Briggs Body Question

[JerseyHarold]

Briggs bodies for Plymouths were made at a separate factory in Detroit then trucked to the Detroit Plymouth plant for final assembly. Did Briggs also have local factories near the other Plymouth assembly plants or were all bodies made in Detroit and shipped out? If they were all made in Detroit, were the bodies shipped in primer then painted during assembly, or were they painted before shipment?

[BobT-47P15]

Not sure the article answers any of the above question, but is an extensive

history on Mr Briggs and the company. Here's the link is case anyone is

interested................ http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/b/briggs/briggs.htm

[Plymouthy Adams]

Briggs built bodies for a number of makers over the years and was eventually bought out by Chrysler....the Packard I recently bought was also built by Briggs..they experience the same rot and rust in the rockers and floors as the Mopars of the period..they are basically identical in the way they are built....

[blucarsdn]

Briggs bodies for Plymouths were made at a separate factory in Detroit then trucked to the Detroit Plymouth plant for final assembly. Did Briggs also have local factories near the other Plymouth assembly plants or were all bodies made in Detroit and shipped out? If they were all made in Detroit, were the bodies shipped in primer then painted during assembly, or were they painted before shipment?

I can only speak for the Briggs bodied cars of the '30's.. The majority of the DPCD convertible coupes had Briggs bodies as did the Ford convertible coupes.

I don't believe that Briggs actually had manufacturing plants located around the country...

There are indications that all of the DPCD conv's of the '30's, early '40's had the same basis body shell, and that the body tag numbers are sequential.. This would indicate that the bodies all came from one source to the plant of assembly..

It is very unlikely that the bodies were shipped with finished paint, it is more likely that they were shipped from the Briggs plant in the 'white'...i.e., no primer/paint.

Several years ago I conversed a lot with a man in Australia that was looking for parts for his '40 Desoto conv, cpe. His car was Aus. built, however, it had a Briggs body tag and the number was consistent with the U.S. cars.

It is generally believed that most cars that were shipped to OZ and NZ were shipped from Canada in a knocked down condition, to be assembled in the country they were received in....Bill

[fatFreddie]

The Plymouth bodies came from the Briggs plant already assembled with interior and all.

Briggs had several plant all around the country which produced the bodies for Plymouth. The Woodies , Convertibles and specialty cars were all assembled in Detroit.

[B-Watson]

Briggs had a plant in Evansville to supply bodies for the Plymouth plant there. Also believe they also had a plant in Los Angeles. Chrysler also had a plant in San Leandro starting in 1948, but no body plant until Chrysler built one in 1953, a year before they closed the plant.

Briggs built Plymouth bodies with Chrysler supplying most of the bodies for the larger cars. Hamtramck and East Jefferson built bodies, while DeSoto bodies were built as the ex-Graham plant on East Warren Avenue from 1950 to 1958.

Briggs had body building operations in the U.S. and Britain, but not Canada. Chrysler purchased the U.S. operations and Ford purchased the British.

Bodies for Canadian-built Chrysler cars were built by Chrysler at the Chrysler Centre plant starting in 1929. Prior to that Chrysler of Canada had a body plant on Edna Street.

[eh dubya]

It is generally believed that most cars that were shipped to OZ and NZ were shipped from Canada in a knocked down condition, to be assembled in the country they were received in....Bill

For 39 at least I believe the Australian cars were sourced from the US.

-Andy

[blucarsdn]

Well now... I stand corrected, Briggs did have plants throughout the US and in other countries.

Sometimes I get the manufactures mixed up.. I have a big interest in Fords, Olds's, (GM's) and Plymouths. Briggs was a huge supplier to Ford, Chrysler and other car brands...Bill

[B-Watson]

For 39 at least I believe the Australian cars were sourced from the US.

-Andy

DeSoto and Dodge chassis were imported from Canada from 1934 through 1936. In 1941 and then from 1946 to 1954, Kingsway and Diplomat chassis came from Canada. Chassis came also from Detroit prior to 1941 and again in 1955, which were actually leftover 1954 chassis.

Some 1933 Chryslers came from Canada, but after that all U.S.A.

Plymouths came from Canada in 1933 and again from 1946 to 1954.

The 1956 Plymouth, Kingsway and Diplomat chassis were Australian units and used engines from England. The engine number started with "KEW".

[B-Watson]

Well now... I stand corrected, Briggs did have plants throughout the US and in other countries.

Sometimes I get the manufactures mixed up.. I have a big interest in Fords, Olds's, (GM's) and Plymouths. Briggs was a huge supplier to Ford, Chrysler and other car brands...Bill

Another big body supplier was Murray. They also supplied bodies for Ford but during the 1930's lost a lot of Ford business, just as Briggs did. Murray did some special runs for Chrysler, such as convertible bodies, and supplied stampings to many manufacturers such as Hudson.

Murray had a stylist by the name of Amos Northup (note only one "r") who did the 1929 Willys-Knight plaid-side roadster, 1931 Reo Royale, 1932 Graham "Blue Streak", 1937 Willys, and his last, the 1938 Graham "Spirit of Motion".

Murray continued to supply stampings and body parts to Willys and Hudson right until they stopped production in 1954. They also did work for Kaiser-Frazer starting until 1946.

Sadly, all three manufacturers stopped building cars at about the same time and Murray had no more customers. Murray then closed their doors.

Yes, Hudsons were built after 1954, but they were Nashes and built at the Nash factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

A large Canadian firm was Canada Top & Body out of Tilbury. Their main clientele was Willys-Overland and Durant Motors in the 1920's. Willys in Canada went under in 1932 while Durant became Frontenac and survived a couple more years.

Canada Top & Body contracted with Hudson to assemble Hudson and Essex cars for the Canadian market in 1932. Canadian Hudson production ended early in 1941 but began again in February, 1950. The company was now known as Chatco. Just as Hudson in the U.S. moved production to Nash plants for 1955, so did Hudson in Canada, only to the Nash plant in Toronto.

[eh dubya]

[eh dubya]

[blucarsdn]

I guess I should have goggled Briggs Manufacturing before I started my dribble about them.

I just finished an info seek on Briggs.. Very interesting.. Briggs is classified as being the largest independent auto body builder in the world by the 1930's. As many of the auto manufactures started moving towards making there own bodies, Briggs found itself with plants that were running at reduced capacity. Walter Briggs went looking for opportunities to keep his employees working, he bought a couple of sanitary ware (plumbing) company's.

Where-as David Dunbar Buick started out in plumbing fixtures, inventing the process to fuse porcelain to cast-iron, creating the 'modern' bath tub, and after several years forsaking the plumbing fixture business for the manufacture of automobiles...

Briggs went the other way, promoting and expanding the plumbing fixture side of the company as the need for his car bodies diminished. Briggs Manufacturing is one of the largest manufactures of plumbing/sanitary ware in the U.S.

Chrysler only bought the car body division of Briggs..

I can remember when I worked for my father in the late 1940's.. The post war boom was on and the building of homes was at a record pace as a result of the pent up need that was created by the Great Depression and WWII.

Briggs had pioneered inexpensive bath tubs that were pressed steel with porcelain coatings, almost every new tract house had such a Briggs Beautyware tub. In about 1950 Briggs came out with pastel colored fixtures... The ole 'Privy/Loo' took on a whole new look....Bill

[Jim Benjaminson]

blucarsdn - you mentioned in an earlier posting that you thought the convertible bodies had sequential body numbers regardless of final "brand" marking. I've correlated all of the Plymouth body code numbers and have managed to gather a few Dodge/DeSoto body codes. I can't say (for lack of enough numbers to make a comparison) that the body numbers were sequential but I can definately say each division had its own 3-digit body Identification code.

Although its generally "acknowledged" that Briggs made all of the Plymouth bodies - that isn't so, a fact that I can prove from information found on the Service Card build records. Plymouth coupe bodies (at least for 1933-34) were supplied by Dodge. Two door sedans (same era) came from Kercheval (owned by Chrysler). Convertible sedans came from Murray. This is truly a subject that needs more research but my information is based on the Service Card records I have for my own cars and from records sent to me by others who have obtained the Service Card (build) records from Chrysler. If anyone wants to share their service card record with me - regardless of your car being a Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto or Chrysler, I would like to add the information to my data file.