1srelluc
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Henry Ford's Plastic Hemp Car | January 13th, 1942
Discover the fascinating story of Henry Ford's Plastic Hemp Car, an innovative vehicle made from hemp and soybean plastic in the 1940s.
www.garycrossleyford.com
Henry Ford, the famous American industrialist and founder of the Ford Motor Company, was granted a patent for the construction of a plastic car on January 13th, 1942. This revolutionary vehicle, known as the Soybean or Hemp Body car, was the first of its kind to have a body entirely made of plastic.
The use of plastic in car construction was a novel idea at the time, and Ford saw it as a way to make vehicles that were lighter and more fuel efficient. The panels of the Hemp Body car were only a quarter of an inch thick, and the entire vehicle was 30% lighter than a traditional metal car.on January 13th, 1942
Unfortunately, the prototype for the Hemp Body car was never put into production due to the onset of World War II. All automobile production in the United States was curtailed significantly during the war, and Ford’s plastic car experiment was put on hold. Eventually, the prototype was destroyed, and the project was abandoned.
Despite the failure of the Hemp Body car, Henry Ford’s experimentation with plastic in car construction paved the way for future innovations in the automotive industry. Today, many vehicles are constructed using a variety of plastic materials, which contribute to their overall lightweight and fuel-efficient design.
In addition to its use in car construction, plastic has become a vital material in many other industries as well. It is used in the production of a wide range of products, from food packaging and medical equipment to toys and electronics.
The versatility and durability of plastic have made it an essential material in modern society, and its use is likely to continue to grow in the future. While Henry Ford’s plastic car may have been ahead of its time, it laid the foundation for the numerous innovations that have followed in the automotive and other industries.
LOL....I had heard of it but darn, I had to wade through article after article from the "Mah Weed" crowd before I found this one.....The experimental car was said to get 40 MPG.
This guy provides some interesting period articles.
An all-plastic car 300 pounds lighter than comparable models built of steel and having ten times the impact resistance of steel is near completion in the Ford plant at Dearborn, Mich., Popular Science Monthly announced last week. In a special interview, it was said, Henry Ford predicted that his test car, made of plastic body, hood and fenders, would be lighter, safer and less expensive. He added: "It will be a car of darn sight better design in every form. And don't forget the motor car business is just one of the industries that can find new uses for plastics, made from what's grown in the land!"
-New York Times, 2 Feb 1941
The Hemp Car - Myth Busted
A friend of mine told me about a car by Henry Ford that was made almost entirely of hemp . It was unveiled as a prototype, and proclaimed ...
theangryhistorian.blogspot.com
