One wonders why companies are taken over when, like Crossley, they are closed after a few years without any obvious benefit to the new owner. Whatever actually happened, the fact is Crossley died a slow death. The first nail in the coffin being the HOE engine and managements refusal to pay royalties to Saurer which obliged them to come up with an unreliable alternative. Even the design flaw with the heavy steering was known about and how to make the necessary fix, but was never changed year after year.. For AEC, it was a lost opportunity with a toe hold in Leyland country.
When reading of the difficulties with personality clashes and working methods between Crossley and AEC, you could well imagine the response of the Northern workers to orders from the "drafted in" "Southerners". Likewise, AEC must have been exasperated by Crossleys factory regime and the lack of interest in changing age old working methods.
Don't forget that AEC, who supplied a large chunk of London Transport vehicles, were themselves incapable of making any money out of that situation let alone get Crossley into shape.
Like Sentinel, the original parent Crossley Brothers (Power and Marine Engineers) ended up with Rolls-Royce. |
