A C Ford Ltd (aka Fordac) and later AC Ford (Dudley) Ltd,
Dudley, West Midlands
The original AC Ford Company was set up by the late Mr Arthur Crawford in Dudley in 1945/6. The business is still family owned and is now known as AC Ford (Dudley) Ltd; the factory has since relocated to Churchfield Street, Dudley, West Midlands, and continues to manufacture streetlighting products.
An AC424 lantern with 50w MBF lamp and rounded Holophane prismatic glass bowl is seen in Rugeley, Staffordshire in 2004. An identical lantern is held in the collection.
This is another AC424 lantern, but has a Holophane tapered prismatic bowl fitted to it. This privately owned example is mounted on an AC Ford swanneck bracket with AC32 spiked finial. Photo: Derbyshire August 2006
Dating from the late 1950's, this AC482 140w SO/H side-entry lantern seen in Wobaston Road, Pendeford, Wolverhampton in October 2005. This lantern is now held in the collection.
AC Ford AC712 45/60w Sodium lantern
Now burning a 35w SOX lamp, this remote-geared AC Ford AC712 series sodium lantern was originally intended for 45/60w SO lamps. This is one of four that still survive in a street on the outskirts of Sheffield, South Yorkshire in 2006. My thanks to Simon Cornwell and Colin Grimes for identifying this lantern as a AC712 series lantern.
Here's the same AC712 lantern and A C Ford bracket mounted on this lovely old 'fluted' cast iron column. The column may have originally been fitted with a gas lantern; but the AC Ford bracket and lantern still makes an absolutely superb combination. Picture May 2006. Note: This column was removed in July/August 2006, the lantern and bracket now reside in the collection.
AC730 lantern seen on the Worcestershire/Birmingham County border in 2005 on a Concrete Utilities Avenue 2D bracket. Note the two-part photocell crudely positioned in the lantern's canopy.
AC762 post-top lantern for 35w SOX lamps is seen in Staffordshire in June 2006.
Pictured in Lower Penn, Wolverhampton on a cloudy afternoon in May 2007 is this last generation AC810 lantern, complete with later type plastic refractor bowl. The remote-geared lantern, which is seen mounted onto an A C Ford AC288 control box, still burns an 80w MBF mercury lamp.
This AC850 80w MBF lantern is one of thousands of the type still to be seen in use in Birmingham, West Midlands. This one was photographed at Longbridge in 2005.
A disused AC888 80w MBF lantern for top-entry mounting on a failing 'Stanton' S7 column. The picture was taken at the soon to be demolished Wordsley Hospital, Stourbridge, West Midlands in April 2006.
AC Ford wood pole bracket with long out-reach
AC Ford long out-reach bracket for wood pole mounting with an Eleco HW852 MBF lantern attached. This weathered and rusty fitting was pictured at Bishops Wood, Staffordshire in March 2006. Note that the control box door is missing and the open aperture has been taped over!
Copyright(c) 2005 Claire Pendrous. All rights reserved.
Please note that all pictures are by Claire Pendrous, or are part of the Claire Pendrous photographic collection unless otherwise stated; none of these images can be copied without obtaining prior permission.