Fairey Winches
Late 1950s: Fairey acquired Mayflower Automotive Products, including their factory in Tavistock, Devon and, with it, the designs of its products, including winches and free-wheeling front hubs for Land Rover vehicles.
1975 Fairey designed and manufactured a mechanical overdrive unit for Land Rovers. Vehicles fitted with the unit carried a badge on the rear saying 'Overdrive by Fairey', with the Fairey logo.
1975 "Fairey Winches make accessories especially for Land-Rovers; Fuel saver; Life saver 'Rescue' winch developed from the Capstan winch for Coastguard use. A valuable asset in rescue operations and other applications where a variable line speed is required."[1]
1982 Part of Fairey Holdings
This branch of products effectively ceased in the early 1980s when new product development at Land Rover, and a trend for manufacturers to build accessories in-house, forced Fairey to drop out of the sector.
The American company Superwinch bought the Tavistock works and continued making the Fairey-designed winch for a few years. The site is now Superwinch's European base and manufacturing facility. The Fairey Overdrive is still in production in America.
1989 F. W. Winches (formerly Fairey Winches)[2]