Some of you Fordophiles already know about the Soybean Ford of 1941, but for those who think I'm joking, here's the skinny: In 1941 Henry Ford was looking for alternatives to steel for car bodies, which was getting on shorter supply as the war in Eur... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
A Dr here Portland had 46-8 ford Convertible with a factory plastic hood. if still looks great. I had never heard of either before
Iowa did issue license plates made of a plant fiber product to conserve metals. I forget what years (during the war?), but it didn't last more than one or two. The livestock around the farmyards kept eating them.
Great story. I grew up within walking distance of Greenfield Village & the field they grew the soybeans in.
Think I remember a famous pic of Henry swinging a sledge at a trunklid made of this stuff,to show how tough it was.
Hey, guys, Didn't they make the first Crestliner wheels out of some soybean-related product? I have a '50-'51 Crestliner wheel and it's just black plastic (rubberized plastic?), but I've seen plenty of white Crestliner wheels that appear to be made out of some sort of bakelite-y material that could be soybean-related. I think it was '49-'50 only, but I could be wrong. Mr. Jive-Bomber, sir, care to comment?
Great story, thanks for sharing! I wonder if one of these soybean cars is still in a museum (Ford Museum?) somewhere?
I've seen the photo of Henry wacking the trunk lid, but these are the first photos of the complete car to surface. It's short dumpy design reminds me of European or Asian cars of the same period.
A small rabbit. Henry was without a doubt one of America's greatest men and I despise how they portray him these days. Shame he was in his 40s when he really got started because if he had lved another 20 years the auto industry would certainly not be in the mess it is now. regards, DJ
What a visionary. Henry Ford was a man wayyy ahead of his time, and sadly no one seems to give him due credit (other than us guys, that is). This car is ugly, but think about that, fuel injection was still something exotic still being used in high dollar aviation and ford is developing a (dare I say it) "green" plastic to construct cars out of, with safety also in mind! Thanks for posting, this really wowed me!
Far ahead of it's time, but at least it's ugly. Did we ever discuss HF's ill-fated South American rubber-plantation experiment?
Way cool story, I had heard it but have never seen the pictures. Makes me think of a counter point though. Just why do "green" or environmentally friendly cars always have to look so dorky?! Even back then... when damn near everything was cool!
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