Introduction

The source of these pages, which were produced in 2001, is an historical account of Tractor Spares Limited, written by the late Charles Weight, mainly as notes for his family. There are a number of reasons why the company is historically important. Firstly, it is an engineering company which has survived and prospered when many other similar companies have long disappeared. Secondly, it illustrates how a company can prosper due to the dynamism and entrepreneurial ability of its leaders. Thirdly, before it became Tractor Spares in 1940 it was the Briton Motor Car Company, and is therefore the inheritor of an important part of Wolverhampton’s motor industry. And finally, the company acquired areas of industrial wasteland in Wolverhampton, and re-developed them as new industrial estates, which provided homes for Tractor Spares, and many other companies.

Tractor Spares Limited is the company which represents the core business of the Weight enterprises, which includes or included many other wholly or partly owned companies, and many associated companies. One of them, for example, was SEBCO.

The tractors with which the company is mainly concerned, include, in a minor way, agricultural tractors; but by far the greatest part of the company’s concern is with tracked vehicles, often, if not correctly, known as caterpillar tractors. These vehicles, for the most part very large and very expensive, are vital to the construction and development industry.

The story is told in the following parts:
     

 

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Engineering Hall

 

Proceed to The
Early Years