Ford Trafford Park Factory facts for kids
Ford Trafford Park Assembly Plant was a car factory built by Ford of Britain in Trafford Park, near Manchester. It was right next to the Manchester Ship Canal. This factory was special because it was the very first Ford plant built outside the United States!
At first, the Trafford Park plant only put together cars using parts that came all the way from Dearborn, USA.
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Ford's First Steps in the UK
The first Ford car sold in the UK was the Model A. It came out in America in 1903. Two of these cars were brought to Britain that same year.
Ford's sales in Britain grew thanks to a clever businessman named Percival Perry. Cars were very expensive back then. Henry Ford wanted full payment before he would send cars from New York. This made it hard for Perry to get enough money.
But by 1911, Perry was selling over 400 American-built Fords each year. His office was in London's fancy Shaftesbury Avenue. To sell even more cars, Ford needed a bigger space than central London could offer. Perry looked for a new, larger site. He kept the Shaftesbury Avenue spot as a showroom.
Building the Trafford Park Factory
Ford bought an old carriage factory in the Trafford Park industrial area near Manchester. The first idea was just to assemble Ford cars there using parts from the United States.
Back then, car making didn't need huge, expensive machines like it does today. The old carriage factory started putting Fords together in October 1911. By this time, Ford's main car was the famous Model T. This was the car assembled at the new plant.
How the Factory Grew and Changed
Bringing parts all the way from the American Midwest was tricky. So, the Trafford Park plant soon started buying parts from much closer places. For two years, car bodies were brought to the factory by handcart from a company called Scott Brothers, which was just down the road. Ford bought Scott Brothers in 1912.
Meanwhile, Ford in America was developing new ways to build cars. They started at their Piquette Avenue Plant and later at their Highland Park factory. By 1912, Ford had basically invented the assembly line! This new way of building cars was quickly brought to Trafford Park.
The new methods were added step by step. Between 1912 and 1913, the factory's output doubled from 3,000 to 6,000 cars. In 1912, a British-built Model T cost £175. At the same time, Austin, a big British car maker, sold their smaller car for £240. So, it was easy to find buyers for the Fords made in Manchester!
The Trafford Park factory was on track to make 10,000 Fords in 1914. But then, the war started.
Ford During Wartime
Between 1914 and 1918, people learned a lot about mass production. Even though the factories were now making weapons, the techniques improved. Henry Ford believed in peace, but the Trafford Park plant kept making vehicles. They might have focused on farm tractors.
After the war ended, the Trafford Park plant got bigger, and car production grew quickly. However, in 1919, Perry left the company after some disagreements. Ford in America then took more direct control over its UK factories.
By the early 1920s, it was clear that the Trafford Park factory was getting too small. In 1924, Henry Ford sent someone to find a place for a much bigger factory. Later that year, a site was bought at Dagenham. But Ford's UK production stayed at Trafford Park until the Dagenham plant was ready in 1931.
Perry was asked to come back and lead the new British Ford Motor Company Limited in 1928. The very last car made at Trafford Park rolled off the line in October 1931. In the same month, the first car came out of the new Dagenham factory.
Trafford Park as a "Shadow Factory" (1939–1944)
53°27′44″N 2°21′33″W / 53.4622°N 2.3591°W In 1936, the British government started a plan called the "shadow factory plan." This plan aimed to get Britain ready for a possible future war. Herbert Austin was put in charge of expanding the British aircraft industry. He was told to build nine new factories and improve existing car factories. This would allow them to quickly switch to making aircraft parts.
Trafford Park was a great choice for making Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. It was close to major transport links. This made it easy to send the finished engines to Metropolitan-Vickers (also in Trafford Park) for the Avro Manchester plane. They also went to the Avro factory at Chadderton for the Avro Lancaster plane.
Ford rebuilt the factory from 1938. It was designed with two separate sections. This was to reduce damage if bombs hit the factory during the war.
Trafford Park was an important industrial area, so it was bombed a lot, especially during the Manchester Blitz in December 1940. On December 23, 1940, the Metropolitan-Vickers aircraft factory was badly damaged. The redeveloped Ford Trafford Park Factory was bombed just a few days after it opened in May 1941.
However, by 1944, the factory was using the most modern production methods. It had 17,316 workers who could make 900 engines a month! Sir Stanley Hooker, a famous engineer, wrote in his book:
once the great Ford factory at Manchester started production, Merlins came out like shelling peas at the rate of 400 per week. And very good engines they were too, yet never have I seen mention of this massive contribution which the British Ford company made to the build-up of our air forces.
In total, the factory made over 34,000 engines during the war. It finally closed at the end of March 1946.
