Girling vs Woodhead front shocks: Dazed and confused

[bopperd]

I have a headache. Get yourself a cup of tea and a box of Kleenex. This will take awhile.
J30 says the correct front shock for my car, 876024, is a Girling 4173. I can not find this part number on Planet Earth and have given up. The Girling catalog shows the superceded part number as 4298. I located one in New York and one in Wisconsin. They arrived over the last two days. They came in identical Girling boxes, with the number 4298 printed on the end. Both the shocks, however, are stamped P7271M, which is a Woodhead number. One shock has (had) a big, ugly Girling sticker on it that covers the entire top barrel. Both shocks are stamped "Made in England" but neither shock is stamped "Girling" Is it possible that two vendors, on either side of the US, both slipped the same wrong shock in the same right box? What, exactly, do I hold in my hands? Were these manufactured by Girling or Woodhead? I am completely confused.

[Heuer]

About as period correct as you can get and a major player in UK car components. Girling was owned by Lucas and they only dealt in large orders. For "short-orders" they used wholly owned companies (e.g. Butlers who made the early number light housings) or affiliates who were prepared to deal in short runs. Highly likely that by the mid 1970's when demand for E-Type shocks had declined Girling outsourced the work to Woodhead. The shocks would have been made to Girling design and specification however.

Jonas Woodhead & Sons of Kirkstall Road, Leeds 4

Manufacturer of all kinds of ironwork, axles and springs for road vehicles. Later became a leading maker of automobile springs supplying most British car manufacturers. Company was founded in Bradford by Jonas Woodhead.

1861 Employing 5 Men and 4 Boys.
1871 Employing 10 Men and 5 Boys.
1881 Employing 22 Men and 4 Boys.
1892 moved to Leeds.
1920 The business Jonas Woodhead and Sons of Leeds was acquired by A Darracq (1905) Ltd for its automobile springs. The name of the parent company was subsequently changed to S. T. D. Motors Ltd.
1920 Private company incorporated to take over the business of Jonas Woodhead and Sons of Leeds.
1920 Mr Jonas Woodhead, managing director and grandson of the founder, visited America to learn about improvements made by American manufacturers of springs during WW1.
c.1920 the firm concentrated on laminated springs. The whole plant was rebuilt and new machinery installed. The business also extended into railway and tramway springs.
1935 Receivers appointed to S. T. D. Motors Ltd. Disposal of interest in Jonas Woodhead and Sons to Mr A. G. Kyle who sold it on to the bank Erlangers Ltd.
1935 Company made public. Kyle became managing director and Jonas Woodhead was sales manager
1937 Frank Woodhead, brother of Jonas, resigned from the company
1938 Acquired controlling interest in Willford and Co of Sheffield.
1939 Acquired Ibbotson Brothers and Co Ltd of Sheffield; increase in capital to cover the cost.
1944 Advert for trunnion end springs for heavy transport vehicles
1961 Vehicle suspension specialists, producing laminated and coil springs, hydraulic shock absorbers for road and rail vehicles, pressed steel products, fabricated steel work, structural steel work, conveyor idlers and agricultural implements. 2,000 employees.
1963 Motor Show exhibitor. Coil Spring, torsion bars etc. Three companies grouped together are Jonas Woodhead and Sons, Woodhead-Munroe and William E. Cary.
1969 Toledo Woodhead Springs accepted offer from Jonas Woodhead and Sons in preference to lower offer from Armstrong Equipment
1970 Agreement to exchange technical information with Hoesch of Germany which would enable supply of parts to car companies who wanted to manufacture across Europe.
1985 Sale of shock absorber division as Woodhead Manufacturing Co to Helmart




Woodhead made the springs and torsion bars for the E-Type (maybe I should add that info to our Factory Fit thread). Any chance of some photos of the Woodhead shocks and packaging?

[bopperd]

David,

I agree with both you and PhilW that Girling must have purchased P7271M shocks from Woodhead, re-badged them, stuck them in Girling boxes, and sold them as their own. I have spoken with Peter Caldwell from World Wide Auto Parts in Madison, Wisconsin, who restores vintage shocks, and he forwarded me a page from the 1948-1962 Girling catalogue.



Page 88 shows the correct front shock number, 4173, from J30. It also shows the super-ceded part number 4298, starting in 1962. 4173 disappears from the Girling catalog from 1963 forward. I conclude from this that the part number change is an internal Girling decision, and not a specification change mandated by Jaguar. They are the same shock.



The box containing the 4298 I bought from Peter.






The shock inside with the sticker attached.



The shock barrel with the sticker removed.



This shock was clearly manufactured by Woodhead, with their part number P7271M stamped on the barrel. Peter went on to say that he had never seen a Girling hydraulic shock that had not been manufactured by some other company. I think this generality is incorrect, but I wonder how many cars left the factory in 1961 that had some other manufacturers part number lurking underneath a Girling sticker.

[bopperd]

Well, it looks like I screwed that up. The images show up in my browser, but not when embedded in the post. Perhaps someone can tell me where I went wrong. Be gentle. It's my first time.

[Heuer]

Dave

You were almost there! The Dropbox links are valid but you put around them which meant they did not show up as links. If you want to embed photos you need to upload them to Photobucket and cut 'n paste the link here (you have to leave the pictures on Photobucket forever though). I have downloaded your pictures and inserted them at the appropriate points using Photobucket. Thanks for taking the time and the explanation.

[bopperd]

Thanks for straightening this mess out for me. So Dropbox will not work, only Photobucket? I will perform some evil experiments next time I add an image to a post. I used to owe you a bottle of something. I think that has been bumped up to a case.

Dave

[Heuer]

Geo Hahn posted these pictures of his shocks on a 1969 car and said I could post them here:

[David Oslo]

I have to laugh at the double set of Top (& arrow) markings. As if any mechanic would put them on upside down. Seriously....

One does wonder sometimes :D

[bopperd]

I don't remember setting restrictions on this thread limiting participation to only people named David. I'll go back and check..... :)

[David Oslo]

If so, then I would be shocked :D

[aljacobson]

Hello Dave,
I'm replying to an old post of yours from 2014 - hope you're still with us. I purchased the same shocks from Welsh Jaguar of Steubenville, Ohio 3 years ago. Same color as yours with Girling labels. I am going to use them but I am trying to decide what color to paint them. Do I match the color or go with the "grayish" color that everyone talks about? What did you do?

Thanks,
Al Jacobson

[Heuer]

Al

The paint we recommend is BS-633 RAF Blue Grey (BS being a British Standard colour) for the original Girling shock look. Down to you whether you want to paint yours in the period colour or leave them as the later Girling electric blue. In any case you are lucky to have them as Girling no longer make them and Boge, who produced a compatible shock, have ceased production. Only current option is to fit GAZ or Koni, neither of which are a good match to the car.

[bopperd]

Hi Al. Still here. Yes, I repainted my 4298 shocks gray, as David suggested. I managed to find a complete set of original Girling rear shocks for my car, in good condition, but in need of paint. I took one to a local paint shop in Sudbury where they scanned it and made me up two rattle cans of matching paint. If David recommends BS-633, then use it. I defer to a higher power. The original rear shocks, however, were equipped with a Girling label and a "This end up" label also. An excellent reproduction, which I used on my shocks, is available here:

https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/decal-sho ... tr218.html

It is period correct and an exact match.
I am currently vacationing on San Miguel Island in the Azores at the moment, so I don't have access to my usual assortment of restoration photos, and cannot provide a photo of my restored shocks. But you can look at a video I posted which documents the restoration of my rear subframe:

Congratulations on getting those shocks from Dave Welsh. I spent a couple of days in his warehouses sifting through old boxes of parts and half the time he doesn't know what he has.