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March 28, 1941 – Construction begins at Ford’s Willow Run
28Mar By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

March 28, 1941 – Construction begins at Ford’s Willow Run

Construction of Ford Motor Company’s WIllow Run manufacturing plant began on this day in 1941. Ford built it to manufacture aircraft for Allies involved in WWII, which the United States would join the following December.  The plant, located between Ypsilanti and Belleville, Michigan, primarily produced B-24 Liberator bombers. Once full production of the Liberator started in October of 1941 it did not stop until May of 1945. Willow Run produced more than half of all Liberators.  Ford funded the construction of the plant but sold it to the government upon completion, with a lease agreement for Ford’s manufacturing efforts. When the white flags flew, Ford declined to purchase it back, but Kaiser-Frazer was able to secure ownership. In 1953 General Motors purchased...
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March 10, 1983 – Ford Bronco II goes on sale
10Mar By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

March 10, 1983 – Ford Bronco II goes on sale

The Ford Bronco II, the younger and smaller sibling of the full size SUV by the same name, went on sale on this day in 1983. Debuting 17 years after the original Bronco hit showrooms, the baby Bronco became an instant success. The small SUV, which shared a platform with with the new Ford Ranger, remained in production through the 1991 model year. Initially available only as a 4x4, a rear wheel drive option hit dealers for 1986. This was the last 3-door compact SUV Ford produced, until the release of the new Ford Bronco. Top: A Ford Bronco II. Above: The new Ford Bronco lineup (Ford.com) The new Ford Bronco Sport is akin to the Bronco II, while the truck that everyone actually wants aligns with the popular full sized rigs of yesteryear. Those older big boys are now bringing book...
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February 19, 1954 – Ford Thunderbird concept is completed
19Feb By Automotive History4 Comments
Automotive, This Day

February 19, 1954 – Ford Thunderbird concept is completed

The 1954 Ford Thunderbird concept at the Detroit Auto Show Ford Motor Company knew it needed a response, and fast, when Chevrolet rolled out the Corvette prototype in January 1953. Ford unveiled a plan to launch what would become the Thunderbird the very next month. From idea to rolling reality in just one year, the Ford Thunderbird prototype received its finishing touches on this day in 1954. The concept would debut to the public the following day at the Detroit Auto Show. We featured this 1955 Ford Thunderbird in our first episode of Cars & Bars. Watch here. Henry Ford II and William Clay Ford checking out the Thunderbird concept at the Detroit Auto Show in 1954. The Thunderbird would go into production the next fall and officially go on sale as a 1955 model on October 2...
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February 13, 2009 – Final generation of the Ford Taurus SHO debuts
13Feb By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

February 13, 2009 – Final generation of the Ford Taurus SHO debuts

2010 Ford Taurus SHO The Ford Taurus SHO (Super High Output) is a high-performance version of the Ford Taurus that first hit the market for 1989. Ford developed the SHO in response to the growing demand for luxury sport sedans in the late 1980s, such as the BMW M5 and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. While it didn't exactly hit the mark in terms of luxury, it did offer sporty fun at an affordable price. The first-generation SHO received power from a Yamaha-designed 3.0-liter V6 engine that redlined at 7,000 RPMs. This pushed the car to a respectable 140 mph. Other performance-enhancing features include a sport-tuned suspension, larger brakes and Mazda designed 5-speed MTX-IV manual transmission. The Taurus SHO also featured distinctive styling, with unique body panels, 16-inch alloy wheels, and ...
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February 6, 1968 – Bunkie Knudsen becomes President of Ford
6Feb By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

February 6, 1968 – Bunkie Knudsen becomes President of Ford

Bunkie Knudsen with new Chevrolet Auto industry titan Semon Knudsen was born in 1912 to William Knudsen, who himself would later become president of General Motors (1937-1940). His father gave him the nickname Bunkie, referring to the WWI term for bunk mate. The pair had a special bond, and the elder Knudsen knew how to play into his son's interests. When 14-year-old Bunkie asked for a new car, his father gave him a brand new 1927 Chevrolet. The only thing, it was fully disassembled. Bunkie went to work putting the car together piece by piece by hand, a process that cemented an interest in automobiles. His automotive career began after earning an engineering degree from MIT and then taking a low level position at Pontiac in 1939. Like father, like son, he would go on to become a succes...
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January 31, 2000 – The first Ford Explorer Sport Trac is built
31Jan By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

January 31, 2000 – The first Ford Explorer Sport Trac is built

The Ford Explorer Sport Trac, first built on this day in 2000, was a game-changer in the automotive industry. In reality, this vehicle should be the definition of a crossover, as it was the among first pickup trucks to be based on a sport utility vehicle. The unique blend of a mid-size pickup truck the that of an SUV, the Ford Explorer platform, of course, proved to be a popular product for Ford for the first decade of the 2000s. The four door pickup, slotted below the Ford F-Series and above the Ranger, competed with crew cab variants of the Dodge Dakota Chevrolet Colorado, Toyota Tacoma and other similar trucks. Ford Explorer Sport Trac specs 2005 Sport Trac interior. By Theshadow97 - CC BY-SA 4.0 Under the hood of the base Ford Explorer Sport Trac sat a 4.0-liter V6 engine...
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January 27, 1965 – Shelby GT350 goes on sale
27Jan By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

January 27, 1965 – Shelby GT350 goes on sale

The racing circuit changed forever when sales of the 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350 launched on this day in 1965. The Shelby GT350 was based off of 1965 Ford Mustang fastbacks that originally left the San Jose Assembly Plant with a 271 HP 289 V8 and a 4 on the floor. Carroll Shelby had the stock vehicles shipped to Shelby American in Venice Beach, California, and later at Los Angeles International Airport, where his team would first strip the cars of weight. Shelby then added performance upgrades, such as high-riser intake manifolds, a four barrel carburetor and custom exhaust headers, boosting horsepower to 306.  Above: Original ad for the Shelby GT350Cover photo: First generation Ford Shelby GT350 by Brian Corey In 1965 Shelby built 562 GT350s, all painted Wimbledon White wit...
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January 23, 1914 – Alex Tremulis, Cord, Duesenberg & Tucker designer, is born
23Jan By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

January 23, 1914 – Alex Tremulis, Cord, Duesenberg & Tucker designer, is born

Alex Tremulis with his Ford Thunderbird Mexico 3/8 scale concept. Designing a successful, timeless automobile is no simple feat. It takes intuition, vision, a steady hand and an incurable desire for perfection. Automobile designer Alex Tremulis, who was born on this day in 1914, appeared to have all that -- and so much more. His ability to adapt to changing tastes resulted in the design of numerous iconic cars built between the 1930s and 1980s. It all started when a 19-year-old Tremulis landed, who was born in Chicago to Greek immigrants, landed a design job at Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg. The catch? He had no formal training in the art of automobile design. The lack of education perhaps was a gift for Tremulis, who applied his own vision and techniques to the projects that he was assig...
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January 16, 1948 – Ford F-Series trucks go on sale
16Jan By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

January 16, 1948 – Ford F-Series trucks go on sale

Up until 1948, Ford's cars and trucks had shared the same platform and styling queues. That all changed when Ford launched the Ford F-Series trucks, which went on sale on this day in 1948. Badged F-1 through F-8 in order of ascending capabilities, the new trucks proved to be extremely popular. Starting with the 1/2 ton F-1, with a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,700 pounds, up to the F-8 with a 22,000 pound GVWR, there was an F-Series for every driver and every job. Above: 1965 Ford F-100. By Sicnag - CC BY 2.0. Top: 1949 Ford F-3. By Vauxford -CC BY-SA 4.0. The first generation remained in production through 1952 before being replaced by the larger second gen trucks. The third generation, introduced in 1957, saw cab overs become their own line and in house four wheel drive pro...
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January 12, 2015 – Hyundai Santa Cruz concept debuts at NAIAS
12Jan By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day, Videos

January 12, 2015 – Hyundai Santa Cruz concept debuts at NAIAS

Hyundai Santa Cruz concept at the 2015 NAIAS (www.autoguide.com) With the opening of the 2015 North American International Auto Show on this day in 2015, a number of exciting new concept and production vehicles made their debut. One model in particular stood out as a fan favorite, the Hyundai Santa Cruz. Wait, a Hyundai? In an era when small pickup trucks no longer existed, the Santa Cruz catered to a forgotten market left behind with the extinction of the small Ford Ranger and Chevrolet S-10 class trucks. Ultimately the compact truck that's not really a truck, would enter production in 2022, along side competition from the Ford Maverick. 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz - By Elise240SX - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 When first introduced in 2015, Hyundai made it known that they were not attemp...
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This Day in Automotive History is a transportation history, car history and general automotive history website dedicated to providing informative and entertaining content. Our goal is to enlighten our readers by producing and publishing automotive content on a wide range of topics, including famous cars, important automotive inventors and engineers and other historic automobile related events, places and people. We encourage you to share our page and connect with us on Facebook or sign up for our automotive history newsletter at the top of this page. If you have any questions about the content we publish, including our car videos and car history pictures and text and the use of them, please don’t hesitate to contact us using the below email address. On occasion we post classic cars for sale from Craigslist, Facebook and other online marketplaces. We utilize imagery from those ads in a fair use fashion. This includes barn finds for sale, muscle cars for sale, vans for sale, station wagons for sale, trucks for sale and other affordable old cars for sale. If you’d like your car featured, reach out to us!

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