Ford Factories

rfitzpatrick said:
Seen many viedos building the A's -- whom builted the Factories?
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Good question. Unlike construction methods of today where companies travel, I feel certain local skilled tradesmen were hired to do each facet. My guess is Ford's engineers knew how they wanted the layout of the assembly and fabrication, so they probably had internal engineers work with a company architect. Maybe Don Swofford who is a noted historical architect (-and Model-A restorer) can offer some insight on when & how Architects in larger cities took on projects such as this.
 
Albert Kahn (architect) did a lot of work for Ford back then, IIRC he designed the factories for the Model T and a lot of them were converted for Model A production.
 
Albert Kahn designed a good portion of them but demographics and time constraints called out for more than one architectural firm for all the different structures in the different cities and at different times. John Graham of Seattle, WA also designed a bunch of them. Ford had 31 branch plants prior to the worst part of the depression in 1932. They had to close most of them. Many were bought by the war department to turn into factories for the War effort.
 
Don called me today and he shared quite a bit of interesting stuff. He rattled off the architect's name and was very familiar the construction process. He will post something later he said.
 
If you ever find yourself in the San Francisco Bay area ( I know,freak show central) Ford Point in Richmond is a must see,a perfectly preserved assembly branch,designed by Kahn.Its part of the 'Rosie the riveter" historic site,Kaiser shipyards is there as well..I have a customer on Kaisers old yards,eat my lunch outside the assembly branch..stunning views of the SF skyline from there,as close as I want to get to that hole..
 
The Ford Long Beach California plant was brand new in early 1930. I think it came on-line about April or May 1930.

Here is a Long Beach plant photo I found when I was researching where my August/September 1930 pickup was built. I think I see my engine in the 86th row, 34th from the left :D

I actually have two photos, but when I tried to load the second photo, the dialog box said: "Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing".

I'm sure someone has other photos to share.
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The Richmond plant replaced the older 5 story branch plant at 21st & Harrison in San Francisco. The first plant was also a sales agency and had elevators to bring the cars & parts up and down. It was a logistical nightmare and couldn't keep up with production so the Richmond plant was built to replace it.
 
Richmond branch has been amazingly preserved,down to the brick security 'shack' at the parking lot gate..power plant,stack and all.The view of the bay bridge and the SF skyline across the bay is a 'million dollar' view...Kaiser launched liberty ships right next door,its where he perfected ship mass production through unit assembly..
 
Not only that brother,Mr Ford was absolutely fastidious about cleanliness,regardless of production demand he would shutdown a process at the Rouge if it wasn't up to standards..of cleanliness
 
John graham architects did some plant work, Ford Life magazine did a couple articles on ford plants. A v8 club member, Kent Jaquith had dozens of photos showing design and testing procedures of plant details.
 
Wow, Brent I am honored...I have two of my step grandchildren living with me now so between that and the 180A, there is little time for anything else but I do know Kahn. He was in my mind the greatest early twentieth century architect engineer and possible the greatest -though unheralded- in the United States. His designs for large windowed working spaces, which was being developed in Europe and in particular Germany was a great leap forward in American Architecture. He did most of the Rouge buildings and...his office continues today in Detriot...I suspect that he did the protype for the Ford agencies across America which was so well referenced in the MAFFI building at Hickory Corners.

Stay tuned
 
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