Borg Warner Collection

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DescriptionThe history of the present company goes back to 1928, when a Sydney engineering company called Coote and Jorgensen Limited was established. The company's first site was in Camperdown but in 1936 they moved to larger premises in Alexandria. By this time the company was a medium sized engineering operation producing manufacturing machinery such as wire drawing machines and industrial power transmissions. Jorgensen's great ambition was to become involved in the automotive industry and in the early post war years the company began to make car replacement parts.

The company was growing so rapidly that in the late 1940s, Coote and Jorgensen started building a plant on the present site in Fairfield. This came into operation in 1952.

Five years later, the Borg-Warner Corporation of the United States made a successful takeover bid for Coote and Jorgensen and subsequently, the company, then known as Borg-Warner (Australia) Limited, continued producing more automotive and industrial products. The first rear axle assemblies for Ford Australia, were supplied for the Zephyr, Consul and later, the Customline range.

In 1963, the company unveiled two generic rear axle assemblies, the Model 70 and 78, which, with modifications, would suit a wide range of Australian made cars. This common industry design concept was pioneered by and remains the cornerstone of the company's operations in the automotive field to this day.
The first 3 speed manual transmissions were designed in 1964 and introduced by Ford and Chrysler the following year. Also in 1964, the first order for automatic transmissions was received when Ford signed a contract for the newly developed Model 35.

In 1967 a new factory was established in South Africa to service that local automotive market. Axle design and manufacturing skills were transferred from the Fairfield site.
In 1971 a new transmission plant began to manufacture components and assemble the Borg - Warner automatic in Albury, New South Wales. Again production equipment and skills were transferred from Fairfield.
The company became part of the BTR organisation in 1987. Initially registered as BTR Engineering (Australia) Limited and later traded as BTR Automotive.

On July 1, 2000 the Fairfield, South African and Indonesian facilities became part of the Spicer Light Axle Division. This division is part of the worldwide Dana Corporation which is headquartered in Toledo, USA. The Albury transmission operation was not part of this change and remained BTR Automotive.
Spicer Axle Australia Pty Ltd at Fairfield is focused on the design, manufacture and assembly of automotive axle products. More than 6.5 million axle assemblies have been delivered to customers both locally in Australia and overseas.

Now the Ion investments own the BTR plant but now they only make automatic transmissions =
"BTRA was founded in 1971 when the current plant was constructed by the Borg Warner Corporation of the United States. Most recently BTRA was owned by the Invensys Group based in the UK. ION concluded its acquisition of BTRA on 15 April 2002 with ownership from 1 April 2002. Based on proprietary technology, BTRA designs, develops, manufactures and sells automotive transmissions. It operates from its own plant at Albury NSW, employing over 900 people, making it one of the largest employers in the region. A research and development facility located in the Sydney suburb of Fairfield supports the Albury plant.

BTRA has since been renamed ION Automotive Systems, one of the ION Automotive group of companies."

Source: borg wanrer history (r31skylineclub.com)

Photographs

Employees at work at the Borg Warner factory, Fairfield NSW

Borg warner sales team, 1984

1984 Borg warner Open House - 11 July. Borg warner Ltd (Australia), Lisbon Street, Fairfield, NSW

1984 Borg Warner open day Expo. Borg warner Ltd (Australia), Lisbon Street, Fairfield, NSW

Borg warner Ltd (Australia), Lisbon Street, Fairfield, NSW

Employees at work at the Borg Warner factory, Fairfield NSW

Staff member from Coote & Jorgensen, Yennora, NSW.

Aerial view of Borg warner, Lisbon Street, Fairfield, NSW

Publications

Access - BTR Engineering Australia Limited - Newsletter

Driveline: Transmission & Axle Division - Newsletter

Fairfield News - Transmission and axle division - December 1984

Fairfield News - Transmission and axle division - July 1984

Presentation to General Motors by BTR Engineering (Australia) Limited

DANA - Spicer Axle Australia - Brochure

BTR Automotive Drivetrain Systems - Fairfield Operations

Articles of Association of Coote & Jorgesnsen Limited

Borg warner- Official opening of administration building, 1965

Videos

BTR Engineering 65 Years of Excellence

Borg Warner 60 Years of Excellence.

Connections

CollectionLocal History Resources

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