'The World's Best Car' 1914 Mercedes 80/90HP

Michael, it was Shropshire but not for very long after Milnes-Daimler had been incorporated in November 1902.

Messrs. George Frederick Milnes and Company progressively moved its Liverpool tram factory production to Hadley, near Wellington, Shropshire between 1900 and 1902, and with “the Daimler Motor Company” was making motor-cars, meaning buses, there by 1903. In August that year, they supplied two £1000+, 16-h.p Canstatt-Daimler chassis omnibuses from Hadley for a new service, between Helston and the Lizard, Cornwall, operated by the Great Western Railway Company. Both were destroyed in a fire at the Helston motor car shed in October 1904.

Oddly, given huge interest in petrol omnibus services, in the meantime due to reduced tram sales G. F. Milnes’ Hadley factory became economically non-viable and was reportedly liquidated by the end of 1903, although Birmingham’s new Milnes-Daimler buses delivered in April 1904 were bodied at Hadley. The factory was taken over by new management to build railway wagons until 1908 and the Sankey Steel Wheel Company took it over in 1910.

Since Milnes-Daimler had supplied GWR with fifty-one omnibuses by February 1905, the substantial majority of Milnes-Daimler bus bodywork production must have been elsewhere - G.W.R.’s own works at Swindon bodied some. Hundreds were on order for other towns and cities during 1904-5 and were probably bodied regionally too and since the London Omnibus Company optioned most of the Mercédès-Milnes-Daimler output for 1906-7, many in London. Milnes-Daimler was the authorised importer of Mercédès commercial chassis from Canstatt and remained so until 1909, when they took over the total car and commercial import franchise.