Budd Automotive
by Mike Falkner
The Budd Company was a major 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile and aviation industry as well as manufacture of stainless steel passenger rail cars.
Budd was founded in 1912 in Philadelphia by Edward G. Budd, whose fame came from his development of the first all-steel automobile bodies in 1913 and, in the 1930s, his company's invention of the "shotweld" technique for joining pieces of stainless steel without damaging its anti-corrosion properties.
The Budd Company became part of the Thyssen conglomerate in 1978 and in 1999 operated in North America as ThyssenKrupp Budd. Body and chassis operations were sold to Martinrea International in 2006 as the last operations were sold off or closed.
