How far were cars shipped from the assembly plant?

[freak]

When they were first sent to a dealer, about how far did the cars ship from the assembly plant. For example my car was made in Chicago, would it have stayed in the Chicago area or could it have been shipped many states away?

[Mike V. Florida]

It would be reasonable to say that the cars would have been shipped from the closest assembly plant to the closest dealer. That is, I would not expect a car to be delivered from a plant past another plant to a dealer.

[spdway1]

[Steve Plucker]

If you were to go to my website and review the Bill of Sale chapter, there you will find the listings of the USA assembly plants and their sales area for which each plant was responsible for.

Once out of the assembly plant, cars and trucks were shipped to the dealers by several means, Drive-A-Ways (where a dealer sent a number of men to the assembly plant and drove the cars or trucks back to their dealership), car/truck truck haulers (as seen above), by rail or even ship.

When the Model A was brand new and shown to the public on December 2, 1927, not all plants were open and those that were shipped some of their newly assembled cars to those plants not yet open, for distribution in their sales area.

In other words, there could of been cars and or trucks assembled at the Kearny plant but were shipped to the Jacksonville plant for distribution in that area.

My 1929 Tudor was assembled in Seattle sometime in early February 1929 and ended up being sold brand new in La Grande, Oregon a few weeks later...La Grande is in the Portland, Oregon sales area.

Just how it got from Seattle to La Grande is anyones guess.

Probably more than you wanted to know but interesting.

Pluck

[Marco Tahtaras]

Originally Posted by Steve Plucker

If you were to go to my website and review the Bill of Sale chapter, there you will find the listings of the USA assembly plants and their sales area for which each plant was responsible for.

Once out of the assembly plant, cars and trucks were shipped to the dealers by several means, Drive-A-Ways (where a dealer sent a number of men to the assembly plant and drove the cars or trucks back to their dealership), car/truck truck haulers (as seen above), by rail or even ship.

When the Model A was brand new and shown to the public on December 2, 1927, not all plants were open and those that were shipped some of their newly assembled cars to those plants not yet open, for distribution in their sales area.

In other words, there could of been cars and or trucks assembled at the Kearny plant but were shipped to the Jacksonville plant for distribution in that area.

My 1929 Tudor was assembled in Seattle sometime in early February 1929 and ended up being sold brand new in La Grande, Oregon a few weeks later...La Grande is in the Portland, Oregon sales area.

Just how it got from Seattle to La Grande is anyones guess.

Probably more than you wanted to know but interesting.

Pluck

OR.... The Tudor bodies were built in Seattle and shipped to Portland for finishing and assembly to a chassis. I wonder if Phaeton bodies (or another model) were built in Portland and shipped to Seattle to fill their needs???

[Steve Plucker]

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Originally Posted by Marco Tahtaras

OR.... The Tudor bodies were built in Seattle and shipped to Portland for finishing and assembly to a chassis. I wonder if Phaeton bodies (or another model) were built in Portland and shipped to Seattle to fill their needs???

Good thought...Very well could have.

Pluck

[RonC]

So were there Ford plants that were better tooled to make certain body styles?

[Pinstripe]

That's an interesting question; were all the plants capabilities the same?

[Steve Plucker]

Originally Posted by RonC

So where there Ford plants that were better tooled to make certain body styles?

That is a great question RonC.

I do know that DeAngles, Francis and Henry in their book "The Ford Model A...As Henry Built It", that they came up with three designations of the Ford assembly plants (can not remember what they are right off), describing what they could do "assembly wise".

Just how they came up with those designations and just where they discovered the information (Ford Archives?) is beyond me. Just a few plants were mentioned in each catagory if I remember right and what the others were I have no idea.

We do know that practicly all Model A body types were assembled at all of the plants due to Ford's Assembly Type Records.

Of corce the Briggs and Murray bodies were assembled, I think, in their respective plants and shipped to the Ford plants by rail. Maybe someone can correct me on that thought.

Sorry I could not be of more help.

Pluck

[whirnot]

Mine was shipped 9 blocks. From 900 South Broadway in Denver, to Alameda & Broadway. I am guessing it was driven.

[Big John]

Since they were sold and driven around the world, could'nt they have been sold then shipped to foreign customers ? Not all A's were manufactured in the states.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Appears sometimes very far in some cases, but in different times, by different routes & in different ways & methods.

FWIW:

Also some of our auto vacation trips in the late 1940's took 2 to 3 days with sometimes following hay wagons pulled by mules on farm to market back roads in hills, and where today this same 3 day auto trip can be accomplished in one day with Interstates.

Some may remember in the early 1950's seeing boat loads of new cars efficiently coming down the Mississippi River on multiple barges pushed by tug boats.

Earlier multiple barges prior to WWII I was told were pushed by paddle wheel boats -- it is documented that far more barges were pushed back then before laws that regulated numbers of barges were enforced.

Car carrying trucks later became more popular as major thoroughfare highways & Interstate highways were built -- appears when all transportation methods changed, so did the numbers & the locations of plants coupled with modern production changes & methods.

Appears our ancestors always found a logical vintage way to conduct business.

[Jeff/Illinois]

Interesting thread!

I believe I read in Peter Winnewisser's book,that the Kansas City branch had the largest number of dealers to service. Also,that the Long Beach branch opened in 1931, but was closed not too many years later?

So, things were changing all the time with the Branch Depots and regional assy. Plants. Maybe a plant close to KC even sent inventory to that sales area to help meet demand??

[Ron in Quincy]

My Light Delivery, A1276, my Avatar, was built at the Rouge on December 3, 1927.

The cowl assembly ended up at the Kentucky Wagon Mfg. Co. in Louisville, KY. where the body and rear fenders were installed.

It's next appearance was in Oroville, CA with 4 other As; they arrived via Western Pacific R.R.. These were the first A's delivered to the Ford Dealer, Gaunt and Junker in Oroville; they had no records remaining;This dealership remained at the same location until just a couple of years ago even thou it changed names several times.

I contacted Kentucky Trailer in Louisville, KY; they purchased the business in 1936, changed the name to Kentucky Trailer but disposed of all previous records of Kentucky Wagon Mfg. Co..

Ron Rude

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by Ron in Quincy

My Light Delivery, A1276, my Avatar, was built at the Rouge on December 3, 1927.

The cowl assembly ended up at the Kentucky Wagon Mfg. Co. in Louisville, KY. where the body and rear fenders were installed.

It's next appearance was in Oroville, CA with 4 other As; they arrived via Western Pacific R.R.. These were the first A's delivered to the Ford Dealer, Gaunt and Junker in Oroville; they had no records remaining;This dealership remained at the same location until just a couple of years ago even thou it changed names several times.

I contacted Kentucky Trailer in Louisville, KY; they purchased the business in 1936, changed the name to Kentucky Trailer but disposed of all previous records of Kentucky Wagon Mfg. Co..

Ron Rude

.

I'll never pass up an opportunity to show a few pictures of my favorite 1927 Model-A !!

.

[SHEC]

Greetings -

Our '30 Deluxe Coupe "Annie", was built at the San Francisco Ca. plant (SFA) on 8/6/30. Sold new in Oakland Ca. at H.M. Lawrence Ford on 10/11/30. I have the original pinkslip stating the date and cost ($3.00) to register new.

The car could have been driven around the bay or brought over by ferry as the bridges were not built yet.

Be well -

SHEC

[HillbillyTim]

My 29 Std. coupe was built in Jacksonville FL and sold in Miami FL on Nov 4, 1929.

Tim