Cramp Brothers


The type of coach produced by Cramps (AOT, PH30/1/1679)

Cramp Brothers' coach-building firm was established in 1892 in Hobart by WT and RJ Cramp. Despite the Depression, the business grew rapidly. As cars became more common, coach-building skills were adapted to making custom-built cars, modifying them to owners' specifications, and building the bodies and seats for imported engines and chassis. Cramps also made buses and fire engines and, until the 1930s, horse-drawn milk and bakers carts. WT Cramp's four sons, who inherited the business, sold it in the 1940s. From the mid-twentieth century, with more cars on the roads, and therefore more accidents, Cramps increasingly specialised in bodyworks. By 1992, they employed 92 people and had carried out over a thousand repairs the previous year. Two things have not changed: the business remains on its original premises and still carries WT Cramp's motto: 'Work up to a standard, not down to a price'.

Caroline Evans