Ford: Cars
Note: This is a sub-section of Ford
See also Car Models
1903 The first Ford cars, three of the Ford: Model A were imported into the UK.
1909 Ford Motor Company (England) Ltd. was established with an office in 55 Shaftsbury Avenue, London under the chairmanship of Percival Perry.
1910 The first dealership in Southampton opened
1910 March. RAC trial of the 20-hp car.[1]
1911 An assembly plant in an old Tram factory in Trafford Park, Manchester was opened employing 60 people to make the Model T and the company was re-registered as Henry Ford and Son, Ltd. This was the first Ford factory outside North America. At first the cars were assembled from imported chassis and mechanical parts with bodies sourced locally.
1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices of Cars see the 1917 Red Book
1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices of Petrol Motors see the 1917 Red Book
1913 October. No spec changes for next year but prices reduced: two-seater £125, four-seater £135, Laudault £180. They will not exhibit at Olympia.[2]
1913 Six thousand cars were made and the Model T became the country's biggest selling car with 30% of the market. After the First World War, the Trafford Park plant was extended.
1914 Britain's first moving assembly line for car production started with 21 cars an hour being built.
1914 March. Details of the electrical system.[3]
1917 A plant opened in Cork, Ireland initially for tractor manufacture.
1919 41% of British registered cars were Fords.
1921 Cars were built at Cork. This factory was the first to be purpose built by Ford in Europe. It closed in 1984.
1923 Although the Manchester plant was served by the Manchester Ship Canal, Ford decided that access to a deep water port was required and a new site was chosen by the River Thames at Dagenham, East London.
1927 The 'Model T' was replaced by the 'Model A.'
1928 Became a public company in the UK
1929 Construction started on the Dagenham site.
1931 October; Britain and Europe's largest car plant opened producing the Model AA truck and Model A car. The company also at the same time changed its name to the Ford Motor Co. Ltd. This was at the height of the Depression and the Model A was too expensive to tax and run in Britain and very few were sold, only five in the first three months.
1933 A smaller car was urgently needed and this came in 1933 with the 933 cc Model Y, a car much more suited to the market and becoming in 1935 Britain's first £100 car. Between 1932 and 1937 over 157,000 were made at Dagenham and Cork and at its peak it captured 41% of its market sector.
WW2 During the Second World War, the Dagenham plant turned out 360,000 vehicles and a new factory in Urmston, Manchester made 34,000 Rolls-Royce Merlin engines.
1946 Civilian production resumed and Dagenham made 115,000 vehicles and factories in nearby Walthamstow and Langley were acquired. They commenced with the 8-hp Anglia and the 10-hp Prefect. Later they produced the v8 Pilot.
1951 Exhibitor at the 1951 Motor Show in the Car Section.
1953 Briggs Motor Bodies was purchased, giving the company more control of its supplies and at the same time acquiring further plants at Doncaster, Southampton, Croydon and Romford.
1953, Ford of Britain directly employed 40,000 people.
1961 Has branch works at Aveley, Basildon, Birmingham, Croydon, Doncaster, Langley, Leamington, Romford, Southampton, Walthamstow and Woolwich. Dagenham has one blast furnace, 14 ins and 18 ins rolling mills, 48 coke ovens with by-products plant and two foundries. Employs 56,000 persons. [4]
1962 Ford opened a factory at Halewood near Liverpool to make the Anglia. This closed as a Ford plant when the last Escort came off the production line in 2000 and was then converted to make the Jaguar X-Type in 2001.
1963 Motor Show exhibitor. Showed Anglia, Cortina, Consul Corsair, Zephyr and Zodiac MkIII. [5]
1964 Another new factory opened at Basildon to make tractors.
1965 A further plant was acquired in Swansea to make chassis components and axles.
Early Registrations
- 19xx AM 5361
See Also
Sources of Information
- Wikipedia – Ford of Britain
- British Lorries 1900-1992 by S. W. Stevens-Stratten. Pub. Ian Allen Publishing
- British Motor Cars 1950/51