Crossley Motors
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Fate | Sold |
|---|---|
| Successor | AEC |
| Founded | 1906 |
| Defunct | 1948 |
| Location | Manchester, England |
Crossley Motors, based in Manchester, England, produced approximately 19,000 high quality cars from 1904 until 1938, 5,500 buses from 1926 until 1958 and 21,000 goods and military vehicles from 1914 to 1945.
Contents |
[edit] History
Crossley Motors Ltd was first registered on the 11th April 1906 (and re-registered with a different company number in 1910) as the vehicle manufacturing arm of Crossley Brothers. The first car was actually built in 1904, but clearly the parent company saw a future for these new machines and decided a separate company was required. Originally based in the main factory in 1907 they moved to a nearby site they owned in Napier Street, Gorton, Manchester. (Napier Street was later changed to Crossley Street).
With the steady increase in vehicle production, the limits of the Gorton site were again soon reached, and in 1914 a further 48 acre (194,000 m²) site was bought in Heaton Chapel, Stockport which became the Errwood Park Works. Construction of the new factory started in 1915, and although intended to relieve congestion on the old site, it was rapidly given over to war work. The western half the site, built in 1917, but only managed by the Crossley Motors, became National Aircraft Factory No 2. In 1919, this factory was bought from the government and became the Willys Overland Crossley plant, but was eventually sold to Fairey Aviation in 1934. In 1938, the eastern side became another aircraft factory, this time managed by Fairey, and after the second world war, became the final home of Crossley Motors. Re-armament work caused the search for more space and in 1938 a factory was opened in Greencroft Mill,Hyde about 3 miles east of Errwood Park.
In 1920 Crossley Motors bought the nearby A V Roe and Company better known as Avro. They had to sell the company to Armstrong Siddeley in 1928 to pay for the losses incurred in Willys-Overland-Crossley.
As the market for hand made cars began to disappear in the late 1920s the company moved into the bus market and launched its first model, the Eagle in 1928. The last cars were made in 1937 but by then in addition to buses there was large production of military vehicles as part of the re-armament process.
After World War 2 there was a boom in the bus industry as war time losses needed to be replaced. Crossley won what was then the largest ever British export order for buses with a contract with the Dutch government. By the late 1940s bus orders were decreasing and it became clear that the company was too small to continue as an independent manufacturer and in 1948 they were sold to AEC. The last chassis was made in 1951 but body production continued at Erwood Park until 1958.
Although not trading the company was never formally wound up and in 1969 AEC's new owner, British Leyland, restarted the company with a new name, Leyland National, and production of single decker buses recommenced.
[edit] Vehicle Production
[edit] Cars
- 22 hp 1904-1908
- 40 hp 1905-1910
- 15 hp 1909-1915
- Shelsley sports 1909-1915
- 20/25 1909-1919
- 25/30 1918-1925
- 19.6 hp 1921-1926
- 14 hp and 15/30 1922-1927
- Crossley-Bugatti 1923-1925
- 20/70 sports 1922-1926
- 18/50 1925-1927
- 20.9 hp 1927-1931
- 15.7 hp 1928-1931
- Golden 1930-1935
- Silver 1930-1934
- Ten 1931-1934
- Streamline 1933
- Sports Saloon 1934-1937
- Regis 1935-1937
[edit] Buses
- Eagle 1928-1930
- Hawk 1929
- Six/Alpha 1930-1931
- Condor 1930-1934
- Mancunian 1933-1940
- TDD4 (Trolleybus) 1935-1942
- TDD6 (Trolleybus) 1935-1942
- DD42 1942-1953
- SD42 1946-1952
- PT42 1946-1949
- TDD42 Empire (Trolleybus) 1948-1951
- TDD64 Dominion (Trolleybus) 1948-1951
[edit] Military Vehicles
- 20/25 1912-1920
- BGT 1923
- IGL 4 wheel 1923-1926
- IGL 6 wheel 1927-1931
- BGV 1927-1929
- IGA Armoured car 1928-1929
- FWD 1940-1945
[edit] Commercial Vehicles
- 15cwt van 1913
- 14 hp van 1925
- 15cwt 1927
- Atlas 1931
- Beta 1933
- Delta 1931-1937
[edit] Firsts
- Two Crossley BGT1 trucks were in 1924 to 1926 the first vehicles to be driven from Cape Town to Cairo by the Court-Treatt expedition.
- Crossley were the first British Car Company to offer a factory fitted car radio (to the 1933 10 hp).
- Crossley supplied the first vehicles to London's Metropolitan Police Flying Squad in 1920.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- 'Crossley' Authors - Michael Eyre, Chris Heaps and Alan Townsin (ISBN 0-86093-574-4) OPC 2002
