
The Edward G. Budd company was based in Philadelphia, PA, and was an industry leader in the design and construction of all-steel auto bodies. Unlike Ford, GM, and others, Budd did not have access to vast reserves of timber for wood framed bodies, and so developed their expertise in sheet metal stamping and structural panel sub-assemblies capable of being efficiently nested and shipped by rail to Ford plants for final assembly. These modular panel constructed bodies used minimal wood content, primarily for top and trim.
In addition, Budd was a large supplier of completely assembled all-steel bodies to Dodge and Chrysler Corporation in the 1920s and 1930s.