Quote:
Originally Posted by 59INA40
A '41 Ford German troop transport? Now that will be a pretty amazing transformation.
I guess you know that the USofA wasn't too keen on supplying the Axis with war materiel. I think Mercedes made trucks for the German war effort. Were Unimogs produced that early? Great project and good luck. The left front fender looks to be very salvagable. Steve
|
No - you're right the US wasn't in the habit of supporting the German war effort. But Ford was. They had a plant in Cologne. It ran just fine with US input until Dec 1941 and afterwords still produced Ford designs throughout the war. It was producing Fords the day after the war ended. Plus there were plenty of American built Fords confiscated during the German campaigns in Holland, Belgium and France. The Ford factory in Cologne was never bombed. Not once. Henry Ford didn't want his factory touched and the US knew that. Plus for pragmatic reasons it was good business to have a working vehicle factory after the war ended and there was little doubt that the Allies would carry the day latter on in the war. There is a good book on the subject called Ford at War by Reinhard Frank. Lots of nice photos.
About the fenders, yeah, they'll do just fine. Now I need to find some steel fenders for the back wheels.
Here is a 38 Ford a la German.
Here is the other side of mine:
