Updating & New Features

With the amount of information available here on Vintage Ford Facts & lots more to come- I've added a search function for your convenience. Now you'll have no problem finding what you're looking for and quite possibly a few things you weren't looking for!

Suggestions and submissions are always welcome. Do you have something to share or is there a particular topic of interest to you? Let me know about it and I'll do what I can.

I have some most excellent stuff in the works, so check back often.

Making Fenders 1930 Style...............

Here's a brief photographic trip documenting the process of making fenders for the Model A.

Building Model A Ford Bodies at Long Beach California Plant

Body Building Jigs.

Hoods are put into a jig for proper shape & adjustment. Then hung on the turnstile.

Model A Ford Bodies at the Long Beach Ford Plant 1930-31

First set of a series I will be doing on the Long Beach Ford Plant. Here you can see bodies in various stages of construction, fenders, and a warehouse full of fenders, engines, and other parts. How'd you like to have all that in your garage right now?  Enough NOS parts to keep you & your friends busy for a good while. Not to mention financing your retirement!

Note the '28-29 cab hanging on the conveyor. Also of note are the sheer amount of dark colored bodies. The Tudor Sedan body at the front of the line appears to have a glass sediment bowl installed. This is quite possibly the trim line where upholstery gets installed.

A wider array of colors on these bodies! I'll take either of those Roadster bodies.....

Bodies ready to be installed on completed chassis. Both Closed & Open Cab Pickup, Tudor, Roadster, Coupe and others not visible. Just finding one of these left behind in a factory would be better than finding gold!

Roadster, Cabriolet, Coupe and one 28-29 Style Closed cab body.

Highland Park Factory Powerhouse Then & Now

As the plant appeared in 1956

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the property looks today.

The Powerhouse, Administration building and parts of the factory itself were demolished in 1958. Eventually The Model T shopping plaza was built on the site. The stores are typical shopping plaza fare, a grocerteria, drug store, a dollar store etc.

Model T Firewalls On A Mass Production Basis

In this photo you can see the clamping jigs used to produce the Model T firewalls in large quantities.  This photo was most likely taken at the Ford Highland Park Plant.

Photo from Wayne State Photographic Collection

Factory Lunch at the Rouge 1929

The next set of photos shows how food is produced & packaged for the lunch trucks that were deposited in specific areas of each building. If you have the book "Rouge Pictured In It's Prime" by Ford Bryan, he has an excellent chapter with more detailed photos. If you don't have this book, I suggest you order a copy or get your spouse to get one for Christmas or something. It's one of the finest books on the Rouge I have came across.

Making Soup

That guy sure is using alot of milk!

Small Pies - Good chance these were made with products from the Ford Farms.

Building lunch boxes. These lunches sold for 50 cents in 1929.

Lunch wagons loaded and being pulled with a Fordson tractor to their designated locations.

These photos are courtesy of Wayne State University.

Ford Rotunda & Administration Building Then & Now

The Ford Rotunda was originally used at the Chicago World's Fair in 1934 and later shipped to Dearborn for use as a display area for Ford products and holiday events such as the Christmas Fantasy in the 1950s. It burnt down in 1962 after a tar kettle spilled on the roof and set things on fire.

The Administration Building was built in 1927, designed by Albert Kahn, this building served as the main office building for Ford, Lincoln & Mercury until 1956 when the "Glass House" was built. Edsel & Henry Ford had offices in this building as well as Harry Bennett and numerous other Ford executives.
The black & white photo dates from the mid 1930s and the aerial photo dates from May 2010. If you look close you can see the shrubbery composing the rough shape of the now gone building. Structures have been built on the old Rotunda grounds.
The Administration building was demolished in 1997. Albert Kahn said the building was designed to 'stand for 1000 years" but that didn't happen unfortunately. I will be covering each building in greater detail in post in the very near future.

Experimental 1930 Model A Coupe

Here is a prototype 3 window Model A Coupe, complete with eyebrow fenders typical of very early 1930 Model A's. It's a shame this body was never produced. Not much is known about it, I suspect this was a commission by Murray or Briggs Body Companies as the quarters look similar to other Briggs & Murray bodied cars of the era.

Ford for 1935

Here's a shot of a new '35 Ford Tudor coming off the line....


Henry & Edsel Ford look pleased at 1935's offering