Bearing structure for the bodywork of a passenger car

In a front-end bearing structure for a vehicle bodywork comprising a frame structure of bearers which includes a pair of spaced apart longitudinal bearer assemblies disposed along bottom sides of the bodywork, each of said bearer assemblies comprising a longitudinal bearer member, an upstanding, substantially perpendicular support member connected to an upper surface of said longitudinal bearer member for supporting a front suspension strut mount at a height above said longitudinal bearer member, a diagonally-oriented supporting bearer member having a first, lower end portion connected to said longitudinal bearer member and a second, upper end portion connected to said suspension strut mount, said diagonally-oriented supporting member is disposed forwardly of said perpendicular support member, said longitudinal bearer assemblies forming a closed triangular framework, as seen in elevation, the front-end bearing structure further including a pair of generally horizontally-oriented suspension strut bearer members for connecting each of said suspension strut mounts to a respective vertically-oriented and rearwardly disposed side door pillar at an upper region thereof and adjacent a connection point for a roof column member, wherein the improvement comprises in operative combination;

• a) each of said longitudinal bearer members comprises:
• i) a pair of adjoining, axially aligned bearer segments including a first forwardly disposed bearer segment and second rearwardly disposed bearer segment;
• ii) a connector assembly connecting adjoining ends of said first and second bearer segments;
• and
• iii) said connector assembly comprises a pair of half shell portions wherein at least one of said half shell portions is connected to the lower end region of said diagonally-oriented supporting bearer member.