Hayes Manufacturing (Detroit, Michigan)

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Incorporated in 1904 by H. Jay Hayes, Hayes Manufacturing was a pioneer in stamped sheet-metal fenders, and would eventually go on to produce hoods, cowls, tool boxes and complete bodies in two separate metro-Detroit factories. Hayes is sometimes credited with the introduction of the crowned fender to the United States, which first appeared on some Hayes-built Ford Model T fenders in the mid-teens, however the design originated in Europe much earlier, most likely in Brussels, Belgium just after the turn of the century.

Hayes went on to establish a number of separate companies in Ionia and Grand Rapids. Michigan, Indianapolis, Indiana and Elizabeth, New Jersey to make steel bodies for Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Maxwell, Reo, Willys-Overland, Paige, Durant and Marmon.

The Detroit operations remained focused on the sheet metal business which was in decline following the movement of automobile makers to manufacture their own parts and the rise of the all-steel automobile body. The Hayes manufacturing company was dissolved in 1924.