Fisher and Ludlow

Last updated

Fisher and Ludlow was a British car body manufacturing company based in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham.

United Kingdom Country in Europe

The United Kingdom, officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but more commonly known as the UK or informally as Britain, is a sovereign country lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi), the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world. It is also the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.

Castle Bromwich suburb situated within Solihull in the English county of the West Midlands

Castle Bromwich is a suburb of Birmingham situated within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English county of the West Midlands. It is bordered by the rest of the borough to the south east, North Warwickshire to the east and north east; also Shard End to the south west, Castle Vale, Erdington and Minworth to the north and Hodge Hill to the west – all areas of the City of Birmingham. It constitutes a civil parish, which had a population of 11,857 according to the 2001 census, falling to 11,217 at the 2011 census.

Birmingham City in the English Midlands, 2nd highest population of UK cities

Birmingham is the second-most populous city in the United Kingdom, after London, and the most populous city in the English Midlands. With an estimated population of 1,137,100 as of 2017, Birmingham is the cultural, social, financial and commercial centre of the Midlands. It is the main centre of the West Midlands conurbation, which is the third most populated urban area in the United Kingdom, with a population in 2011 of 2,440,986. The wider Birmingham metropolitan area is the second largest in the United Kingdom with a population of over 3.7 million. Birmingham is frequently referred to as the United Kingdom's "second city".

Contents

Operation

A high volume operation, Fisher and Ludlow built finished and trimmed car bodies which were then trucked to the "manufacturer"'s works to be fitted with all the mechanicals.

Ownership

It was acquired by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1953. After the merger of BMC and Pressed Steel Company (PSC) in 1966, and the formation of the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) in 1968, the Fisher & Ludlow business was merged with the PSC business to form Pressed Steel Fisher under BLMC.

British Motor Corporation vehicle manufacturer

The British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC) was a UK-based vehicle manufacturer, formed in early 1952 to give effect to an agreed merger of the Morris and Austin businesses.

Pressed Steel Company company

Pressed Steel Company Limited was a British car body manufacturing business founded at Cowley near Oxford in 1926 as a joint venture between William Morris, Budd Corporation of Philadelphia USA, which held the controlling interest, and a British / American bank J. Henry Schroder & Co At that time the company was named The Pressed Steel Company of Great Britain Limited. It acquired Budd's patent rights and processes for use in the United Kingdom. Morris transferred his interest to his company, Morris Motors Limited.

The Fisher and Ludlow Camping and Caravan Club, which used to form part of the social club is still in existence and part of the British Leyland Camping and Caravan Association.

Related Research Articles

Jaguar Cars Car marque and former British car company

Jaguar is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar cars until its operations were fully merged with those of Land Rover to form Jaguar Land Rover on 1 January 2013.

Morris Motors company

Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same vehicles. By 1926 its production represented 42 per cent of British car manufacture — a remarkable expansion rate attributed to William Morris's practice of buying in major as well as minor components and assembling them in his own factory. Self-financing through his enormous profits Morris did borrow some money from the public in 1926 and later shared some of Morris Motors' ownership with the public in 1936 when the new capital was used by Morris Motors to buy many of his other privately held businesses.

The automotive industry in the United Kingdom is now best known for premium and sports car marques including Aston Martin, Bentley, Caterham Cars, Daimler, Jaguar, Lagonda, Land Rover, Lister Cars, Lotus, McLaren, MG, Mini, Morgan and Rolls-Royce. Volume car manufacturers with a major presence in the UK include Honda, Nissan, Toyota and Vauxhall Motors. Commercial vehicle manufacturers active in the UK include Alexander Dennis, Ford, IBC Vehicles, Leyland Trucks and London EV Company.

Austin Motor Company defunct English manufacturer of motor vehicles

The Austin Motor Company Limited was a British manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors Limited in the new holding company British Motor Corporation (BMC) Limited, keeping its separate identity. The marque Austin was used until 1987. The trademark is currently owned by SAIC after being transferred from bankrupt subsidiary Nanjing Automotive which had acquired it with MG Rover Group in July 2005.

British Leyland 1968–1986 automotive manufacturing conglomerate

British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partly nationalised in 1975, when the UK government created a holding company called British Leyland, later BL, in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which constituted 40 percent of the UK car market, with roots going back to 1895.

British Motor Holdings Limited (BMH) was a British vehicle manufacturing company known until 14 December 1966 as British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC). BMH was created as a holding company following the BMC's takeover of both Jaguar Cars and the Pressed Steel Company in that year.

Leyland Motors Limited was a British vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 and 1967, respectively. It gave its name to the British Leyland Motor Corporation, formed when it merged with British Motor Holdings in 1968, to become British Leyland after being nationalised. British Leyland later changed its name to simply BL, then in 1986 to Rover Group.

Innocenti

Innocenti was an Italian machinery works originally established by Ferdinando Innocenti in 1920. Over the years they produced Lambretta scooters as well as a range of automobiles, mainly of British Leyland origins. The brand was retired in 1996, six years after a takeover by Fiat.

Leyland Trucks is a medium and heavy duty truck manufacturer in based in Leyland, England. It can trace its origins back to the original Leyland Motors, which was founded in 1896, and subsequently evolved into British Leyland. After British Leyland became the Rover Group in 1986, the truck business was spun out and merged with DAF Trucks to form DAF NV, operating as Leyland DAF in the United Kingdom.

Authi brand

The Authi car company of Pamplona, Spain, was founded in 1965 as a result of a collaboration between BMC and NMQ.

BMC (Turkey) commercial vehicle manufacturer in Turkey

BMC is one of the largest commercial vehicle manufacturers in Turkey. Its products include buses, trucks, and military vehicles.

Leyland Bus

Leyland Bus was a British bus and train manufacturer. It emerged from the Rover Group as a management buyout of the bus business. It was subsequently acquired by Volvo Buses in 1988 and the Leyland name disappeared in 1993.

Henry George (Harry) Webster, CBE was a British automotive engineer who inspired the creation of iconic Triumph cars throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Lieutenant-Colonel Donald Gresham Stokes, Baron Stokes was an English industrialist. He was the head of British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BL) from 1968 to 1975.

British Motor Corporation (Australia) was a motor manufacturing company formed in Australia in 1954 by the merger of the Austin Motor Company (Australia) and Nuffield (Australia) Pty Ltd. This followed the merger in 1952 of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Group in the United Kingdom to form the British Motor Corporation. Following further corporate changes in the UK in the late 1960s, BMC Australia was absorbed into the newly established British Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia, the name of which became Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia in 1972, and then JRA Limited in March 1983.

Plant Oxford

Plant Oxford located in Cowley, southeast Oxford, England, is owned by German carmaker BMW, and is the central assembly facility for the Mini range of cars. The plant forms the Mini production triangle along with Plant Hams Hall where engines are manufactured and Plant Swindon where body pressings and sub-assemblies are built.

Pressed Metal Corporation

Pressed Metal Corporation was an Australian automotive body building and assembly operation based in New South Wales.

Sunbeam Commercial Vehicles

Sunbeam Commercial Vehicles was a commercial vehicle manufacturing offshoot of the Wolverhampton based Sunbeam Motor Car Company when it was a subsidiary of S T D Motors Limited. Sunbeam had always made ambulances on modified Sunbeam car chassis. S T D Motors chose to enter the large commercial vehicle market in the late 1920s, and once established they made petrol and diesel buses and electrically powered trolleybuses and milk floats. Commercial Vehicles became a separate department of Sunbeam in 1931.

References