Ford Rotunda: From Deco Dream to Flaming Fiasco

Me too, I work at a Ford dealer and always wondered why all the Ford special tools were "Rotunda" brand...

 

Good story there JB! Thanks goin' out to the folks postin' the great history pics. When I got my distributor machine, I was wondering what the heck the 'Rotunda' was. At that time, I didn't know it had anything to do with Ford. Ol' machine works dandy.





Thanks guys.

 

that sign is in Utica mi . a group of men have it to save it

 

I have a friend whose dad was an exec. with ford and when they were changing the china to new stuff he got the old stuff . he has at least a hunderd place settings along with the gravy dishs and creamers and cup and sausers, butter dishes.
he has had offers and no it's not for sale at this time.

 

Thanks Flashback! I've yet to go by there and check it out real good. I'll try this weekend and take some pictures.... I'm only minutes away from that area....

 

I recently saw some really neat pictures of the Rotunda at the Henry Ford museum in Detroit. At the time I didn't know what it was. But, it was so cool that I took pictures of those pictures! It's nice to now know the history of the building!

 

Fascinating thread, thanks alot. And special thanks to all the Michigan folks for posting up your personal stories. I can't get enough of this kind of thing!

 

Another note on Drew Ford; There's a picture of Henry Ford giving Joe Drew the paperwork for the franchise hanging in the showroom

 

excellent history lesson thank you

I've got one of those too

 

One of the real losses was all of the Ford archival material. All the sales information, VIN tracking info and so forth from the 1950's back to the very beginning were housed there and lost in the fire. Alot of the Ford family photos, manufacturing data, material invoices have been lost to history because of the fire. The vast majority of the Model T and A records were lost as well. Luckily all of the information from that time to present is now housed at the Henry in the Benson Ford Research Center.
We use to live there in the early and late 70's when my dad worked at the Glass House. The site were the Rotunda stood was always hollowed ground for Ford people. The foundation and drive stood there for years.

 

a side note on the 34 chicago world fair, my father went to that one and rode in some new car with Barney Oldfield the race car driver being the chaufer!!!
must of rubed off on him sometimes he was a maniac and he rolled his pickup and the lawnmower, kept most of the accidents a secret from me so i would not stop him from driving

 

Sorry for digging up an old thread...

The miniature circus! If this is the same thing I'm thinking of, this was set up over the years at Detroit area malls during the holiday seasons. I remember this at Macomb Mall in Roseville and Eastland Mall in Harper Woods. I haven't seen this set up in probably 25 years. It's a shame it's only set up at the museum now. A lot of kids whose parents won't shell out the $20 entrance fee will never see it

 

The word fiasco should never be used in the same sentence with the Ford Rotunda. This was a beautiful building that was only and exhibit at first but was put to good use by millions.
Lastly the fire wasn't caused by tar. It was caused by a clear sealer that was being used to coat the dome. The unit to heat the sealer failed and fumes from the sealer caught fire and quickly spread.

 

Bump!.....
It was 50 years ago this month that the famous building burned down too the ground...
Sad when you think about it...
I'll try and post some more pictures that I found on Google tomorrow....

 

bump......

 

One more try.....