THE last Pre War Buick

[CarNucopia]

I'm reading a book right now titled "Freedom's Forge" which is the history of how the US industrial base transitioned to producing arms for the war. They reference the last Buick made before production stopped on February 3, 1942, which is in the picture below. As I'm sure most of you know, the auto industry contributed mightily to the war effort. This book is a pretty interesting account of how it happened.

[Daves1940Buick56S]

I am a huge WW2 history buff - have over 2000 books on it - and I agree with you 100%. And as an engineer I am amazed at what they were able to accomplish in a relatively short time without computers - all of the logistical coordination was done manually. What a lot of people don't realize is that US mobilization actually started in 1939, with a big boost in spring of '40, especially for the Navy and AAF. By late '40 it was assumed that we would be in the war eventually and plans were laid accordingly for production ramp-up, which kind of happened slowly over '41, and then of course the huge increase after 7 Dec. The book sounds interesting and I may have to add it to my stash.

Cheers, Dave

[Daves1940Buick56S]

BTW I wonder if the serial number of the last '42 Buick is known and, if so, the current whereabouts of the vehicle.

[Bill Stoneberg]

Dave,

Do you think we could do it again ?

BTW, I just ordered the book after reading a preview. Just the kind of historical book I enjoy.

[Daves1940Buick56S]

Bill:

It would be very difficult today. Our vertical integration is poor, IOW we need "stuff" from other countries, from some raw materials to finished product. For example, I think our steel production capacity is much reduced from that time. And in my industry, we were subcontracting the construction and stuffing of circuit boards for sensitive intelligence systems to companies in Taiwan. C'est la guerre.

Cheers, Dave

[Guest BigDogDaddy]

On a similar note, last night I watched the History Channel's The World Wars. It is very interesting and I learned a lot. World War I was the first motorized war. I knew that, but I did not know the George Patton was the first person to use motorized vehicle in a war by mounting a machine gun in a car.

The History Channel should do a story on how the auto industry and others made all the difference in WW II.

Phil

[CarNucopia]

One of the facts in the book that stuck in my head was that Ford produced more arms then the entire country of Italy. It's a shame that everyone knows Rosie the Riveter but few people understand the true scale of what was accomplished by the US industrial base.

[Joseph P. Indusi]

It would be impossible today to achieve what they did then or carry out something on the level of the Manhattan Project. In addition to what has been discussed above, consider that today every initiative would need to meet US government procurement, hiring, safety, contracting , purchasing and other regulations.

Joe, BCA 33493

[hidden_hunter]

Bill:

It would be very difficult today. Our vertical integration is poor, IOW we need "stuff" from other countries, from some raw materials to finished product. For example, I think our steel production capacity is much reduced from that time. And in my industry, we were subcontracting the construction and stuffing of circuit boards for sensitive intelligence systems to companies in Taiwan. C'est la guerre.

Cheers, Dave

While obviously not any where near the scale of the U.S, Australia essentially had to do exactly that. We were reliant on British arms prior to world war 2 and that supply route was essentially cut off within a few months of the war starting and continued to be cut off with Japan entering the war, we went from producing pretty much no aircraft for instance in the thirties to being able to design our own. A lot of the industries that sprung up during the war later became the mainstay of the Australia car industry, the Holden FX (designed with Chevrolet) was born out of Holden being concerned that after the war there would be no work for the workers

[Bill Stoneberg]

I bought the book last night and started reading it last night and its great. Cant waitto get home and continue it.

Thanks fopr the reccomendation.

[1967 - 1997 Riviera]

"Do you think we could do it again ?"

Even some of the most basic components required for a large scale, wartime, industrial ramp-up are partially out of our hands. All the 52100 steel used for the balls and rollers of rolling element bearings - no matter who makes the complete bearing - is made by the Japanese in their electric steel furnaces. They have that market all to the themselves, and the concentration of supply would leave us at risk if it was cut-off.

[CarNucopia]

The same types of issues existed back then. Most rubber was sourced from the South Pacific, which was a problem, so they developed synthetic rubbers. Similarly, there was very little steel available for the west coast ship building yards, so they built steel plants to meet the need.

"Do you think we could do it again ?"

Even some of the most basic components required for a large scale, wartime, industrial ramp-up are partially out of our hands. All the 52100 steel used for the balls and rollers of rolling element bearings - no matter who makes the complete bearing - is made by the Japanese in their electric steel furnaces. They have that market all to the themselves, and the concentration of supply would leave us at risk if it was cut-off.

[FLYER15015]

67-97 Riv,

As a sales rep for Certified Alloys, Long beach, Ca., back in the 70's and 80's, I sold truck loads of 52100 and 6150 to the Vermont American investment casting plant in Auburn, Al. They cast their router bits and made drills from these alloys. 52100 is also used to make sewing needles for leather sewing machines.

We made over 300 different alloys from 8620 to all the tool steel grades in induction furnaces ranging from 1K# to 6K#'s. We also had a 25 ton arc furnace with an AOD unit.

We poured 15# ingots for use in the investment casting foundries.

As of last week they are still alive and kicking.

Mike in Colorado