Two Fords on different sides

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 02/03/2015 at 14:37 • Filed to: Ford WW2

0

9

During WW2 Ford, finding themselves with factories in each camp, naturally didn't let this get in the way of business and supplied both sides with trucks.

The Wehrmacht got the Maultier:

Ford Canada made the F15 (it carried 15 cwt) for the Canadian and British armies:

thebigbossyboss > Cé hé sin 02/03/2015 at 15:23

0

Interesting. Although not all wars are so clear cut, ww2 it was pretty clear to see who was on the right and wrong sides of history, so it's disappointing that Ford supplied Germany with trucks in a way.

Rock Bottom > thebigbossyboss 02/03/2015 at 16:15

0

They were produced in factories that happened to be inside Germany when shit went south. During the war, on both the Nazi side, and on ours, it was common for the government to essentially order factories to build things Big Brother deemed necessary. If the owners/managers of the factory resisted, the government would remove them from the decision loop and install someone who would do what they were told (likely someone from the military). Ford had a huge manufacturing presence in Europe (mostly in Germany and England) dating to the 1920s (Ford of Germany went live in 1925). The plants were managed and staffed by locals, not American ex-pats, had their own engineering staffs (also local people), and therefore had the choice of making what the government told them to make, or not. In Nazi Germany, you can imagine the punishment for not doing what the government wants...

Furthermore, Ford of Germany was very independent from Ford of North America before the war, and I bet the guys here had very little contact with their counterparts in Germany after national relations soured. If they did, they probably gave orders to preserve the infrastructure and work force as well as is possible, in the interest of long-term survival of the company. That would mean "build their stupid trucks until this mess is all over".

MultiplaOrgasms > thebigbossyboss 02/03/2015 at 16:54

0

But hey, GM wasn't much better anyway, so that's something.

That leaves Chrysler as the only one of the Big Three that didn't support the Nazis in some way or another. *Completely ignores that Chrysler these days is owned by Fiat which is Italian and was therefore an ally of Germany in WW2.*

Cé hé sin > thebigbossyboss 02/03/2015 at 17:11

0

Interestingly, after the war the US government paid compensation of $1.1m for bombing damage.

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > Cé hé sin 02/03/2015 at 17:16

0

There's a guy in my town that owns a restored one of these. He brings it out for parades and Remembrance day and other events. It's very uncomfortable to ride in and the seats are basically flat on the floor.

Cé hé sin > Rock Bottom 02/03/2015 at 17:18

1

Interestingly Ford-Werke were more ambitious than just making trucks and other vehicles. They made turbines for the V2 rocket. They used slave labour for their various activities without any apparent concern by head office who contrived not to know.

ly2v8-Brian > Cé hé sin 02/03/2015 at 20:45

0

Unrelated of sorts (as in it doesn't involve cars) Hitler really liked Henry Ford, on account of Ford's hate for jews. Ford was mentioned in Mein Kampf and Hitler had a fullsize portrait of Mr. Ford next to his desk in his Munich office.

thebigbossyboss > Cé hé sin 02/04/2015 at 08:16

0

Oh wow.

thebigbossyboss > Rock Bottom 02/04/2015 at 08:17

0

I guess this is also true. I could imagine Ford was faced with "do what we tell you or we take your shit, and then make it do what we tell you". It is interesting to see governments appropriate things when things go awry.