Briggs Bodies?
 

The question from yesterday's car show. Where was the Briggs Body built? And for that matter, where was the Murray plant? Some in our "A team" group thought they were built in Detroit.
What do you say Barners?
Marty

Re: Briggs Bodies?
 

From my research; Briggs was in Detroit Michigan, then shipped the bodies to the Ford assembly plants. Mine was assembled in Buffalo, NY.

Re: Briggs Bodies?
 

Briggs MFG Company, Detroit, Michigan
Walter O. Briggs started making secret negotiations to move LeBaron from New York City to Detroit. The primary purpose of the takeover was to secure the LeBaron name as well as its talented designers, which would help Briggs attract more customers for their series-built custom bodies. Briggs was not only Detroit's largest independent body producer, it was also the richest, and Brigg’s generous offer was too good to pass up. All three LeBaron partners agreed, and the merger was publicly announced near the end of 1926 and took place in early 1927.

Briggs’-built 1928-29 Ford Model A Fordor Sedan bodies. Apparently a Lincoln LeBaron sedan attracted the eye of Henry Ford who showed it to Walter O. Briggs proclaiming "Walter, there's our new Fordor sedan". The car was in dealer's showrooms in a remarkable six months and is easily distinguishable from Murray-built 1928-1929 4-door Model A's by its resemblance to the redesigned 1930 Model A four doors. LeBaron is also credited with the designs of all of the Briggs-built open bodies for the Ford Model A.

An interesting item can be found in the February 26, 1927 issue of Automotive News. Apparently Walter O. Briggs wanted to buy out his prime rival, Murray, and the paper ran a story that stated a Briggs/Murray merger was "being considered." Henry Ford reasoned the merger of his two largest body suppliers would not be in his best interests, so a week later, a large Automotive News headline proclaimed "Briggs Mfg. Co. Not To Merge With Murray Corp. of America."

Murray Corporation, Detroit, Michigan
In January, 1927, a new firm, the Murray Corporation of America was capitalized at $8 million dollars and absorbed the assets of the Murray Body Corp. The new firm’s principal customers were now Hupmobile, King, Marmon, Moon and Willys-Knight. However, a giant contract was looming in the near future. Ford Motor Co. was in the midst of re-tooling for the Model A, and within the year would become Murray’s largest customer.

Re: Briggs Bodies?
 

Bob; thank you very much, for the lesson. Great information, thank you for sharing.

Re: Briggs Bodies?
 

heres an original photo of an A400 taken at the Murray plant in detroit

Re: Briggs Bodies?
 

Thank you for the answers. Bob, you must have you're finger on the pulse. You have shown us yet another side of Henry Ford. The more I read about him, the more I wonder if he was a good guy or a bad guy.
Marty

Re: Briggs Bodies?
 

No one is perfect and Henry Ford was not perfect. He was brilliant in many ways and a pretty terrible person in others. He was a visionary, a utopian, in many ways an equal opportunity employer, an anti-semite, an egotist, a brilliant businessman that had a hard time seeing beyond his first big success (the Model T) and a pretty awful father. There are a number of good books out there about him, all worth reading if you are interested in the history of the company and him as a person.