The Ford UK operation began in 1903 with the
import of Model A’s, then in 1909 the
Ford Motor Company (England) was officially
established, an office being opened at 55 Shaftsbury
Avenue, London under the chairmanship of Percival
Perry. The following year Ford’s first
dealership was opened in Southampton, and then
in 1911 Ford acquired an old tram factory in
Trafford, Manchester, which they converted
into an assembly plant – making it the
first Ford production facility to be established
outside the US.
The number of employees would
quickly grow to 60, the majority involved in
the assembly of the Model T. These first iterations
were assembled from imported chassis and mechanical
parts with bodies sourced locally, but in 1914
Britain's first moving assembly line for car
production started, with 21 cars an hour being
built. Six thousand cars were produced in 1913
and the Model T became the UK’s biggest
selling car (having some 30 % of the market).
Following World War 1 the Trafford Park facility
was extended, and by 1919 over 40 % of British
registered cars were Fords.
Deciding on the
need to have a facility located next to a deep
water port, in 1923 Ford purchased land in
Dagenham next to the river Thames. Construction
of the new facility commenced in 1929, and
at its opening in 1931 it was Europe’s
largest car plant - at the time producing the
Model AA truck and Model A car. The timing
was less than perfect, the depression hitting
dealerships hard, and the Model A being too
expensive to tax and run in Britain; only five
were sold in the first three months of production.
A smaller car was urgently needed, Ford rushing
the 933cc Model Y into production in 1933,
in the process it becoming Britain's first £100
car.
Between 1932 and 1937 over 157,000 were
made at Dagenham and Cork and at its peak it
captured 41 % of its market sector. During
World War 2 Ford played a major role, churning
out 360,000 vehicles at their Dagenham plant
while their new Urmston (Manchester) facility
manufactured 34,000 Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. Rapid expansion would follow the war, new facilities
being established and Briggs Motor Bodies being
acquired in 1953, by that year the company
employing some 40,000 Britons. In 1962 the
Halewood Liverpool facility would open, initially
manufacturing the Anglia, then
Escort, until
a 2001 switch would see it re-tooled for the
manufacture of the Jaguar X-Type. Many UK derived
Fords have found their way to Australian shores,
and while the Cortina and Escort were undoubtedly
good cars, the Capri is arguably the most revered
today.
