Peacenik or Patriot?

During World War I, Henry Ford, Sr. described himself as a pacifist and used a peace ship to raise anti-war sentiment. After the United States entered the conflict, Ford would become the largest manufacturer of Liberty Motors for aircraft. This contradicted his earlier stance as he seemed to be playing the peace activist card, while also being a war profiteer. In contrast to that situation, Ford and Ford Motor Co. made giant contributions to the “Arsenal of Freedom” before and after America entered World War II.

Among other things, Ford — under Henry’s direct guidance — expanded its manufacturing facilities in Dearborn, Mich., to increase its ability to handle national defense work. These efforts included the rapid construction of a new $11 million factory to produce 4,000 or more air-cooled engines for United States Army airplanes. This plant was built in addition to the $21 million airplane engine factory that was nearing completion at Ford’s Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Mich. around March of 1941 and a giant plant that would be constructed in Willow Run, Mich., to crank out huge B-24 bombers.

In 1941, a new naval training station for recruits in the nation’s defense forces was also rushed to completion on property adjacent to Ford’s Rouge plant, also in Dearborn. At about the same time, Ford of Canada had 11,000 men at work in a Windsor, Ontario factory building a variety of military vehicles for the British Empire’s soldiers. In the spring of 1941, the initial work commenced on construction of the Willow Run bomber plant.

As military vehicle collectors know, Ford also designed several Jeep-like reconnaissance cars for the U.S. Army to test. The first two of these — delivered to the U.S. Army at Camp Holabird, Md., on Nov. 23, 1940 — included a unit called the Pygmy and one with a Budd body that wound up not being tested. The Pygmy was tested to see how it fared against pilot vehicles from other auto makers. In 1948, Henry Ford, Sr. donated the Pygmy to the Henry Ford Museum. In 1982, it was sold to a private military vehicle collector and it is now in the U.S. Veterans Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Ala.

Ultimately, the Army selected a design by Willys-Overland as the best reconnaissance and command car. Since Willys did not have the factory capacity to make as many of these cars as the government needed, Ford produced a close version of the Willys Jeep that it called the GPW. “GP” stood for General Purpose and the “W” stood for Willys. Henry made certain that his name was stamped on the tailgate. There were also other minor design variances, such as “F’s” stamped into the cylinder head bolts.

Around June 1941, Major General Edmund B. Gregory, Quartermaster General of the Army, inspected a GPW, along with a number of other major National Defense Projects that Ford Motor Co. was rushing to complete. Apparently, he and other military decision makers were happy with “Ford’s Jeep” and approved it for wartime use. Ultimately, more than 300,000 GPWs would be built, with many of them being shipped to the Russian Front.

The April 1941 Ford News reported that mass production of the reconnaissance cars (Ford GPWs) had begun. “Though hundreds of special automotive units for the army had been produced in Ford plants in recent months, the first big job for national defense got underway at Dearborn on February 28, when production was officially commenced on an initial $1,387,500 order for 1,500 Army command reconnaissance cars,” the story read. “With General Charles H. Bonesteel (commanding the Sixth Corps Area) at his side, Edsel Ford drove the first of these new units off the final assembly line at the Rouge Plant. The ceremony, which was broadcast by radio, was attended by ranking Army officers, officials of the company and representatives of the press. Following the ceremony, a number of the unusual units were taken out of the plant and tested over difficult terrain.”

General Bonesteel and Edsel Ford climbed into one of the 80-inch wheelbase cars and “bounced over frozen ground” according to a Ford News account. The two men climbed precipitous inclines in the GPW and rumbled back and forth over railroad tracks. Then, they sped across an open field at a reported 60 mph (although 55 mph was probably top speed). The GPW had snap-on canvas door opening covers and tire chains on all the wheels.

The article mentioned that the 2,100-lb. reconnaissance cars were designed to be light in weight and small enough to be concealed in a field, if soldiers wanted to hide. It said that the four-cylinder engine used was a 15-hp type adapted from the Ford farm tractor. The cars had an overall length of 127.5 feet and were just 38 inches high at the cowl. In addition to wartime black-out lights at both ends, the cars came equipped with headlights that could be swung around to throw light on the engine during field repairs.

Other special equipment on the cars included a brush guard across the front to keep bushes and other obstacles from damaging the radiator. A small photo showed two of the Ford reconnaissance cars — one with the windshield folded forward and one with an upright windshield — racing along side-by-side with all wheels not touching the ground.

In the fall of 1941, Henry and Edsel Ford presented 300 food vans to the Lord Mayor of London, Sir George Wilkinson, in a ceremony. Lord Perry, the chairman of the Ford Motor Co., Ltd., said that the vans would be used to provide organized distribution of food to Brits whose homes had been wrecked by German air raids.

By 1942, America had been pulled into the war and Ford’s national defense projects were almost or fully completed. The new plant where Pratt and Whitney airplane engines would be manufactured under license was built and opened on a tight timeline. On Aug. 22, 1940, Edsel and company officials visited the Pratt and Whitney plant in East Hartford, Conn. Less than a month after that, ground was broken for the 1,408 x 360-ft. Ford plant. The first piece of structural steel was erected on Nov. 23, 1940 and by Jan. 24, 1941 the structural steel framework was completed four days ahead of schedule.

Mechanics and engineers moved into completed sections of the plant by April Fool’s Day. Twenty-nine days later limited production started. On June 1, 1941, classes opened in the Aircraft Apprentice School in the building’s front interior area. By July 25, Edsel Ford threw the ignition switch to start a Pratt and Whitney engine on a test housing. The first engine left the assembly line on August 15, just 11 months after ground was broken. By September 2, Ford had stepped up production to one engine per day.

On March 28, 1941, the first ground had been cleared for the 3,200 x 1,280-ft. Willow Run plant, where B-24 Liberator bombers were to be made. By April 18, ground was broken and excavation began. Two days later, concrete for foundation footings was poured. By May 1, a new railroad spur was laid to the 1,100-acre plant site. Less than two weeks later, the first piece of the enormous structural steel framework was erected.

Pouring of the concrete floors began on June 25. By Aug. 15, the first brick walls were started. On Sept. 1, the first machinery for building the Consolidated B24E bomber arrived at the $47,620,171 plant. Later, the building would be redesigned to avoid facing property taxes from two counties. A turntable was used to spin the planes around so that the mile-long assembly line turned right, instead of going straight across the county line.

To show off its 1942 civilian cars in the fall of 1941 (just before the Pearl Harbor attack led to the cessation of civilian model production), Ford held a preview in Dearborn. In addition to showcasing the latest Fords, Mercurys and Lincolns, the event included tours of the company’s defense production activities for branch managers, company executives and several hundred newspaper and magazine editors. The attendees were shuttled between Dearborn and Willow Run on streamlined buses and wined and dined.

Photos were snapped of the writers and editors inspecting and sitting inside GPWs. The caption under a photo of eight men checking out one such vehicle read, “Writers covering the 1942 Ford preview got behind the wheel in some of the speedy, quarter-ton reconnaissance cars which are rolling from the Rouge assembly lines by the hundreds for use in the United States Army’s new mechanized forces. While at Dearborn, they saw many other Ford-built units being turned out for use in U.S. defense.”

In Dearborn, Ford’s R.H. McCarroll gave the editors a talk about the company’s efforts to curtail or eliminate the use of scarce metals in Ford cars and trucks to preserve those materials for the national defense effort. The use of aluminum, nickel, magnesium, zinc, copper, lead, tin and tungsten was reduced. “This conservation of defense essentials is the result of long study,” McCarroll told them. “It is important to remember that Ford started to conserve these defense materials even before there was any request or legal requirement.” He revealed that some cutbacks in 1941 models had been made earlier.

The program led to redesigning or eliminating fender moldings; running boards; hood side panels; bright metal windshield and window trim; wheel rings; headlamp retainers; rear lamps; parking lamps; dash trim; hood ornaments; bright radiator grilles; instrument bezels; license plate lamp bodies; door handle and lock assemblies; horn rings; hood medallions; bumper bars and guards; license plate guards and hub caps.

By the end of World War II, Ford had completely assembled 86,865 aircraft, 57,851 airplane engines and 4,291 glider planes for the military. Some sources say that Ford plants built a total of 277,896 tanks, armored cars and GPWs, while others say that “over 300,000” GPWs alone were made. Additionally, a large amount of civilian-style cars and trucks were delivered to the government for various wartime uses. Ford also produced “military vehicles” such as supply trucks, weapons carriers, food delivery vans, armored cars and tank-like units in Canada, England and other parts of the British Empire. For a fellow with self-professed pacifist leanings, Henry was quite an American patriot.