Briggs Manufacturing Company

[John N. Packard]

Who can provide information or sources of information on the Briggs Manufacturing Company? They made bodies for Packard, Ford, Chrysler, Hudson and others. I believe they were absorbed into Chrysler Corporation in the early fifties. They had acquired LeBaron prior to that. Any websites out there with good information on this topic? Thank you very much!<P>jnp

[Guest]

Hello John,<P>With Reference to the Briggs Manufacturing Company the book "The Custom Body Era" by Hugo Pfau published in 1970 has approximately 16 listings in the index relating to this company. Mr. Pfau's last comments on the Briggs Company was that when 'Walter Briggs died.....,the entire body business was sold to the Chrysler Corporation." You can still find this book in used book stores from time to time. I hope this helps a little.<P>Best regards<P>Scott

[Tom Deering]

Briggs Mfg Co wasn't really a very colorful or dramatic player in auto history. They were nothing more than another vendor for out-sourcing the manufacture of auto bodies. Besides manufacturing auto bodies, they had a full line of premium plumbing fixtures they produced under the name of Briggs Beautyware. I guess the other significant thing about them was the owner Walter O. Briggs owned the Detroit Tigers baseball team and the stadium. <P> Briggs' expertise was in their massive machinery and all the related tradesmen who could take a coil of sheet steel in one door and ship a completed car body out the other door. Budd Mfg. who was around the corner could do the same thing. <P> A number of family members including my Dad, and parents of my friends worked there before, during, and after the War when it was subsequently sold to Chrysler. I'm not aware of any automotive product design being performed there. It was strictly a manufacturing facility. I wouldn't be surprised if they were instrumental in making the "Turret Top" (all steel car roof) a producable reality in the mid '30s.<P> Tom

[Tom Deering]

Boy, are the cobwebs being shaken loose in the 'ol memory banks! First of all, I should retract something in my previous post. Manufacturing vendors such as Briggs, did some product design to showcase their capabilities. The design decisions were however the auto manufacturers call. I worked for a couple years at Thompson Products (now TRW) in their Experimental Engineering Lab. This is where our Boss,James Booth invented the ball joint front suspension a few years earlier. This is typical of how the supplier firms feathered their nest by dreaming up something the auto industry "couldn't live without". I guess those stainless steel '36 Fords might be another example. <P> No one on this thread or the Packard thread has mentioned the new Packard plant on Harper Ave. just down the road from the original E. Grand Blvd. plant. I thought their post war car production was done there. Their test track was in Utica but I didn't realize there was any assembly performed at that site. Last time I was there in 1974, it was a Ford facility.<P> But back to Briggs. Your assumption of Briggs facilities being close to their customers plant is correct. Chrysler Jefferson Assy. and Hudson also on Jefferson Ave., were serviced by the Briggs Mack Ave. plant. The Briggs plant on E. Outer Drive fed the Dodge plant on Jos.Campau and the Plymouth plant on Lynch Rd. I never did understand how DeSoto got its bodies way out on the west side on Wyoming Ave. The Packard plant was mid-way between the two Briggs plants. I'm using street names just in case somebody wants to refer to a Detroit map.<P> You mentioned logistics problems in moving bodies from the vendors to the customers assembly plant. The '55-'57 T-bird "Bodies in White" were produced at Budd Mfg. on the east side on Warren & Conner and trucked to the Ford plant in Dearborn. Never understood how those bare bodies could be shipped on an open trailer across town in the rain and snow and expect to have paint stick to them.<P> Finally, Walter O. Briggs, Briggs Stadium and the Detroit Tigers. That was a Detroit institution during the '30s, (don't know when it started) '40s and '50s. Went back there in the '60s and the stadium was repainted an ugly gray and its name had been changed to Tiger Stadium. <BR> Now you know how Detroit streets got so beat-up. The whole town was one big assembly line. <P> Tom

[John N. Packard]

Tom,<BR> You are correct, the Utica facility was not an assembly plant. Apparently it was constructed for war production and became the engine machine shop in the mid 50s. A Briggs plant on Conner Avenue was acquired by Packard and set up for production of the 55 & 56 models. My references indicate that the Harper plant was never used and sold shortly after Packard acquired it. There is a facet of the auto industry that you don't get just by perusing the sales literature. I visited the Proving Grounds in Utica back in the mid sixties. It was a Ford facility at that time. I simply drove in, asked to see the place, and security let me drive down to the track and look around. Those were simpler days!<P>jnp

[John N. Packard]

Thanks Scott & Tom!<BR> Scott, I have Hugo Pfau's book "The Coachbuilt Packard" and he does reference Briggs in the LEBARON chapter. Apparently by the early 50's Chrysler was their principal client; so when Walter Briggs died, the company was sold to Chrysler. That is how they came by the LeBaron name. Packard was also a client at that time and after ownership transferred to Chrysler, they no longer chose to serve Packard. This resulted in Packard resuming the production of their own bodies in the Utica Michigan plant? In Ward's book "The Fall of the Packard Motor Car Company", he cites quality control problems stemming from Packard having to tool up to produce their own bodies. Something to the effect that the layout of the new facility was not adequate for the task. <BR>Tom, I didn't know that Briggs was the power behind Detroit baseball. What puzzles me is the economy of subcontracting the body building to Briggs. The logistics of delivering the bodies to the assembly line must have been difficult. I find some indication that they may have had multiple plants located adjacent to their client's facilities. I have found information relating to labor issues during the post WWII era when Briggs tried to reduce the worker's pay. Your Dad probably had a good bit to say about that!<BR>John Tjaarda worked for Briggs and designed a 'Dream Car" with a rear-engine and unitized body that was displayed at the Chicago Centruy of Progress Exhibition in 1933-34. He was hired by Briggs in 1932 as chief of their newly formed in-house design center. The appearance of this vehicle is very similar to the original VW Beetle. This vehicle became the prototype for the 1936 Lincoln Zephyr.<BR>My interest is the impact upon Packard when they lost Briggs as their body supplier. I would also like to know when Packard started using Briggs. You would think with the huge factory on East Grand Blvd that Packard could have done everything in-house; but perhaps war production of the Rolls Royce engines played a role in tieing up floor space.<BR>jnp

[Guest jcandco]

I've read a bit about Briggs and Packard and have visited their plants. Briggs built bodies for Packard from approx 1940 to 1954. Briggs was sold to Chrysler in 1953 by the family. Chrysler gave Packard until the end of the 1954 model year to make other arrangements to avoid any attention by the fedl govt about unfair competition. Packards Utica property was strictly a proving grounds with no mfg facilities until Packard President James Nance built an ultra modern engine plant for their new V8 in 1952, west of the test track. The engine plant came online in early 1954 building V8's for the 55 and 56 model Packards the 55 and 56 Nash and Hudson brands.

[poci1957]

You can read the full story at:

Coachbuilders, Coach Building, Coachbuilt Cars, Coachbuilding History, Encyclopedia of American Coach Builders & Coachwork

[Rusty_OToole]

Re the similarity between the VW beetle and the Briggs prototype. Ferdinand Porsche visited Detroit in 1935 and again in 1937 to study the latest auto design and mass production developments. In 1937 he visited Ford and Packard and was shown around. After that trip the VW was completely redesigned to the shape we are familiar with today, and which resembles the Briggs prototype so strongly. They even copied the "wide 5" bolt pattern used on 37 Ford wheels.

The Briggs prototype also inspired the Lincoln Zephyr. If you look close at the front of the first Zephyr you can see how they modified the sloping front for a conventional front engine hood and grille.

[Larry Schramm]

Interesting about shipping car bodies across town. In Flint, Buick bodies were shipped from the Fisher Body plant on S. Saginaw street to the Buick assembly plant on the north side of Flint from at least the 50's up when the plant closed in I think 1987.

[poci1957]

This resulted in Packard resuming the production of their own bodies in the Utica Michigan plant? In Ward's book "The Fall of the Packard Motor Car Company", he cites quality control problems stemming from Packard having to tool up to produce their own bodies. Something to the effect that the layout of the new facility was not adequate for the task.

My interest is the impact upon Packard when they lost Briggs as their body supplier. I would also like to know when Packard started using Briggs. You would think with the huge factory on East Grand Blvd that Packard could have done everything in-house; but perhaps war production of the Rolls Royce engines played a role in tieing up floor space.

jnp

Hi John, this is a fascinating topic for me and that book is a favorite of my collection too. The Briggs issue seems like a huge factor in the company downfall. It sounds to me like someone at Briggs suggested in 1940-41 that Packard could save a lot of money on stamping equipment and other costs by just buying all bodies from Briggs. Since the company had just invested in mass production of the 120 and 110 this probably seemed very logical. Also, these body and sheetmetal costs would grow even more with GM relentlessly pursuing the annual model change, and GM could amortize their own (internal) body costs over many more models and many more unit sales. So to George Christopher or whoever made the decision this probably seemed like a way Packard could stay current in body production by outsourcing. But then when Briggs was sold to Chrysler and the company had to develop a crash program to make their own bodies the cost must have been immense, and at just the wrong time. Not to mention the quality problems as described in the book. Todd

[Guest Oracle]

Briggs Motor Bodies Limited was the UK subsidiary and was built on a greenfield site on the River Thames at Dagenham, Essex, around 1932. This was right next to the Ford plant, as was Kelsey-Hayes' wheel plant. Briggs supplied Ford with bodies and also built bodies for other companies such as Austin (pick-ups) and truck cabs: by 1954 a basic design with differences for Leyland, Dodge, Guy, Thames (Ford truck). After the war Briggs bought an old aircraft plant in Southampton and produced van and truck cabs and bodies.

It was agreed by Henry Ford II that Ford Motor Co Ltd would acquire Briggs Motor Bodies, and so in 1953 Ford bought-out the UK arm of Briggs and turned the three Briggs plants into Ford plants. However it was stipulated that Briggs would continue to fu;lfiull existing contracts for other companies, and this meant that they supplied truck cabs until 1956ish. The reason given for Ford;s acquisiton was to ensure that Briggs did not fall into the hands of a competitor..Chryslers!

The Southampton plant was originally owned by Cunliffe-Owen Aircraft Ltd incorporated by Sir Hugo Cunliffe-Owen and located at the southern edge of Eastleigh airfield. The company was mainly involved in overhaul and modifications for the RAF during the war then in 1943 until 1946 assembled V-S Seafires. With the abandonment of the Concordia 19-seat transport in November 1947, the site was sold to Briggs Motor Bodies Ltd Briggs was acquired by Ford Motor Company Ltd on express authorization from Dearborn in May 1953, apparently to secure body supplies, and the sale included the Dagenham, Southampton and Doncaster Briggs plants.

[ec123]

Any former Briggs or Ford workers who worked in the factories off Chequers Lane, Dagenham, to the south of the railway (next to the Dagenham Breach)? I'm looking for someone who can tell me what processes were carried out in each specific building between 1930-1980. Factory might have been known as the the body plant or river plant.

[sftamx1]

I have been researching the Briggs Mfg Co,  pertaining to bodies they supplied to Hudson during 1932-1933. I recall reading that Briggs converted Hudson and Terraplane coupe bodies into finished convertible bodies. This would explain the severely chopped windshield on these convertibles,as well as the Briggs Mfg tag  found ONLY on the convertible firewalls. I assume it was less expensive to chop the tops of of coupes rather than build a special conv only body, since the convertible coupes were such a low production number? Special thanks to the AACA Library and Matt Hocker, for trying to answer my questions,but there is a shortage of info on this relationship between Briggs and Hudson! Can anyone shed some light on this coupe to convertible conversion?

[Hans1]

6 hours ago, sftamx1 said:

I have been researching the Briggs Mfg Co,  pertaining to bodies they supplied to Hudson during 1932-1933. I recall reading that Briggs converted Hudson and Terraplane coupe bodies into finished convertible bodies. This would explain the severely chopped windshield on these convertibles,as well as the Briggs Mfg tag  found ONLY on the convertible firewalls. I assume it was less expensive to chop the tops of of coupes rather than build a special conv only body, since the convertible coupes were such a low production number? Special thanks to the AACA Library and Matt Hocker, for trying to answer my questions,but there is a shortage of info on this relationship between Briggs and Hudson! Can anyone shed some light on this coupe to convertible conversion?

1929 Essex Rumble seat Roadsters had Briggs body tags on passanger side lower front of cowl.

[8E45E]

42 minutes ago, Hans1 said:

1929 Essex Rumble seat Roadsters had Briggs body tags on passanger side lower front of cowl.

Briggs? Or Biddle & Smart?

 

 

[Hans1]

10 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

Briggs? Or Biddle & Smart?

 

 

I believe this model called the Sportabout was made by biddle & Smart.    The '29 rumble seat roadsters made by Briggs

[sftamx1]

I'm afraid my research has reached a dead end!

[30DodgePanel]

10 hours ago, sftamx1 said:

I'm afraid my research has reached a dead end!

 

Where was this snippet found? 

 

I too have run into many dead ends with Dodge Brothers trucks, especially during the transition years when Chrysler took over. It's a frustration I wish on no one but I see those Chrysler tenacles have reached other areas of research. It's a real shame what must have been lost or destroyed over the years making many of us wonder what the facts are.

 

Dave

[8E45E]

3 hours ago, 30DodgePanel said:

 

Where was this snippet found? 

 

I too have run into many dead ends with Dodge Brothers trucks, especially during the transition years when Chrysler took over. It's a frustration I wish on no one but I see those Chrysler tenacles have reached other areas of research. It's a real shame what must have been lost or destroyed over the years making many of us wonder what the facts are.

 

Dave

It appears to be Special Interest Autos magazine, the forerunner to Hemming's Classic Car, with the sentence, "SIA tried for three years....."

 

Craig