Although unconfirmed, a close connection between E.C. Gordon England and Herbert Austin must have developed through their mutual interest in aircraft - the Austin Motor Co had built them during WW1 and Gordon England was an early holder of a flying licence and Gordon England with a career in aviation during the First World War, as an aircraft engineer and test pilot. Hence, when the Austin 7 was announced, Sir Herbert, as he had then become, would have taken advice from England as to the publicity to be gained by racing the car. As a result, the Austin Company designed and produced all the special chassis and engine parts required for the Brooklands, with complete chassis then dispatched from Longbridge to Gordon England to fit the special lightweight bodies, and prepare the finished cars for sale.
The bodies were very special, and based on Gordon England's experience with aircraft construction. In place of the heavy wood and metal used by traditional coachbuilders, GE employed a patented construction method that used plywood stressed-skin panels bonded to light ash frames, in effect, an early form of monocoque. The result was a body up to 100 lbs lighter than the factory steel equivalents.
Both companies advertised the finished cars independently in the motoring press, issued separate sales brochures, and sold them through their own dealerships and agents. In the earliest Gordon England advertisements, the standard Chummy Tourer and Saloon were also listed.
Some parts of the Brooklands, like the oil bottle on the front of the timing chest, were also used on the later Austin-built Supersport, the early Ulsters, and were even retained on the works TT Ulster engines right through to 1932.
In later years, some 35 years after he had anything to do with cars commercially, Gordon England met several Austin Seven enthusiasts and was reported to be a charming man. Showed the remains of a Cup model that was being rebuilt, and the terrible state of its preservation, GE remarked that he was not surprised, as he had never expected them to last long. After GE stopped trading in 1930, the remaining Cup and Stadium bodies were sold off. For more on Gordon England, see: https://gordonenglandregister.wordpress.