Tickford grew from the coachbuilding business founded in the 1820s by Joseph Salmons, later Salmons & Sons, at Tickford in Newport Pagnell; its products carried the Tickford name. It moved into coachbuilt cars in 1898, and in 1925 announced the Tickford “All Weather” body, a drophead whose hood was operated by turning a handle in the rear quarter panel. In the 1930s it built standard catalogued Tickford drophead bodies for BSA, Daimler, Hillman, Lanchester, MG, Rover, Standard, Triumph, Vauxhall and Wolseley. By the late 1930s it employed 450 people, producing 30 car bodies a week.
The company became Tickford Limited in 1943, and in late 1955 David Brown, owner of Aston Martin and Lagonda, which both used Tickford bodies, bought it. Aston Martin moved to the Tickford Street site in Newport Pagnell.
In 1981 Aston Martin created an engineering subsidiary, Aston Martin Tickford, which moved to Milton Keynes and became known for developing the 140 mph Tickford Capri for Ford. It also worked on the MG Maestro Turbo, the Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth, the road-going RS200 and the roof of the Jaguar XJS cabriolet.
