Edward Gowen Budd

Edward Gowen Budd (28 December 1870 in Smyrna, Delaware – 30 November 1946 in Pennsylvania, aged 75) was an American inventor and businessman.

Budd was born in Delaware in 1870. He studied engineering in Philadelphia in 1888, and in 1899 he took his knowledge of pressed steel to the railroad industry. He worked with the Pullman Company on a contract for Pennsylvania Railroad, building the first all-steel car.

In 1912 he founded the Budd Company, which initially specialized in the manufacture of pressed-steel chassis frames for automobiles.

His company was soon supplying an all-steel sedan body to auto manufacturers. Following discussions between them which began in 1913 Budd's first big supporters were the Dodge brothers, who purchased 70,000 all-steel open touring bodies in 1916. They were soon followed by an all-steel Dodge sedan. The brothers had not believed such a thing possible but they were persuaded to allow Budd to go ahead with the design, die-making and press-installation needed for actual production to begin. Other US manufacturers soon followed Dodge's lead. Closed bodies outsold open bodies from 1923 on.

William Morris, founder of Morris Motors Limited in the United Kingdom, was also in tune with Budd's philosophy, and in 1926 he and Budd set up the Pressed Steel Company in Cowley, Oxford, to produce car bodies for Morris. William Morris withdrew from ownership in 1930 and at the end of 1935 the Budd interests were sold to UK shareholders.

Ambi-Budd Presswerk GmbH in Berlin-Johannisthal was another joint venture but with Ambi Maschinenbau. Bodies were made for Adler Chrysler and Ford as well as BMW. During the 1930s some low volume British Austin models were given Ambi-Budd bodywork apparently shared with Adler.

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