Biddle and Smart was a

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

s and then automobile bodies based in

Amesbury, Massachusetts Amesbury is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the left bank of the Merrimack River near its mouth, upstream from Salisbury and across the river from Newburyport and West Newbury. The population was 17,366 at the 2020 ...

. It started as a successful carriage manufacturer before making the transition to

auto body A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

manufacturer in 1905.

History

Carriagemakers

The town of Amesbury, Massachusetts, was a center of carriage-making. Biddle and Smart began trading either in 1870 or 1880. An almost-contemporary source says that The Biddle, Smart Carriage Co. was formed by William E. Biddle, William W. Smart, and M. D. F. Steeve in 1878 and began production two years later.

Automobile bodies

In 1905, Biddle and Smart became one of the first carriagemakers in Amesbury to begin manufacture of automobile bodies. An early customer was the Club Car Company of New York City and in 1910-11, the firm was the builder of Club’s cars. In 1917 Biddle and Smart purchased the factory of S.R. Bailey & Co., allowing greater production. By the early 1920s customers included

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...

, for whom they began making closed bodies in 1923. From 1923 the company became the exclusive producer of car bodies for Hudson, a turning point that would see production triple with 12,000 bodies manufactured in 1923. With expansion Biddle and Smart acquired a number of local coachbuilders, including Currier Cameron & Co., Hollander & Morrill Body Co., Witham Body Co., T. W. Lane Company, Auto Body & Finishing Co., and Bryant Body Co. This brought the total space to nearly a half million square feet in 21 buildings in six different sections of town. In 1925, Biddle & Smart began making bodies for

Rolls-Royce of America Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his cranes, they ...

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

. The company had fulfilled a small order for Rolls-Royce previously in 1919. In May 1925, Hudson introduced the Biddle & Smart-built Brougham, a closed-coupled four-door sedan with blind rear quarters covered, as was the entire roof in black leather. The Brougham was an immediate success and was continued into 1926 and in 1927 with some modifications. In addition to Hudson and Rolls-Royce, Biddle and Smart also built bodies for

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

Peerless Peerless may refer to: Companies and organizations * Peerless Motor Company, an American automobile manufacturer. * Peerless Brewing Company, in Birkenhead, UK * Peerless Group, an insurance and financial services company in India * Peerless R ...

, Marmon,

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, Chalmers, Speedwell and

Haynes Haynes may refer to: People *Haynes (surname) Places In Australia: * Haynes, Western Australia In Canada: * Haynes, Alberta In the United Kingdom: *Haynes, Bedfordshire ** Haynes Church End In the United States: *Haynes, Arkansas * Haynes, Nort ...

.http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/b/biddle_smart/biddle_smart.htm By March, 1926 its Amesbury holdings had grown from nine shops to 41 shops and the output had grown to 400 bodies manufactured a day. Peak shipments came in 1926, when the firm delivered 41,000 bodies to Hudson. An inability to stamp steel meant that their products were made using aluminum.

Demise

In 1926 Hudson opened a brand new 10 million dollar body plant in Detroit. By the end of 1926 all steel-bodied Hudsons were being built at the new plant, and because of the inability of Biddle and Smart to produce steel bodies, production for Hudson dropped by 60%. Hudson still continued with the aluminum bodies from Biddle and Smart, advertising them as "custom-built" bodies even though they were exactly the same as the steel body models built at the Hudson factory. Hudson produced a range of cars designed by Walter M. Murphy Co. of Pasadena, California after 1927 and these were built by Biddle and Smart, advertised as "Design by Murphy." Production continued until 1929. 10 Hudson body styles were sold in 1929 with Biddle and Smart producing two, Detroit-based

Briggs Manufacturing Company Briggs Manufacturing was an American, Detroit-based manufacturer of automobile bodies for Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation and other U.S. and European automobile manufacturers. In 1953 it was bought by Chrysler Corporation without its fo ...

producing three, and Hudson producing the other five models inhouse. At the end of December 1929 Hudson declined to renew its yearly contract. The beginning of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

saw car prices decline and transport costs from Massachusetts to Detroit become cost prohibitive. Hudson had to resort to local producers such as Briggs Manufacturing Co. 1930 was the last year of Biddle and Smart production for Hudson, leaving the company with no customers by the end of the year. After a failed attempt at marketing aluminum boats the company went out of business in 1930.

References

{{reflist Amesbury, Massachusetts Auto parts suppliers of the United States 1800s establishments in Massachusetts Coachbuilders of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts