Ford Assembly Plants

Topics Last Day Last Week Tree View    Getting Started Formatting Troubleshooting Program Credits    New Messages Keyword Search Contact Moderators Edit Profile Administration
Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: Ford Assembly Plants
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Saturday, September 08, 2012 - 11:04 pm:

Got to thinking today about my 15 touring (wide track). I believe it has been here in the Florida Panhandle since it was new.

Were there any other Ford assembly plants, or did all American T's start life in Michigan?

Thanks
schuh


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dave Huson, Berthoud, Co. on Sunday, September 09, 2012 - 01:48 am:

Bud Holzschuh:

I understand The Gates Plant in Denver started out as a Ford Assembly plant.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michael Deichmann, Blistrup, Denmark on Sunday, September 09, 2012 - 03:53 am:

Over the years - Ford assembly plants popped up all over the US and abroad: 1911 Manchester, UK, 1919 Copenhagen Denmark to mention the 2 first European assembly plants.

There was a thread last year I think where some charts was published originating from some catalogs (Sparepart catalogs) showing all the plants at the time.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker on Sunday, September 09, 2012 - 06:38 am:

Bud or schuh – which do you prefer?

From the 1915 “Enclosed Car” Ford brochure probably published late 1914 or early 1915 it shows the following listings:



From the 1926 Ford Factories booklet we have the following:







I believe the cars rolled off the assembly line at what the “1926 Ford Factories” calls “Assembly Plants” and the “Manufacture and Assembly” plant locations but not the other locations such as “Manufacturing Plants only” or the “Service Plants.” For example “Iron Mountain” is listed as a Factory but not an Assembly Plant. It produced wood for use in the bodies during the Model T era (and Ford station wagon bodies later). And in many cases what started out as a Branch initially did not have cars rolling off an assembly line but later they would. And in the case of some – they later reverted back to a branch that did not assemble cars but only serviced them etc.

From calendar year 1921 onwards we have detailed information on how many vehicles and what type of vehicles were produced at each location. But for 1920 and earlier I have not located a document that compiles that type of information. Note cars were normally shipped to the dealer from the nearest branch unless they could be shipped for less money from a branch further away but that the shipping was less. In the case of the panhandle of Florida, the nearest branches shown in the 1926 booklet were Atlanta, New Orleans, and Jacksonville. In the case of New Orleans it was not listed anywhere in the 1915 listings so your car would not have come from there. In the case of Jacksonville, it did not start producing cars until 1924 [when it produced 2,234 cars and trucks – for 1925 calendar year it produced 35,687 vehicles.]

The above leads me to believe if your 1915 touring was sold new in the panhandle of Florida it most likely would have been assembled in Atlanta GA. Remember the original owner may have purchased it while on a trip to a large city etc. Some folks would actually go to one of the factories/assembly branch plants y to purchase their car. I know of a 1928 Model A Tudor where the original owner drove from South Carolina to the plant in Charlotte NC to pick up his 1928 Model A Ford. I do not know how often or what time frames that may have happened during the Model T era.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Jelf, Parkerfield KS on Sunday, September 09, 2012 - 10:36 am:

We learned in fifth grade U.S. history that the North was industrial and the South was agricultural. The 1915 factory list shows us that fifty years after the war only four of the 28 Ford factories were in the former Confederacy: Atlanta, Memphis, Dallas, and Houston. By 1926 Charlotte, Jacksonville, and New Orleans were added.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By George Button III (Chip), Lake Clear, NY on Sunday, September 09, 2012 - 12:43 pm:

Hap, thanks, this is great info....Chip


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Mahaffey on Sunday, September 09, 2012 - 08:24 pm:

The old Ford assembly plant at 465 Ponce de Leon Ave in Atlanta is still there. It tried to burn down multiple times, and there were times when the city wanted to tear it down, but the place was built with unusual rigor. It's solid bricks, concrete, and a lot of steel. The water tower is still on top of the building, and the railroad tracks still run past it. It's now a multi-use residential/commercial building.

A lot of Fords were built there.

Jim


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gavin Harris (Napier, NZ) on Sunday, September 09, 2012 - 08:48 pm:

James,

it looks like the street numbering system may have changed since then. It is now 699 Ponce De Leon Avenue and features a gay bar called "The Model T"


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michael Mullis on Monday, September 10, 2012 - 09:32 am:

The Model T assembly plant in Charlotte NC is still standing.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Mahaffey on Monday, September 10, 2012 - 09:37 am:

Gavin,

Ha! I should not be surprised by the bar. I admit that I haven't noticed the street address for a couple of decades, but for as long as I can remember the number 465 was in gold leaf on a door facing Ponce de Leon. They may have divided it up into multiple addresses for a number of businesses.

Back in the 60's, the building was the induction center for the U.S. Army. The front of the building was fire-bombed a couple of times, but it was hard to tell the next morning that anything had happened. The place is as fire-proof as a building can be.

Next door is the old Sears & Roebuck building, built in 1927, I think. It's a huge, multi-story brick structure. When I was a kid, it was a great place to go at Christmas time and see the huge Lionel Train layout in the basement. Like the Ford plant, it's still there because it would take too much dynamite to bring it down.

Jim


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michael Mullis on Monday, September 10, 2012 - 09:41 am:

Fords Statesville Ave. plant in Charlotte is still standing. I don't know about the old 6thSt. Address


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Lodge - St Louis MO on Monday, September 10, 2012 - 09:57 am:

The Ford assembly plant in St Louis has been turned into upscale lofts.

http://www.westendlofts.com/index.php?page=home


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dan Treace, North FL on Monday, September 10, 2012 - 10:54 am:

The Jacksonville FL Ford plant still remains today, but its in ruins.....you can view pictures of it in its prime, and in its ruin today.

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-jan-inside-the-ford-motor-company- assembly-plant


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Frank Harris from Long Beach & Big Bear on Monday, September 10, 2012 - 12:37 pm:

We had a beautiful red brick Ford assembly plant in Wilmington, CA located on Henry Ford Ave. It had lots and lots of windows and being right next to the water they could open them up on hot days for natural air conditioning. Ships loaded and unloaded materials from their docks. They also had train tracks. They closed in about 1957 or so. I think it opened up when they began making Model A Fords in late 1927. My dad bought one of the first ones in San Pedro just five miles from the plant and it was a Standard Roadster and had a multiple disk clutch and a red steering wheel so it must have been an AR I think ?

There was supposedly a plant in Los Angeles too so they must have closed that one when they opened up the Wilminton plant. The also later built a Lincoln - Mercury plant in Pico Rivera just 30 miles north of Wilminton very close to Whittier. When it closed Northrop made the stealth bombers there.

My cousin and I used to sit outside of the fence and watch the drivers drag race them off of the assembly line. Sometimes they would race them backwards burning rubber all the way to the end of the line where the parked them for shipment. That was from 1949 through 1956. After that I was teaching and got married and didn't have time to watch the drag racing.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Monday, September 10, 2012 - 05:30 pm:

Hap

Wow - your a wealth of information. Thanks for taking the time to explain.

I know the family that originally purchased the car were not well to do and I think a trip to even Atlanta would have been a strain for them.

I'm guessing it was probably made in Atlanta but purchased from a dealer locally (locally could have been Tallahassee). Time for me to get to the local history section of my library and see if I can find the nearest dealer.

Thanks again

schuh

PS (Either Bud or schuh will do, but since college all my close friends have called me schuh.)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michael Mullis on Monday, September 10, 2012 - 09:00 pm:

Here's the Charlotte NC Statesville Ave. plant as it looks today.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Jelf, Parkerfield KS on Monday, September 10, 2012 - 11:58 pm:

I remember crossing the drawbridge on Henry Ford Avenue and looking down on the new Fords parked outside the assembly plant. Due to the land sinking from oil extraction, they were below sea level behind a dike.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gavin Harris (Napier, NZ) on Friday, September 14, 2012 - 06:15 pm:

I see on the list above, posted by Hap, that Ford had a Branch or Service Station at 1550 Woodward Avenue, Detroit.

The Street Numbers were changed c1920 and the new Number would be approx 7550 (near Lothrop Rd)

Does anyone know what Ford had here ?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Luke Dahlinger on Friday, September 14, 2012 - 07:47 pm:

It was a Service building & showroom. This building still exists at 7310 Woodward but has been heavily remodeled and does not look like it did during the Ford era.

This building is another of Albert Kahn's design for Ford Motor Co.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gavin Harris (Napier, NZ) on Friday, September 14, 2012 - 11:01 pm:

Thanks Luke,

Approx how many stories ?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gavin Harris (Napier, NZ) on Friday, September 14, 2012 - 11:08 pm:

Found it I think.
Now the Detroit Police Dept.?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Luke Dahlinger on Friday, September 14, 2012 - 11:36 pm:

Not sure if it's Detroit PD or not. Perhaps someone from the Dearborn/Detroit contingent of the forum will chime in.

Originally it was 4 stories but additional stories were added in 1913 after it was built. My files aren't handy at the moment so I'm just going off memory.

Here's a couple links showing the property.
http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/17082424/7310-Woodward-Detroit-MI/

http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=43807


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gavin Harris (Napier, NZ) on Saturday, September 15, 2012 - 12:35 am:

Thanks Luke,

Yes, that is the one.

Anyone have any photos of this building when it was in Ford livery?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susanne on Monday, September 17, 2012 - 03:17 pm:

The San Francisco branch was torn down a number of years ago to build an elementary school and parking structure. But they'd been building cars since the mid-teens... Also the Panama-Pacific Expo (1915 San Francisco) had a "Ford Pavilion" that touted an "assembly line" where they built cars and then sold them through local dealers. (my '15 allegedly is one of these cars by the equipment it has and was missing).

There are a few pictures of this, one in a tabletop collage of the expo in a local burger stand (Reds Java House) in SF, another in one of the UC Photo Collections.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susanne on Monday, September 17, 2012 - 03:30 pm:

It's kinda interesting, as a side note - if you google maps (then street view) you can see some of the original plants still there - for example, the Buffalo "branch" - you can still see the outline of the letters "FORD" on the smokestack... ;)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michael Mullis on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - 12:30 am:

The photo that I posted earlier isn't the Charlotte Ford assembly plant. I actually drove by the building today, for the first time, and it's far too small to be an assembly plant. A little bit of "fact" verification gave the correct answer. This building is the boiler house of the Ford assembly plant.
The assembly plant is still standing next to the boiler house but I didn't take any pictures of that structure. I will return and get a few pics of the sight and post them.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Spaziano, Bellflower, CA. on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - 01:06 am:

Did a Google search on the address of the Los Angeles plant. The building still stands today.

The address is listed as 2030 E. Seventh Street. It appears that this is the address assigned to the office at the end of the building. The main part of the building runs along Santa Fe Avenue. The building can be seen very well in the Google street view. This was definitely an assembly plant.

At the far end of the building along Santa Fe on the same side as the Ford building, just across the small side street, was the home of Associated Gear. At one time, Clyde Sturdy who owned Associated Gear owned and raced the red and white So. Cal. Speed Shops belly tank car. They also made at least one set of timing gears for the late La Rue Thomas which he used in one of his famous Long Beach Hill Climbers.

As I've said before in previous posts here, since my '26 Touring was originally sold by Fortner and Loud on Colorado Street in Pasadena, the chances are pretty good that my car was assembled at this plant. Unfortunately there's no way to verify this.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - 10:39 pm:

Mike,

Actually there might be a way to verify where your 1926 Touring was originally assembled. Some, but not all Ford Assembly Plants stamped the car body with a Branch Assembly letter or letters. Some included a date. For the 1926-27 Canadian cars it is located on the engine side of the firewall near where the radiator rod connects to the firewall. For the 1926-27 USA cars that have a Branch Assembly letter and number, it is usually found on the metal rail that holds up the front floor board. Either beneath the front seat or the side rails. For additional details please see:
Summary: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/111490.html
One built San Francisco see: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/171443.html
Photo of SF for San Francisco see: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/155009.html
A few repeats: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/270020.html
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/298544.html
If you find a letter or number, please let me know what it is, where you found it, etc.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Spaziano, Bellflower, CA. on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 12:49 am:

Hap,

Just took a quick look at my car. It's 9:33 pm. here in So. Cal. so I didn't take a real good look yet. The car is in the garage and the drivers door is inaccessible the way it's parked.

I did lift the floor mat and floorboard and gave a look with a flashlight. There are no visible marks of any type on the stamped sheet metal in front of or to the right of the front seat. I didn't attempt to completely remove the floorboard because that task is a royal pain. No markings on the firewall either.

There is a number stamped on the frame rail on the passenger side, just below the floorboard. It matches the engine serial number but, I have reason to believe that this number was stamped there by the previous owner when he restored the car in 1977.

I'll keep looking and let you know what I find. The weekend is only three days away. Hopefully, it won't be roasting here again like it has been for the past month.

Thanks,

Mike.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Roger Karlsson, southern Sweden on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 05:13 am:

I think it's more common to find assembly plant markings in the steel subframe of closed 26/27 Fords. I've heard the floorboards sometimes were marked - Mike, do you still have what looks like original floorboards?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 08:10 am:

For Mike,

Thanks for looking and please let us know if you find anything later. You should not repeat not need to remove the floorboards to see the number. If there is one there on the 1926-27 USA cars it is normally visible with the floorboards still in place. We know that Ford began adding the branch assembly markings sometime around the 1926 model year but we do not know when they actually began the practice. We also do not know when the individual plants began the markings or even if most were stamping them by the end of 1927 production or not. We do know, thanks to the great research effort by Dave Sturges’ “Model A Assembly Plant and Body Number” article (PDF file located at: http://www.mafca.com/data_assembly.html ) that with the introduction of the USA produced Model A Fords, apparently almost all the USA and Canadian branch assembly plants were marking their cars (I do not remember if it included Australia or other countries). However, there still were some cars produced that were not marked for one reason or another. I have not yet been able to locate an assembly plant marking on my 1931 Slant Windshield Town Sedan. And it has a very rust free body, so I do not believe the number rusted away etc.

Note so far only the Canadian and Australian cars appear to stamp the branch assembly number on the engine side of the firewall for the 1926-27. I also do not know if the 1926-27 Canadian and Australian Ton Trucks that continued to use the 1924-25 high firewall did or did not stamp a branch assembly number on that firewall. If anyone has access to one or more of those 1926-27 Canadian or Australian TTs please let us know if you do or do not find a number.
And while we are looking, if someone knows of any other branch assembly plant numbers stamped there, please let us know. For example -- did England, New Zealand, South Africa etc. stamp any numbers and if so where?

Thanks to every one for their clues and data they discover and share. One day I hope we have enough data points to be able to say this number indicates this plant and a time frame of this month and year for the 1926-27 cars.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michael Mullis on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 01:11 pm:

Here is the Charlotte NC Plant
1920s



today


Posting is currently disabled in this topic. Contact your discussion moderator for more information.
Topics Last Day Last Week Tree View    Getting Started Formatting Troubleshooting Program Credits    New Messages Keyword Search Contact Moderators Edit Profile Administration