Pressed Steel Company

William Morris had recognised the potential of pressed steel car bodies being developed by Budd Corporation in U.S.A.and wanted them for his own cars. The new joint venture initially supplied car bodies to Morris's Morris Motors, with its plant located alongside the new Pressed Steel plant with what became the A4142 spanned by a special bridge between plants. This was several years after André Citroën was co-operating with Budd in France for building Citroen car bodies. The venture was not a success. In May 1930 it was announced that arrangements had been concluded to place the Pressed Steel plant under British control. Operations had not gathered pace as expected. Many difficulties had been encountered. The British steel industry was unable to provide steel sheets large enough for the Budd machines and, once they came available, in any case American supplies were still 25% cheaper than local supplies. Tycoons William R. Morris and Edward G. Budd were unable to settle their differences. Budd took his troubles with Morris to the High Court, which decided in Budd's favour and in June 1930, by a resolution of the shareholders supported by an order of the High Court, the directors of Morris Motors Limited were obliged to retire from the Pressed Steel board, with the share interests of Morris Motors either taken over by other interests or surrendered to the company. This was followed by the announcement of a reduction of Pressed Steel's capital from £1.6 million to £1.2 million. Morris lost the capital he had invested and the right to appoint directors, Pressed Steel was now free to supply other customers. In the coachwork exhibition at the 1931 Olympia Motor Show alongside the products of Salmons, Thrupp and Maberly, Windovers etc. Pressed Steel Company displayed bodies of a Twelve-six Harley de luxe Austin saloon, a Hillman Wizard 75 de luxe saloon and a 12-horsepower six-cylinder Rover Pilot. Readers of The Times were told the bodies were made in four pieces, the back, two sides and the front. The doors were also stamped in one. These all-steel bodies were said to give the cars lightness with great strength, more room inside and better visibility. ==Independence==

Cowley, Theale, Linwood I At the very end of 1935 Budd agreed to sell their controlling interest to British interests and then Pressed Steel was fully independent having from mid-1930 also produced car bodies for Morris's competitors. The degree of completion of Pressed Steel's finished product varied widely. In some cases unpainted stampings were shipped to the customer's plant for finishing and assembly. In other cases, customers were sent their bodies fully assembled, painted, trimmed and glazed. Industry consolidation 1953 ZA When compared with USA and France the British automotive industry then had little vertical integration. Britain's "Big Five" looked to their body suppliers. In the spring of 1953 Briggs Motor Bodies, American like Budd, had the bulk of its British operation swallowed by Ford. The following autumn The British Motor Corporation acquired Fisher & Ludlow. Fisher & Ludlow supplied Standard-Triumph who were then obliged to take control of the relatively small Mulliners but that took a few more years to develop and Mulliners was to close at the end of 1960. Pressed Steel stood alone as the only remaining independent supplier of mass-produced car bodies in Britain. :The largest body manufacturers in Britain and pioneers in Britain of pressed steel bodywork and unitary construction in quantity. :Manufacturer of Prestcold refrigerators, steel railway wagons, agricultural implements and pressings of all types. :Names to which pressings were supplied not included in the above list include Rolls-Royce and Bentley, Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Vauxhall. Swindon, Linwood II In 1956 they opened a new plant in Swindon to provide extra capacity, and in 1961 they opened their Linwood, Scotland plant alongside the new Rootes Linwood plant to provide bodies for the new Hillman Imp being produced there. By the end of the 20th century the Linwood site had been completely cleared. It is now partly occupied by a cinema complex. Tooling Pressed Steel was a major manufacturer of press tooling for Morris, Hillman, Rover and Rolls-Royce and car companies across the world including Vauxhall, Alfa Romeo etc. Research and development The R&D function, which was set up at the Cowley site in the early 1960s, and later transferred to their development site at Gaydon [1980], was a centre of excellence for the industry with many new processes including the development of electrophoretic painting (electrocoat), full mould casting, robotic welding and assembly, robotic adhesive and sealant application and robotic painting amongst many other firsts in the industry. In the late 1960s, and the early 1970s, the R&D function pioneered the use of Finite Element Analysis for the body structure, and developed computerised crash simulation techniques for the complete vehicle, the occupants and the pedestrian. Between 1973 & 1980 the R & D function also developed plastic fuel tanks that proved superior to the only other current ones of the time produced by Volkswagen. ==British Leyland and BMW==

By 1965 Pressed Steel employed 26,000 people. Its sales to the British motor industry - over 90% of turnover - were by value 40% to BMC and a similar share to Rootes. However BMC's bodies were relatively unfinished, whereas Rootes' bodies were painted and trimmed, so 61% of unit volume went to BMC and 27% to Rootes. and BMC set about combining Pressed Steel with its existing body-making subsidiary Fisher and Ludlow, acquired by BMC some twelve years earlier, thereby creating Pressed Steel-Fisher (PS-F). At the time of the merger Pressed Steel was the largest independent manufacturer of car bodies and car body tooling in the world. On 14 December 1966 BMC shareholders approved the change of its name to British Motor Holdings (BMH) and it took effect from that moment. Early in 1968 BMH merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC) to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), By this time PS-F had become the world's largest independent car body and car body tool manufacturer, and supplied bodies and tools not only for the British motor industry but also for Volvo, Alfa Romeo and Hindustan Motors. Cowley Following the formation of British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) in 1968, Cowley became part of the Pressed Steel Fisher (PS-F) division. The plant continued as a major supplier of pressed steel bodies and sub-assemblies for BLMC marques including Austin, Morris, Rover, and Triumph, reflecting the group’s rationalisation of platforms and body tooling across its product range. After the formation of British Leyland Limited in 1975, Cowley continued as part of the group’s principal manufacturing base. In 1994 it passed to BMW following the acquisition of Rover Group, and later became Plant Oxford. BMW retained the site after the 2000 divestment of Rover assets, and it was subsequently redeveloped for production of the BMW Mini, supplied in part by Swindon Pressings. Swindon The Swindon plant was developed as a major pressing facility for the Rover Group and its predecessors, supplying body panels and sub-assemblies across a wide range of production vehicles. By the late 20th century it had become one of the UK’s key automotive stamping plants. Following BMW’s acquisition of Rover Group in 1994, Swindon became BMW-owned. After most Rover assets were sold in 2000, BMW retained the plant and established Swindon Pressings Limited (SPL), which continues to supply body components for the BMW Mini produced at Plant Oxford. Linwood The Linwood site in Scotland was established in the early 1960s as part of government-backed industrial expansion linked to Chrysler’s UK operations. It was intended for high-volume vehicle production but suffered from logistical and productivity challenges. Following the formation of British Leyland, Linwood became part of the group but remained underperforming. The plant was closed in 1981 as part of wider rationalisation within BLMC. Theale Theale was a smaller Pressed Steel facility focused on supporting pressing, tooling, and component supply within the wider British Leyland network. It played a supplementary role rather than acting as a major production site. ==Diversification==

Domestic Refrigerator Factory Under the Prestcold name Pressed Steel supplied refrigerators for the home, industrial cold rooms and marine installations. The Domestic Refrigeration Factory (DRF)—it was publicly acknowledged the product of the first four years was not reliable So ended Prestcold domestic appliances. Industrial refrigeration supplied on a large scale to supermarkets and food retailing groups Beagle's facilities at Shoreham-by-Sea were purchased with their take-over of Miles Aircraft and those at Rearsby with Auster. ==Notes==