Ambi-Budd was a German automobile body company founded by
Edward Gowen Budd
Edward Gowen Budd (December 28, 1870 – November 30, 1946) was an American inventor and businessman.
Early life
Edward Gowen Budd was born in Smyrna, Delaware, on December 28, 1870. He studied engineering in Philadelphia in 1888. He took corres ...
In Germany, Edward Gowen Budd worked with
Arthur Müller
Arthur Müller (born Aron Cohn: 23 October 1871 - 19 January 1935) was a German entrepreneur and inventor. He became known as the founder and director of the "Deutsche Flugplatz Gesellschaft" (''"German Airfield Company"''), which instigated, ...
and set up a steel pressing plant ''Ambi Budd Presswerke'' (ABP) in the old
Rumpler
Rumpler-Luftfahrzeugbau GmbH, Rumpler-Werke, usually known simply as Rumpler was a German aircraft and automobile manufacturer founded in Berlin by Austrian engineer Edmund Rumpler in 1909 as Rumpler Luftfahrzeugbau.Gunston 1993, p.259 The fir ...
factory and became a successful supplier of pressed-steel components. "Ambi" stood for "''Arthur Müller Bauten und Industriewerke''".
Budd Philadelphia U.S. owned 26% of the
Adler stock and were located next door to the German assembly plant for American associate Chrysler. Budd supplied bodies for early
BMWs as well as German Fords. In 1943, the company had to move production underground due to bomb attacks from the allied air forces. They also made parts for the
Focke Wulf
Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the p ...
fighter,
jerrycans, and bodies for the Volkswagen
''Kübelwagen'' and
''Schwimmwagen'' light vehicles. The Berlin plants were completely destroyed by bombing during World War II. After the war, the Budd plant ended up in the Soviet sector. The machines and tools were dismantled and most of them shipped to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
Ambi-Budd merged with
Thyssen AG
Thyssen was a major German steel producer founded by August Thyssen. The company merged with Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp to form ThyssenKrupp in 1999.
History
On 29 September 1891, August Thyssen and his brother Joseph Thyssen came to be i ...
and
Krupp AG
The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krupp A ...
in 1999 becoming a part of
ThyssenKrupp
ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and h ...
and known as Thyssen-Krupp Budd.
Thyssen-Krupp Budd North America body and chassis operations were acquired in November 2006 by
Martinrea International
Martinrea International Inc. is a Canadian auto parts manufacturer based in Vaughan, Ontario, Vaughan, Ontario. Its principal focus is on North America but it also operates in Europe and Asia.
Principal activities
Design and development of lightwe ...
.
[Business Need to Know. ''The Times'' (London). Saturday, Nov. 4, 2006 Issue 68849, Page 58]
See also
*
Budd Company
The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products ...
*
Joseph Ledwinka
Joseph Ledwinka (December 14, 1870 – November 26, 1949)''Buddgette'', January 1950 was an automobile engineer.
Early life
Joseph V. Ledwinka, a distant relative of Hans Ledwinka, was born in Vienna, and emigrated to the United States in 189 ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Ford's Karosserieschneider (Teil 9) - Ambi-Budd
Manufacturing companies established in 1912
Manufacturing companies based in Philadelphia
Coachbuilders of Germany
Thyssen AG
1912 establishments in Pennsylvania