21-03-2020, 04:56 PM
(This post was last modified: 21-03-2020, 05:19 PM by Henry Harris.)
I've always thought that the 1928 Ford Model A Tudor might have provided inspiration for the steel R L, M, N, P.
Didn't Herbert Austin visit the Ford River Rouge plant in 1928?
This is a Budd prototype all steel Model A which is similar to the Austin Budd in detail. The Budd design claims to be all all steel, whereas the Ford Tudor and Austin 7 steel saloons used rudimentary wooden framework.
Screenshot 2020-03-21 at 15.33.26.png (Size: 1.04 MB / Downloads: 288)
and an interesting article, https://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/th...d-model-a/
Bob Cunningham has just posted again on Facebook...
MORE ABOUT BUDD AND THE MYSTERY AUSTIN 7
Herbert Austin hoped to enter into negotiations with a person or firm willing and able to manufacture and market the Seven under license in the United States and Canada. To that end, he displayed four of his Sevens at the 1929 New York Auto Show. At that time, no automobiles of less than one ton were built for sale in North America, and the public was enthralled by his well-built little cars.
Within six months, the American Austin Car Company was established and a contingent of businessmen from Butler, Pennsylvania, had finalized a manufacturing agreement and royalty arrangements with Austin Motor Works. Since European styling was considered outdated and too conservative for American tastes, Austin solicited design concepts from American coachbuilding firms. Exactly how many firms submitted designs is unclear, but two finalists emerged: Amos Northup, of the Murray Body Company, and Russian Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, of the Hayes Body Company.
Both designers submitted concepts based on the two-passenger, wide-door Austin Seven Type B Coupe, with body lines adapted to American tastes. American Austin’s board of directors chose the de Sakhnoffsky proposal, which featured cars of somewhat fuller outlines when compared to Northup’s versions. Hayes was instructed to begin tooling up for production at its plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The first American Austin car body shells were delivered from Hayes to the Austin plant in Pennsylvania for final assembly and delivery in July 1930. In October, Mifflinburg Body Works, of Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, also participated by supplying panel truck bodies.
To date, no record has emerged of Budd submitting American Austin design proposals, either on paper or as a rolling prototype. But that’s not to say it couldn’t have happened. Since 1912, Edward Gowan Budd’s specialty had been stamping all-steel automobile bodies at a time when others in the industry were still tacking metal skins to wooden skeletons. The firm’s enormous machines were capable of stamping the entire side of a full-size, four-door sedan from a single sheet of steel and Budd often built prototypes on pure speculation. He believed that clients were more apt to place sizeable orders if they could actually see and sit in finished concept cars.
As a result, creative, one-of-a-kind Budd bodies were routinely fashioned in an attempt to land contracts. Over the years, Budd had presented unrequested prototypes to Hupmobile, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Overland, Oakland, Plymouth, Dodge, Reo, Ford and other large manufacturers. A few of the projects produced orders, and Budd expanded his Philadelphia plant during the mid-1920s to accommodate the manufacture of the first mass-produced “monopiece” auto bodies, the Victory Six, for Dodge Brothers. By 1929, the firm was churning out thousands of Ford Model A panel truck bodies and pickup beds while crafting a few dozen elegant, low-slung Ruxton shells.
In Germany, Budd partnered with Arthur Müller to set up a steel pressing plant called Ambi Budd Presswerke, which stamped a small number of bodies for the Austin Seven chassis, although they carried a design that was different than the one pictured here, which was photographed on May 2, 1930.
The four images I have of this car have no accompanying text. So if anyone has additional information about this particular Budd-built Austin Seven, I would love to hear about it!
Didn't Herbert Austin visit the Ford River Rouge plant in 1928?
This is a Budd prototype all steel Model A which is similar to the Austin Budd in detail. The Budd design claims to be all all steel, whereas the Ford Tudor and Austin 7 steel saloons used rudimentary wooden framework.
Screenshot 2020-03-21 at 15.33.26.png (Size: 1.04 MB / Downloads: 288)
and an interesting article, https://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/th...d-model-a/
Bob Cunningham has just posted again on Facebook...
MORE ABOUT BUDD AND THE MYSTERY AUSTIN 7
Herbert Austin hoped to enter into negotiations with a person or firm willing and able to manufacture and market the Seven under license in the United States and Canada. To that end, he displayed four of his Sevens at the 1929 New York Auto Show. At that time, no automobiles of less than one ton were built for sale in North America, and the public was enthralled by his well-built little cars.
Within six months, the American Austin Car Company was established and a contingent of businessmen from Butler, Pennsylvania, had finalized a manufacturing agreement and royalty arrangements with Austin Motor Works. Since European styling was considered outdated and too conservative for American tastes, Austin solicited design concepts from American coachbuilding firms. Exactly how many firms submitted designs is unclear, but two finalists emerged: Amos Northup, of the Murray Body Company, and Russian Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, of the Hayes Body Company.
Both designers submitted concepts based on the two-passenger, wide-door Austin Seven Type B Coupe, with body lines adapted to American tastes. American Austin’s board of directors chose the de Sakhnoffsky proposal, which featured cars of somewhat fuller outlines when compared to Northup’s versions. Hayes was instructed to begin tooling up for production at its plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The first American Austin car body shells were delivered from Hayes to the Austin plant in Pennsylvania for final assembly and delivery in July 1930. In October, Mifflinburg Body Works, of Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, also participated by supplying panel truck bodies.
To date, no record has emerged of Budd submitting American Austin design proposals, either on paper or as a rolling prototype. But that’s not to say it couldn’t have happened. Since 1912, Edward Gowan Budd’s specialty had been stamping all-steel automobile bodies at a time when others in the industry were still tacking metal skins to wooden skeletons. The firm’s enormous machines were capable of stamping the entire side of a full-size, four-door sedan from a single sheet of steel and Budd often built prototypes on pure speculation. He believed that clients were more apt to place sizeable orders if they could actually see and sit in finished concept cars.
As a result, creative, one-of-a-kind Budd bodies were routinely fashioned in an attempt to land contracts. Over the years, Budd had presented unrequested prototypes to Hupmobile, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Overland, Oakland, Plymouth, Dodge, Reo, Ford and other large manufacturers. A few of the projects produced orders, and Budd expanded his Philadelphia plant during the mid-1920s to accommodate the manufacture of the first mass-produced “monopiece” auto bodies, the Victory Six, for Dodge Brothers. By 1929, the firm was churning out thousands of Ford Model A panel truck bodies and pickup beds while crafting a few dozen elegant, low-slung Ruxton shells.
In Germany, Budd partnered with Arthur Müller to set up a steel pressing plant called Ambi Budd Presswerke, which stamped a small number of bodies for the Austin Seven chassis, although they carried a design that was different than the one pictured here, which was photographed on May 2, 1930.
The four images I have of this car have no accompanying text. So if anyone has additional information about this particular Budd-built Austin Seven, I would love to hear about it!