Tidaholms Bruk

Tidaholms Bruk (the Tidaholm works) was a Swedish a vehicle manufacturer. Originally a woodworking and cart manufacturing business founded in the Middle Ages, the company evolved along the centuries and entered the automotive industry with the creation of the Tidaholm car in 1903. Their early models include Tor I, Tor II, and TB, known for their reliability. Facing financial difficulties during the Great Depression, the company eventually closed in the early 1930s. While the company is no longer in operation, it played a significant role in Sweden's automotive history.

Founded in the Middle Ages, over the years it merged with several smaller industries into woodworking, ironworking, and the making of carts. In the small community of Sandhem outside Tidaholm, brothers Gottfrid and David Lindström founded a workshop in 1895, where they made Kronan bicycles. After a while Gottfrid got tired of making bicycles and went to USA to study the budding automobile industry and returned full of new ideas, which he presented to the Managing Director of Tidaholms Bruk. Lindström was a workaholic and he worked late into the nights to create Tidaholmsbilen (the Tidaholm car). Most of the parts were made within the works. Engine blocks and pistons in the foundry, the frame in the smithy, transmission in the mechanical workshop, woodwork in the wood workshop. In the fall of 1903 it was time for the first start attempt which was successful and the first Tidaholm car (which was a truck, actually) could roll out of the workshop under its own power.

The first model was called Tor I and was powered by a two cylinder engine producing about 10 hp at 800 rpm. It could carry with a curb weight of It was sold to Surte Glasbruk and was used to transport peat. The high reliability of the car inspired the managing director Victor Johansson to put Lindström in charge of building Tor II which was finished in 1905. Tor II had three gears forward and one reverse. The lineup was reduced as demand dried up, leaving the model as the only available one by 1918. Due to rubber shortages, the trucks were also delivered with wheels that could accommodate ersatz tires made from wood. The company barely stayed afloat by operating a saw mill, exporting wooden revetments as far afield as France, but in 1922 an order for five fire trucks to Jönköping began a slow upswing in company fortunes. In 1930 engineer Allan Lindström designed the first three axis bus chassis with both rear axles driven and three differentials. This was important for buses as it meant larger passenger space and softer running. The design also allowed a lower tire pressure. The first heavy truck with sleeping cabin was made in 1930. In 1931 they also made road trains for passenger transport where the bus held 37 passengers and the trailer 23. They were used by SJ in Bohuslän.

Tidaholms Bruk made well built engines and chassis and they sold well, but experiments and frequent new designs leading to small production runs cost a lot of money. The Great Depression led to the Kreuger crash, after which the company was taken over by Stockholms Enskilda Bank controlled by the Wallenberg family. The Wallenbergs already controlled Scania Vabis, and with Volvo on the rise it was determined that already struggling Tidaholm company was going to have to close. In December 1933 the announcement was made, and in late summer 1934 activities began winding down. The final bus deliveries were made in early 1935.