Did Japan make flatheads during WWII?

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lancaster

I am pretty sure that Ford ops in Japan ( excepting that expansion that did not happen in 1939!) were entirely assembly...I think that Ford motors were built only at the Rouge, Canada , and England and Germany (with those two building V8's after about '34-5).
Japan would only have had access to engines sent over for assembly there. Wide use during the war could not have been supported.
They made heavy use of ersatz Chevy 6's, built by Toyota and used in many military trucks.
Supposedly Toyota started out to clone Ford trucks and was stymied by the casting complexity (from article long ago in Special Interest autos). There is info around on the Chevies, which as OHV inlines were rather simple castings, but whether they were pirated or licensed is ignored.

Bruce you are a "font of knowledge". I was told many moons ago that the Toyota FJ40 Landcruiser engine was a "copy" of a Chevy 6. this now ties in and make sense to me.

GB

[Bruce Lancaster]

There are wartime accounts claiming direct interchange on captured trucks. Germany also had a lot of Chevy trucks, built in Germany from real GM tooling and marketed before the war under GM's Opel brand, though Germany was more dependent on Fords. Germany reached full factory status and started making its own V8 motors about 1935.

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lancaster

There are wartime accounts claiming direct interchange on captured trucks. Germany also had a lot of Chevy trucks, built in Germany from real GM tooling and marketed before the war under GM's Opel brand, though Germany was more dependent on Fords. Germany reached full factory status and started making its own V8 motors about 1935.

The Proof for Germany.......... suspect a bit of "artistic license"

GB

[41ford1]

Japanese production of flathead V8s, probably not due to the complexity of casting the block. Sourcing from the axis powers is more likely. Clones of Chevy sixes is the direction they went. Remember the FJs of the 60s and 70s? Those inline 6s were copies of the Chevy six.

Originally Posted by Graeme / New Zealand

The Proof for Germany.......... suspect a bit of "artistic license"

GB

Not too far from reality. Here is an informative article. http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/cou...aiac/aiac.html

Just search this term: american companies that supported the nazis

Very enlightening.

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Originally Posted by 41ford1

Japanese production of flathead V8s, probably not due to the complexity of casting the block. Sourcing from the axis powers is more likely. Clones of Chevy sixes is the direction they went. Remember the FJs of the 60s and 70s? Those inline 6s were copies of the Chevy six.




Not too far from reality. Here is an informative article. http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/cou...aiac/aiac.html

Just search this term: american companies that supported the nazis

Very enlightening.

I know...I suspect those "squareheads" have been photo-shopped into the picture.

GB

[GB SISSON]

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Originally Posted by Graeme / New Zealand

I know...I suspect those "squareheads" have been photo-shopped into the picture.

GB

And who knows what they'd call it if the japanese had built a copy of that little six cylinder, leaned over dodge power plant?

[Bruce Lancaster]

"I suspect those "squareheads" have been photo-shopped into the picture."
It just shows how important Ford trucks were after the Benz debacle...
The General Staff conducted final inspection on each of the 239's; something like an incorrect valve clearance resulted in immediate transfer of the worker to a mine clearing detail on the Russian front. Hitler himself stamped the serials on the motors after inspection.
And we know, of course, that the Enigma code device was based on the design of the Ford distributor...

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lancaster

"I suspect those "squareheads" have been photo-shopped into the picture."
It just shows how important Ford trucks were after the Benz debacle...
The General Staff conducted final inspection on each of the 239's; something like an incorrect valve clearance resulted in immediate transfer of the worker to a mine clearing detail on the Russian front. Hitler himself stamped the serials on the motors after inspection.
And we know, of course, that the Enigma code device was based on the design of the Ford distributor...

Bruce it looks like the "jerry/Kraut" on the left is already "eyeing" up a worker for the Russian front.

GB

[Bored&Stroked]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lancaster

"I suspect those "squareheads" have been photo-shopped into the picture."
It just shows how important Ford trucks were after the Benz debacle...
The General Staff conducted final inspection on each of the 239's; something like an incorrect valve clearance resulted in immediate transfer of the worker to a mine clearing detail on the Russian front. Hitler himself stamped the serials on the motors after inspection.
And we know, of course, that the Enigma code device was based on the design of the Ford distributor...

YES on that distributor . . . but it was a very EARLY Harman Collins dual-coil model, they didn't know about the strange firing order, wired it all wrong and their engines ran like crap (that is VERY SECRET information - just now shared for the first time).

[Vintage Copper 47]

Originally Posted by Newc

Interesting; I have a restored '35 Chev Military trk and the Japanese renactors [ww2] have studied it as their main trucks were Chev copies. Newc

I would love to see a photo of your 35' Chevy Military truck.. My question is it similar to the GMC 1 1/2 ton trucks the Army experimented with in the 1930's which became the foundation for the CCKW and G506.. Not many GMCs from 1935 survived, photos can be seen at the Louisiana Maneuvers in the Summer of 1941.. Although this photo is of a 1941... I still can't find the file that shows the old trucks..

[Jeff/Illinois]

Originally Posted by Graeme / New Zealand

The Proof for Germany.......... suspect a bit of "artistic license"

GB

Looks like some pretty mean Time Study guys here

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Toyota FJ40 Landcruiser supposedly has it's engine origins in Chevy 6.

GB

[Mart]

I had one of those German motors. You can see the blanking plate over the front distributor mount. It had a bosch distributor on the left rear.

I removed the blanking plate and fitted a crab distributor on a 3 bolt to 2 bolt adaptor.

Smoothest running flatty I've ever owned.

Mart.

[FlatheadTed]

Jap taxi

[Curt in AZ]

I lived in Singapore for six years. Does anyone know what part of Singapire the Ford plant was in?

[Mart]

Just google "Ford plant Singapore"

From Wikipedia: "The Old Ford Motor Factory is a historic building in Bukit Batok, Singapore, located along Upper Bukit Timah Road. It is the place where British forces under Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival surrendered to Japanese forces under Lieutenant-General Yamashita Tomoyuki on 15 February 1942 after the Battle of Singapore."

Mart.

[Karl Wescott]

As a non-Ford aside, according to this article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan, Nissan used a substantial amount of Graham-Paige engineering in the 1930's.

[Yoyodyne]

Originally Posted by Graeme / New Zealand

Toyota FJ40 Landcruiser supposedly has it's engine origins in Chevy 6.

GB

I don't know enough to dispute that, but FWIW I understood it was developed from the Lycoming 6 in the '30s Auburns.