The reason that the Rushton and its predecessor were so close to Fordson specification has long been a puzzle. I think we may be a step closer to solving it, thanks to a copy letter found by Edgar Coulson in the Ford Archives in Dearborn, Michigan. He was there to research the British sports car firm Jensen, which used Ford motors in the Thirties for rakish customers like Clark Gable. The letter to Edsel B Ford was from British Ford boss Sir Percival Perry in 1935 and mentions Col Moore-Brabazon MP, the holder of British Pilots Licence No1 who “is a director of Lord Ashfield’s AEC company with whom we have negotiated regarding building heavy trucks”.
Talks
AEC had been “builder of London’s buses” since 1912 and hadmade ADC vehicles from 1926 to 28 during which AEC moved from its Walthamstow base to a new 50-acre factory site alongside the GWR at Southall.
