Biography:

The J. G. Brill Company manufactured streetcars, interurban coaches, and buses in the United States for almost ninety years. The company was founded by John George Brill in 1868 as a horsecar manufacturing firm in Philadelphia. Over the years, it absorbed numerous other trolley-interurban manufacturers such as Kuhlman in Cleveland and Jewett in Indiana. With business diminishing, in 1944 it merged with the American Car and Foundry Company (ACF) to become ACF-Brill. It ceased trolley and bus production in 1954. Brill was the longest lasting of the nation's trolley and interurban manufacturers. It manufactured over 45,000 streetcars (also known as trolleys or trolley cars in the U.S.), motor buses, trolleybuses and railroad cars. At its height, it was the largest manufacturer of streetcars and interurbans in the U.S. and produced more streetcars and interurbans and gas electrics than any other manufacturer.
J. G. Brill began operations in 1868 and operated with the Brill name until 1956. In 1926, ACF Motors Company obtained a controlling interest in J. G. Brill. In 1944 the two companies merged, resulting in the ACF-Brill Motors Company.[2] On January 31, 1946, controlling interest in ACF-Brill was acquired by Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation for $7.5 million. Consolidated Vultee was sold on November 6, 1947, to the Nashville Corporation, which sold its share to investment firm Allen & Co headed by Charles Allen, Jr. on June 11, 1951. In early 1954, ACF-Brill ceased production and subcontracted remaining orders. The properties were sold, and on December 30, 1955, the company was merged with supermarket companies into ACF-Wrigley Stores Inc.
ACF-Brill announced in 1944 that Canadian Car and Foundry of Montreal, Quebec were licensed to manufacture and sell throughout Canada motor buses and trolley coaches of their design as Canadian Car-Brill. The firm built about 1,100 trolley buses and a few thousand buses under the name.