and reunited it with the car. At the time of writing the car is for sale again, no doubt with its owner’s handbook. Phillip kindly wrote an article about buying the handbook in AM Quarterly Winter 2002/03.
Frank returned to Lagonda in 1937 when they were bought out of receivership. He went on to design the Lagonda LG45 Rapide, which I had the privilege of driving many years ago when one was owned by a friend. Even more exotic was the V12 Lagonda, which Frank went on to design bodywork for in various guises, from humble saloon to Le Mans racer. Frank stayed with Lagonda until just prior to its purchase by David Brown in 1947. David Brown’s appearance was a stroke of luck for Frank since he had been made redundant by the company just a few months before its sale and Brown re-employed him. His early days under the new regime were somewhat depressing with little work to do. In fact he handed his notice in to go and work for Jack Barclay. It was only David Brown’s intervention that persuaded him to stay. Frank said that Brown made quick decisions with no dallying about, in stark contrast to the previous management. Whilst David Brown was running a huge engineering empire, he still had much to learn about car production and in this respect, Frank was an asset.
Frank’s first design of this era was the DB1 - David Brown insisted upon an open design which completely went against Claude Hill’s advice, Claude being the engineering brains behind the car. Feeley’s coachwork design for the car was extremely advanced for its time and stood comparison with the other famous sportscar of the day, the Jaguar XK120. Prior to the DB1, Frank had visited many of the Italian carrouserie and there is no doubt that this inspired him. His flowing Aston designs which had their early incarnations with those V12 racers bore fruit in Aston designs from 1947-57.
Frank left Aston in 1956 when Feltham was closed, with the whole coachwork operation and car completion moved to Tickford at Newport Pagnell. Chassis and engines, of course, were still produced at Farsley in Yorkshire. Frank then went to work in the aerospace business and continued to live in Staines until his death in August 1985.