| old green | -- 12-10-2009 @ 3:52 PM |
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I think I asked this a while back and don't remember the answers(oldage). Does the "LB" on my firewall ID plate mean it was built in Long Beach? (34 cabriolet)
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| 42wagon | -- 12-10-2009 @ 5:16 PM |
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The tag on your firewall is a body number plate and has nothing to do with the assembly plant. Ford did not start adding a code for the assembly plant until late 47 or 48.
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| trjford8 | -- 12-10-2009 @ 6:56 PM |
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Since you have a cabriolet the LB on the body plate probably means LeBaron. They made bodies for Ford. Ford did not make all their own bodies. They sub-contracted to Murray, Briggs,and LeBaron. Many outside companies supplied Ford with grilles, radiators,brakes(Bendix),radios,clocks etc. You may find the Ford logo on many parts, but that does not mean that the part was made by Ford.The Ford logo means that it was an authorized part.
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| 42wagon | -- 12-11-2009 @ 3:11 AM |
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trjford8 Add to that list hinges. The hinges on my Model A have Stanley stamped on the inside where you won't find it unless you take the hinge off the car. Also Trico made the windshield wipers. I bet the list could go on and on. Ted
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| trjford8 | -- 12-11-2009 @ 7:22 AM |
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42wagon, that's interesting about the hinges. I used to own Model A's and never closely examined the hinges when I removed them. I suspect that Ford also used suppliers that were close to the various assembly plants which cut down on shipping costs. Here's one more outside supplier; Sparton in Jackson ,Michigan made the horns for Ford.
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| supereal | -- 12-11-2009 @ 9:48 AM |
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A good many "vendors" were actually a Ford subsidiary. Philco is a good example. Some were bought when it was more profitable, or tax advantaged to do so, than to buy the parts outright. It also prevented the manufacture of parts for competitors, or the access to proprietary info. Now, the pendulum is swinging the other way, and manufacturers are refusing to allow non-owned companies access to specifications necessary to make replacement parts. Import parts, particularly, are becoming very expensive due to this movement, some prices increasing at 30% or more annually.
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| ford38v8 | -- 12-11-2009 @ 12:07 PM |
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The Ford Motor Company, in the early years, was branded by it's competitors as an "assembler" of automobiles, rather than as a manufacturer of automobiles. This was in fact true, as Ford used engines manufactured by the Dodge Brothers, all the way down to small parts. Even into the '30s, Ford used bodies from several outside manufacturers. This practice was not exclusive to Ford, by a long shot. (You'll remember seeing the "Body By Fisher" logo on sill plates of GM products well into modern times). In the '20s and '30's, Ford reversed the trend. Ford's Rouge plant was the largest most complete manufacturing center in the world. The 16 million square feet of floor area was served by 120 miles of conveyors. Ford had a fleet of ships on the Great Lakes to directly serve the plant with iron ore. Coke ovens, steel furnaces, rolling mills, stamping presses, engine casting, frames, transmissions, glass, tires, radiators, all were manufactured here. The Rouge power plant produced enough electricity to light Detroit. There was soy bean plastic auto parts made onsite and at many small Ford owned factories in Michigan. Within the Rouge, there were 100 miles of railroad track and 16 locomotives. Outside, Ford owned the DT&I railroad to serve distribution to outlying plants. With all this performed inhouse, however, Ford Still had over 6000 outside suppliers. Never was the Rouge completely self sufficient as was claimed, although it came much closer than any other Auto manufacturer has at any time in history. Much of the Rouge complex today is not owned by Ford, including the river frontage and ore docks, and the steel plant. The Rouge was almost closed in the last of the 20th century, and today employs "only" 7000 Ford men and women. Alan This message was edited by ford38v8 on 12-11-09 @ 12:08 PM
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| supereal | -- 12-11-2009 @ 1:41 PM |
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A recent edition of the Sunday NEW YORK TIMES featured a photograph of the interior of the Rouge plant showing it to be in shambles with the floor littered with junk and windows broken out. It appears to be a metaphor for the US auto industry. I last visited that plant in 1967, when they were building Mustangs and Cougars on the same line. It was an amazing beehive of activity. How sad. I'd bet if they dug Henry up today, they'd find him face down!
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| Stroker | -- 12-11-2009 @ 3:47 PM |
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In 1953, I was an 8th Grader, but got permission to go with my dad to Detroit to pick up a new car. the catch was, that upon my return, I had to give a "report" to my class. While Dad was picking up the car at the factory, I got to tour Rouge. They were "stamping-out" parts for 53 Fords; and one of the most memorable areas was the glass plant, where we saw how they mated the two pieces of glass with the (at that point opaque) plastic "safety layer". Lots of times the pieces didn't quite match, and it would go into the scrap heap. Of particular interest to me as well were the acres of un-machined flathead blocks "ageing" on tall stacks of pallets. Dad explained to me the virtues of outside storage of complex castings, to "stabilize" the parts before final machining. Little did we know that those flathead's would be "history" at least in the U.S. within the next year. The "report" went well.
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| supereal | -- 12-12-2009 @ 10:34 AM |
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Dan, when I was there, I watched them "adjust" the doors on Mustangs at the end of the assembly line with a rubber covered sledge hammer. They had a repair floor about the size of an airplane hangar to receive cars that couldn't be driven off the line. From the amount of cars there, it looked like a good many fit that description.
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