FORD and WW II
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Other Topics
Forum Name: Shops, Barns, Varmints, and Trucks
Forum Description: anything you want to talk about except politics
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=181585
Printed Date: 24 Aug 2025 at 7:55pm
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Topic: FORD and WW II
Posted By: steve(ill)
Subject: FORD and WW II
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2021 at 6:43pm
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Came in today at noon and there was the Manufacturing History of the US during WW II on TV.... FORD opened a factory in Willow Run, Ypsilanta MIchigan , to build B24 bombers for the US Military.. There were several "builders" of that particular plane.. FORD son EDSEL was the manager of the plant. He changed the procedure to assemble B24 to an "assembly line" type like the automotives had been done... FORD ended up building a bomber every 1 hour toward the end of the war.. Picture showed over 30 planes in the assembly area at one time.. Guess they built about 9,000 of the 18,000 total B24 bombers over a 3-4 year period. He hired a lot of women ( about 50%) and the repeating work of the assembly line was perfect for someone with less mechanical ability. Very Interesting.......... after the war FORD sold the plant to Keiser / Jeep who used it for 30 years... Then they sold it to GM to build their 4 speed Auto Transmissions... Plant finally closed about 2014. ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Replies:
Posted By: john(MI)
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2021 at 7:52pm
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I haven't been there in a few years, and they've had a fire since then as well. The Yankee Air Force is based at Willow Run. They have an outstanding collection of airplanes and memorabilia. I had never realized what a fine looking woman, Amelia Earnheart was until I saw photos of her there. I also got to get into the cockpit of a B52 on one visit. If you ever get the chance to get to the Detroit area, try and plan a visit there. ------------- D14, D17, 5020, 612H, CASE 446 |
Posted By: weiner43
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2021 at 8:10pm
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Back in about 1950 my dad bought a 26-27 Model T truck with a flat bed with racks. He fixed it all up and when he died in 1970 the truck sat in the basement of Harris Milling Co in Cadillac for years. The family finally sold it and that truck ended up in Henry Ford`s Museum. ------------- God bless our troops and the United States of America. Pick your rut well, you may be in it a long time. |
Posted By: Mikez
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2021 at 8:15pm
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that’s interesting. We have an old Ford built army jeep laying in the yard.
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Posted By: PaulB
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2021 at 8:17pm
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Did they mention that Henry Cheapskate Ford insisted on ever part they made have the FROG logo on every part they produced to avoid being charge for warranty on failed parts that they didn't make. ------------- If it was fun to pull in LOW gear, I could have a John Deere. Real pullers don't have speed limits. If you can't make it GO... make it SHINY |
Posted By: Lars(wi)
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2021 at 8:24pm
What’s wrong with that? ------------- I tried to follow the science, but it was not there. I then followed the money, and that’s where I found the science. |
PaulB wrote:Posted By: klinemar
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2021 at 9:34pm
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Ford along with all of the Auto manufacturers built the Arsenal of Democracy. Ford built Gliders,Jeeps, Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Engines and V8 Tank Engines along with B24 Bombers and Curtis Helldiver Navy Dive Bombers. GMC built Trucks,Chevy built Trucks,Buick built Tank Destroyers. Olds built Anti Tank guns and Cannons. Pontiac built Tank differentials,Cadillac built M5 Tanks and LVT tractors for the Marines,Allison built Aircraft Engines,Frigidaire built 50 cal machine guns.Saginaw Gear and Inland Steel built M1 Carbines,Chrysler built M4 Sherman Tanks,Dodge built Trucks. There was a War to be fought and America was unprepared! Everyone worked! As one German General said" The Americans massed produced us to death "! |
Posted By: shameless dude
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2021 at 10:29pm
| they musta had to build a airport runway to get them planes out away from the factory? |
Posted By: klinemar
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2021 at 10:33pm
| Yes Shameless Ford did and it's still there but some of the factory is gone. |
Posted By: klinemar
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2021 at 10:38pm
| I didn't include Packard. They made V12 PT Boat engines and Packard Merlin V12 P51 engines. 75% of Studebaker Trucks went to Russia and most Russian Military Trucks today look like Studebaker's ! |
Posted By: WF owner
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 2:30am
| Interesting reading ! |
Posted By: john(MI)
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 6:42am
The runways are a large square with an X in the middle. Had they wanted they could probably have three or four airplanes taking off at once. It's cargo and private airplanes now. We, the NWS, still have an active ASOS(Automatic Surface Observation System) on the airport. The building is ginormous. You needed a mode of transportation to go from one end to another. My friend that worked there when it was HydroMatic told me some good stories. The one that stuck with me was the older workers having the large shipping containers converted into apartments. They just clocked in and went to their apartment for their shift. The dream jobs of the UAW! ------------- D14, D17, 5020, 612H, CASE 446 |
Posted By: tadams(OH)
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 1:13pm
| Them Ford built Jeep had a 6 cylinder engine and independent wheel suspenien and were fast. Would like to have one of them. |
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 3:12pm
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I read a story once that the planes took off from Willow Run for their "TEST FLIGHT", before returning, then sent to the military... The "TESTING" got to the point that there were few problems and toward the end, the pilot took off for the "TEST" and landed at the Military base with their "NEW" Aircraft. ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: Mikez
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 3:18pm
| I don’t think our Ford Jeep is 6cld or independent suspension. |
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 3:45pm
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BANTAM got the original contract for the Military Vehicle... FORD built a prototype with the 4 cyl 8N motor.. It was a dud.... BANTAM, WILLYS and FORD were all given contracts to build about 2000 vehicles each around 1940 .... Next year the Military wanted 600,000. BANTAM got the "design", but could not build the numbers. Willys and and FORD were give the BANTAM design sheets and told to build that vehicle.. Each made about 300,000 "JEEPS" for the military.. FORD bought 4 cyl engines from Willys for their "JEEP".
The GOVT actually picked the best features from each vehicle and combined into one.. Then the GOVT took out a PATENT for "THEIR" design as THEIR vehicle.
------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 4:02pm
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This all worked because there were 3rd party Manufactures who built the front axle, rear axle, wheels and tires, transmission, transfer case..... If you were FORD or WILLYS , all you had to do was build the frame, body and fenders then bolt it all together.. Your "parts" didnt really have to be identical to the other manufacturer, as long as all the mounting holes were in the same place.
the "original" BANTAM Jeep was based on a car that they made. Used the frame , fenders, hood, grill , radiator, motor, drive train, with a "convertible steel body" as they called it... I think it was originally the British Austin which in the US was American Austin, which bankrupt became American Bantan ? ...... They had the Engineering to design and make dozen prototypes faster than Willys or FORD, but didnt have the manufacturing capability to back it up.  ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 4:17pm
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"MOST" of the US Military "JEEPS" in the US were the final combination of WILLYS and FORD manufacturing... all the "original Prototypes" and first couple months of manufacturing ( 50,000) were all sent to RUSSIA who needed manned vehicles at the time. Very few of the "test" units , if any, remained in the USA. ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: klinemar
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 5:45pm
| My Uncle who was a teenager during WW2 told of seeing B24 Bombers from Willow Run fly over on test flights with motors backfiring. They would turn and head back towards Willow Run about 80 miles away.He said they must have made it because he never heard of any crashing. Story a man told me of his father who was in the 82nd Airborne Glider Troops. Just before D Day their Glider Pilot got sick. Officers came to his Father and said your the new pilot! His Dad told the Officers" I don't know how to fly a plane"! The Officer said"In your records it shows you worked at Willow Run"! His Dad said " I installed Hydraulic Lines, I didn't fly the planes"! Officer said your the new pilot! He trained very quickly and survived! |
Posted By: john(MI)
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 5:54pm
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The Willys I had, I believe 52, had a 4 cyl Ford engine. That woulda been at the Korean War time so who knows who was building what by then. I wish I coulda got that project to the shop! ------------- D14, D17, 5020, 612H, CASE 446 |
Posted By: klinemar
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 8:58pm
| CJ series Jeeps had 6 cylinder engines. I only know my son had a CJ6 and it had a 6 cylinder. |
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 9:51pm
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The WILLYS 4 cylinder was used thru the war and after till about 1950.. It was then modified to an overhead valve version and continued till about 1965. They bought the rights to use a Buick V6 in the JEEP for 5-6 years (CJ5) ... Around 1970 JEEP was bought by AMC and they put the straight 6 in the CJ5-6. There was never a FORD engine in the JEEP.. from the factory. ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: LouSWPA
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 10:15pm
------------- I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Ps 27 |
Posted By: LouSWPA
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 10:29pm
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One last thought on JEEP, back in the late 50's, 60's, every comic book I read, had an add in the back, Army surplus JEEPs, (i think it was $50). Dad told of working with a couple of guys that bit on that add. As the story goes, they had to go the the train depot and pick them up. What they received, was pallets of parts, but not enough to assemble even one running vehicle, let alone two. ------------- I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Ps 27 |
Posted By: HudCo
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 10:39pm
| last year we worked on a ether a 42 or 46 one of those years their wasnt production model cars dont remember but a jeep 3a, the brass tag had the serial number and made by ford motor company and this one was all orinanal and not restored , the old guy that owns it bought it new at an surplus auction in the late 50s , we had it there to adjust the brakes and repair the exhuast and muffler |
Posted By: HudCo
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2021 at 10:39pm
| sorry modal 2a |
Posted By: Joe(OH)
Date Posted: 07 Jul 2021 at 12:32pm
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Ford built the M151 and M151A1 during the Vietnam era. They have a 4 cylinder in them but do have a fully independent rear suspension. ------------- Life is simpler when you plow around the stump. |
Posted By: tadams(OH)
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2021 at 8:36am
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They are hard to find because about all were cut in half before being junked
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Posted By: NEVER green
Date Posted: 09 Jul 2021 at 9:31am
Cheapskate???? The man gave his workers a raise to 5.00 hr, it was unheard of at the time. Your hard on for Ford is unhealthy. ------------- 2-8050 1-7080 6080 D-19 modelE & A 7040 R50 |
Posted By: klinemar
Date Posted: 09 Jul 2021 at 6:16pm
| Henry Ford was a very controversial man! Especially in how he treated his own son and the Gangster Bennett he hired who almost stole the company away! Had Edsel Ford's wife,Henry's wife and Henry Ford the 2nd not confronted Old Henry and threatened to sell their combined shares of Ford Motor forcing the Company to go Public if Henry didn't fire Bennett he would have stole the company. Bennett was in charge of the Ford Police who beat hell out of workers and Union Organizers. All of this with Henry's blessing. He also didn't want Willow Run built for Bomber Production but Edsel went past him to the Government to prevent them from taking over Ford for war Production as Henry and Roosevelt hated one another. |
Posted By: Mactractor
Date Posted: 10 Jul 2021 at 2:48am
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Went to an agricultral trade show down here in 1976 with my dad, a WWII Vet, and came to a display with what we first thought were Willys CJ4 military Jeeps. They were very rare down here since the U.S. Military had left here after the war. Turned out they were Indian made copies (Mahindra). Dad starred sllently at them for a long while before we moved along to look at more tractors. Must have stirred memories from his war service. |
Posted By: DaveKamp
Date Posted: 11 Jul 2021 at 2:40pm
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There were CJ3a and CJ3bs, and CJ5's, and the mil version M38A1... but there was only one Willys Overland CJ-4. It was a prototype. It was skipped over when Kaiser took over from Willys in 1955, pushing the M38A1 rapidly forward to take advantage of the military contracts resulting in the (rapidly cooling) Korean Conflict. Civilian versions of the CJ-5 were ramped up, as they used mostly M38A1 parts. At same time, the stretched version (CJ-6) also went civilian, and camewith the Hurricane (134ci F-head four) up until Kaiser Corp purchased the rights and tooling to manufacture the Buick-designed 'Dauntless' 225ci odd-fire V6. They never offered a six-cyl flathead in the universals, but I wouldn't put it past anyone to pull out the 134ci F-head and slip in a 226ci 6cyl, as they were both Continental "Red Seal" powerplants. I would also NOT be surprised if someone slipped a Willys "Tornado" inline six into an earlier Jeep Universal, although there might've been a little hammer-work required, and mebbie radiator relocation, the performance would have been downright scary. The only CJ-4 'production' was by Mahindra, in India... and that would be totally understandable for any place south of the equator, particularly in NZ and Australia.
------------- Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest. |