The Budd Body Corporation Bomb Drop!!!!

[Lewko66u13]

Be interesting to know the time period these guys worked there were they there at the start of the production in 65 or did they come on board mid way through

 

[Qumanchew]

Awesome story! Thanks for taking the time to share it with us!

 

[66Bronco]

Very cool indeed.

 

[green61bug]

So awesome!!! Hearing the old stories and learning new info is always so interesting! Looking forward to the post after the meetup! I'm glad Todd weighed in about documenting names etc. If it was me I would have just listened and never thought to do any of that. Haha

 

[ssray]

Cool stuffÂ…thanks! Interesting that they made rail cars as well as a foray into aircraft along with a lot of development into Stainless steel fab. Looks like Budd also was involved in Budd Wheel Company which made some of the first steel wheels and I assume the wheels for big rigs today.

Interesting triviaÂ….In 61 Budd combined a 57 Thunderbird body with a 61 Falcon chassis for a convertible concept. Ford instead came out with the Mustang.

Scott

 

[Classic 4x4]

It's amazing how much of this stuff is still hiding in plain sight. So many of the human players are gone now but we can still sometimes find their footprints.

 

[randy r 66]

very cool info , but my oct 65 built, is just a little less unique than I thought

 

[DirtDonk]

Thanks for bringing this back up Randy. Good to read it all over again.
Any news or contact with any of those guys Nick? Hope they did not disappear without you all trading phone numbers.

Paul

 

[surfer-b]

Great read, hope he is able to get more info.

The Tool and die maker that I talked to said every time after a run of whatever part they were making the dies were repaired / resurfaced. He said they would stamp a few parts in tool and die before the tools went to production, those were the benchmarks. Then after the run the tools would go back to tool and die and get checked / repaired as needed. They would strike a part off of the dies themselves and compare them to the ones they stamped before releasing the dies. Then anywhere there are differences such as stretch marks, lines, waves, etc. the dies were refinished.

As for making adjustments to the dies, how would they know what adjustments to make unless they assembled a body to see what actually needed to be adjusted, but then again maybe thats why there are no 2 Broncos actually with the same dimensions or gaps. Maybe they were in contact with some of the Engineers at Ford?

 

[MarsChariot]

But...early builds last longer than later builds?!

 

[sprdv1]

very cool info , but my oct 65 built, is just a little less unique than I thought

but still special/unique to you That's what matters

 

[toddz69]

I asked some questions of the Ford Archives re: the Budd bodies and got this response:

Hi Todd,

Here's what I was able to find.

In October 1963, Budd Company provides engineering design services on proposed 1966 Bronco of body-in-white, seats, trim, and body electrical along with the majority of the body sheet metal components. (Edit - this is known info for Bronco historians. TZ).

In 1974, there is discussion around cost of sourcing sheet metal from Budd Company versus Ford’s Metal Stamping Division but it appears to be a hefty cost savings to continue to source from Budd. The record does not explicitly state that this is for Bronco panels but as a supplier to Ford overall.

As late as April of 1979 Budd Company is still listed as supplying sheet metal panels for Bronco, SuperCab, and Medium Trucks. However there were plans to reduce the amount of panels being supplied by Budd for the 1980 models.

Beyond 1979 I can't find mention of Budd providing specifically Bronco panels.

Hope this helps!
____________________________

Her answer doesn't explicitly state or give information that Budd produced the body panels for the 66-77 trucks. However, I infer from her 1974 statement that Bronco panels were likely included in the sourced panels from Budd, particularly since they were "still listed as supplying sheet metal panels for Bronco, SuperCab and Medium Trucks" in 1979.

I think it aligns with what the ex-Budd employees have told Nick.

Todd Z.

 

[Tricky Dick]

But...early builds last longer than later builds?!

Well sure they do, a 66 lasted 11 more years than a 77.


Very interesting. During my search I passed on Budd Bronco because I didn't want to cut one up. I should have taken it.