AEC (Associated Equipment Company) History
Automotive Manufacturer: of London Great Britain from 1916 to 1980.
Associated Equipment Company ( AEC for short ) is the name of a former British manufacturer of buses and other commercial vehicles .
History
In 1912, the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) was founded in Walthamstow , East London , to manufacture buses for the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC).
The first trucks (trucks) from AEC were introduced in 1916. These were Type Y 3 to 4 tonne trucks built for the War Department. After the First World War there were also civilian versions. From 1926 to 1928 there was a joint venture with the British Daimler Motor Company . During this time trucks were sold with the brand name ADC (Associated Daimler Company).
In 1929, the biplane bus chassis AEC Regent , which was produced at various stages of development until 1959, also appeared by the thousands for London Transport as types STL, RT and RLH. The successor of the Regent was from the late 1940s developed semi-integral double-decker Routemaster with a self-supporting body made of aluminum, which was produced from 1959 to 1968 (prototypes from 1954).
In 1948 AEC took over the competitors Crossley and Maudslay . In the same year, the company name was changed to Associated Commercial Vehicles (ACV), but the brand names continue to be used. Crossley models were produced until 1956, Maudslay models until 1960. New AEC plants were also built in South Africa , Spain , Portugal , Belgium and South America . AEC also supplied diesel engines to Willème in France , Vanaja in Finland , OMT in Italy andVerheul in the Netherlands . The production of dump trucks was started in the Maudslay factory . In 1961 the competitor Thornycroft was taken over.
1962 AEC was taken over by the largest British competitor Leyland Motors . This was followed by a streamlining of the type program of AEC and the foreign shareholdings were gradually reduced. New truck models from AEC were equipped with uniformly manufactured cabs from the Leyland Group. Finally, in 1980, the last model was delivered under the AEC brand.
