The Budd Company (now ThyssenKrupp Budd) is a metal fabricator and major supplier of body components to the automobile industry. The company is headquartered in Troy, Michigan. It was founded in 1912 by Edward G. Budd. Edward Budd's fame came from his invention of the 'shotweld' technique for joining pieces of stainless steel without damaging the anti-corrosion properties of the stainless steel.

From the 1930s until 1989 The Budd Company was also a leading manufacturer of stainless steel streamlined passenger rolling stock for a number of railroads. They built the Pioneer Zephyr for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1934, and hundreds of streamlined lightweight stainless steel passenger cars for new trains in the USA in the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1950s Budd built a set of two-story or high-level cars for the Santa Fe's El Capitan and Super Chief passenger trains, which became the prototypes for the Amtrak Superliner cars of the 1980s. Budd also built two-story gallery passenger cars for Chicago-area commuter service on the Milwaukee Road, Burlington Route, and Rock Island lines duing the 1960s and 1970s; most of these cars are still in service on today's Metra routes. Stainless steel Budd cars originally built for the Canadian Pacific Railway's 1955 train The Canadian are still in service with Via Rail Canada.

In 1949, Budd introduced the Rail Diesel Car or RDC, a stainless steel self-propelled 'train in one car' which prolonged rail service on many lightly populated railway lines, but also provided a flexible, air conditioned car for suburban commuter service. More than 300 RDCs were built. Some RDCs are still in service in Canada, the USA and Australia. One example is OnTrack in Syracuse, New York.

In 1966, Budd designed and manufactured a front disc brake system for Chrysler and Imperial automobiles, used for the 1967 and 1968 model years.

Budd also built at least two series of "L" cars for the Chicago Transit Authority, the 2200s (1969–1970) and 2600s (1980–1988). The New York City Subway R32 (1964–1965), LIRR/Metro-North Railroad M-1 (1968–1973), NJ Transit Arrow III (1978), Baltimore Metro and Miami Metrorail cars (1984) were also built by Budd.

External Links

• Budd Company official site