Ambi Budd
Encyclopedia
Ambi Budd was a company founded by Edward Gowen Budd in Philadelphia, USA. Budd studied at the University of Pennsylvania
and his first work was at a company making automobile wheels from pressed steel rather than by casting. Steel-shaping technology progressed rapidly at the time and soon the company also made parts like doors and front walls in pressed steel. In 1912, Budd started his own company after he found out how to make complex shaped parts in pressed steel. The company's chief engineer was Joseph Ledwinka
, a relative of Hans Ledwinka
. The company managed to land several large orders like an all-steel body for Buick
and 2000 Oakland superstructures. Later Budd also made bodies for Cadillac
, Chrysler
, Delage
, Citroën
, Mercedes
, Morris
and Nash
as well as the doors of the Ford Model T
. In 1916 Budd also started the Budd Wheel Company making wheels for Dodge
. In 1935 they made ventilated disc brakes, first for racing, but later also for passenger cars.
Due to the high demand of parts for Ford Model T and A, the company started another factory in Detroit in 1925.
Louis Renault
used Budd patents in France, but was sued in Germany and was forced to pay royalties. Other license users were Peugeot
, Simca
, Tatra, Austin
, and Fiat
.
In 1925, William Morris
visited the Budd factory and when he returned home he started the Pressed Steel Company
in Coventry
. In Germany, Budd worked with Arthur Müller and set up a steel pressing plant in the old Rumpler
factory and quickly became the leading supplier of pressed-steel components. That Budd owned 26% of the Adler
stock and they were located next door to the German assembly plant for Chrysler probably helped.http://www.kabriolett.com/karmann/history/history.htm Budd also supplied bodies for early BMW
s as well as German Fords. In 1943, the company had to move production underground due to bomb attacks from the allied air forces. They also made parts for the Focke Wulf fighters. They also made bodies for the Volkswagen Kübelwagen
and Schwimmwagen
. The Berlin plants were completely destroyed by bombing during WW2. After the war, the Budd plant ended up in the Soviet sector. The machines and tools were dismantled and most of them shipped to the Soviet Union
. In the USA, Budd made shell and bomb casings and helmets during the war.
In 1962 they made a prototype called XR-400
powered by a 270 hp V8 engine
. However the design was rejected by AMC
.
The company merged with Thyssen AG
and Krupp AG in 1999 becoming a part of ThyssenKrupp
.
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
and his first work was at a company making automobile wheels from pressed steel rather than by casting. Steel-shaping technology progressed rapidly at the time and soon the company also made parts like doors and front walls in pressed steel. In 1912, Budd started his own company after he found out how to make complex shaped parts in pressed steel. The company's chief engineer was Joseph Ledwinka
Joseph Ledwinka
Joseph Ledwinka, December 14, 1869 – November 26, 1949 was an automobile engineer.Ledwinka, a distant relative of Hans Ledwinka, was born in Vienna, and emigrated to the United States in 1896 and was employed in his first job as carriage trimmer at the Chicago Coach and Carriage Company where he...
, a relative of Hans Ledwinka
Hans Ledwinka
Hans Ledwinka was an Austrian automobile designer.- Youth :Ledwinka was born was born in Klosterneuburg , near Vienna, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire....
. The company managed to land several large orders like an all-steel body for Buick
Buick
Buick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...
and 2000 Oakland superstructures. Later Budd also made bodies for Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
, Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
, Delage
Delage
Delage was a French luxury automobile and racecar company founded in 1905 by Louis Delage in Levallois-Perret near Paris; it was acquired by Delahaye in 1935 and ceased operation in 1953.-History:...
, Citroën
Citroën
Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...
, Mercedes
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
, Morris
Morris Motor Company
The Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque...
and Nash
Nash Motors
Also see: Kelvinator and American Motors CorporationNash Motors was an automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the United States from 1916 to 1938. From 1938 to 1954, Nash was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation...
as well as the doors of the Ford Model T
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to May 1927...
. In 1916 Budd also started the Budd Wheel Company making wheels for Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
. In 1935 they made ventilated disc brakes, first for racing, but later also for passenger cars.
Due to the high demand of parts for Ford Model T and A, the company started another factory in Detroit in 1925.
Louis Renault
Louis Renault (industrialist)
Louis Renault was a French industrialist, one of the founders of Renault and a pioneer of the automobile industry....
used Budd patents in France, but was sued in Germany and was forced to pay royalties. Other license users were Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
, Simca
Simca
Simca was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat. It was directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by the Italian Henri Théodore Pigozzi...
, Tatra, Austin
Austin Motor Company
The Austin Motor Company was a British manufacturer of automobiles. The company was founded in 1905 and merged in 1952 into the British Motor Corporation Ltd. The marque Austin was used until 1987...
, and Fiat
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
.
In 1925, William Morris
William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield
William Richard Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield GBE, CH , known as Sir William Morris, Bt, between 1929 and 1934 and as The Lord Nuffield between 1934 and 1938, was a British motor manufacturer and philanthropist...
visited the Budd factory and when he returned home he started the Pressed Steel Company
Pressed Steel Company
The Pressed Steel Company Limited was a British car body manufacturing company founded at Cowley near Oxford in 1926 as a joint venture between William Morris, the Budd Corporation and an American bank. Today at what was the company's Cowley plant, the BMW new MINI is assembled, this site is...
in Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
. In Germany, Budd worked with Arthur Müller and set up a steel pressing plant in the old Rumpler
Rumpler
The Rumpler Tropfenwagen was a car developed by Austrian engineer Edmund Rumpler.Rumpler, born in Vienna, was a designer of aircraft when on the 1921's Berlin car show he introduced the Tropfenwagen. It was to be the first streamlined car . The Rumpler had a Cw-value of only 0.28...
factory and quickly became the leading supplier of pressed-steel components. That Budd owned 26% of the Adler
Adler (automobile)
Adler was a German automobile and motorcycle manufacturer from 1900 until 1957. Adler is German for eagle.-History:The Adler factory produced bicycles, typewriters, and motorcycles in addition to cars...
stock and they were located next door to the German assembly plant for Chrysler probably helped.http://www.kabriolett.com/karmann/history/history.htm Budd also supplied bodies for early BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
s as well as German Fords. In 1943, the company had to move production underground due to bomb attacks from the allied air forces. They also made parts for the Focke Wulf fighters. They also made bodies for the Volkswagen Kübelwagen
Volkswagen Kübelwagen
The Volkswagen Kübelwagen was a military vehicle designed by Ferdinand Porsche and built by Volkswagen during World War II for use by the German military...
and Schwimmwagen
Volkswagen Schwimmwagen
The VW Type 128 and 166 Schwimmwagen were amphibious four-wheel drive off-roaders, used extensively by the German Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the Second World War...
. The Berlin plants were completely destroyed by bombing during WW2. After the war, the Budd plant ended up in the Soviet sector. The machines and tools were dismantled and most of them shipped to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. In the USA, Budd made shell and bomb casings and helmets during the war.
In 1962 they made a prototype called XR-400
XR-400
The XR-400 was a fully operational concept car. A "sporty" youth-oriented convertible was built in 1962 by the Budd Company, an independent body builder in Detroit, Michigan, for evaluation by the fourth largest U.S...
powered by a 270 hp V8 engine
V8 engine
A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....
. However the design was rejected by AMC
American Motors
American Motors Corporation was an American automobile company formed by the 1954 merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.George W...
.
The company merged with Thyssen AG
Thyssen AG
Thyssen was a major German steel producer founded by August Thyssen. After over 100 years of existence the company merged with Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp to form ThyssenKrupp in 1999.-History:...
and Krupp AG in 1999 becoming a part of ThyssenKrupp
ThyssenKrupp
ThyssenKrupp AG is a German multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Duisburg Essen, Germany. The corporation consists of 670 companies worldwide. While ThyssenKrupp is one of the world's largest steel producers, the company also provides components and systems for the automotive...
.