The Ford Barn

johnbuckley · 02-11-2021, 06:06 AM

This is a copy of the final page of the 1929 Soviet Ford contract
Can anyone decipher the signatures after Sorensen? Anyone able to offer any information on Joseph Michael?
from the top....
Peter E Martin vice pres (?)
Henry Ford
Valery I Mezhlauk
Saul G Bron
in the presence of
Joseph Michael
Chas E Sorensen
????
????
????

rotorwrench · 02-11-2021, 05:34 PM

Charles Sorensen mentions a few people in his book when they did work with the Soviets but I don't remember too many of their names. That may have been the tractor contract but they also did an automobile contract in May of 1929..

Peter, "Ed" Martin and Charles Sorensen were basically at the same level in the hierarchy when relating to Henry Ford in that era. They had their titles that put Ed one step above Charley as vice president of manufacturing but that didn't matter much to Henry. Charley filled that position later after Ed started having heart troubles and retired.

One of those names may be Fred Rockelman but I'm not sure about the others. Fred was the sales manager for Ford at the time.

Brad in Germany · 02-12-2021, 11:26 PM

FORD MOTOR COMPANY:
Peter E Martin {Vice President Ford Motor Company}
Henry Ford

SUPREME COUNCIL:
OF NATIONAL ECONOMY OF U.S.S.R.:

Valery I Mezhlauk (Valery Ivanovich Mezhlauk)
Vice-chairman {of the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the U.S.S.R.}

AMTORG TRADING CORPORATION:

Saul G Bron
President {of Amtorg Trading Corporation}

In the presence of:
Joseph Michael (attorney at Amtorg)
Charles E Sorrensen
S. Dybets (??? Stepan Dybets - head of Avtostroi, Soviet agency responsible for building the plant at Nizhnii)
Aron L. Sheinman (??? Chairman of the State bank of the USSR)
Unknown

......not sure if that helps much. It is from a machine read and translation of that contract and research of who else was present at the signing of that contract.

If you are looking to polish your Russian language skills, here is an interesting video about the history of GAZ with lots of era movie clips of early GAZ vehicles: https://youtu.be/jpszTtCD4F0

Brad in Maryland

johnbuckley · 02-13-2021, 04:24 AM

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Thank you both Rotorwrench and Brad.

02-11-2021, 05:34 PM	#2
rotorwrench Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 16,425	Re: Deciphering witnessess's signatures on 1929 Soviet- Ford contract Charles Sorensen mentions a few people in his book when they did work with the Soviets but I don't remember too many of their names. That may have been the tractor contract but they also did an automobile contract in May of 1929.. Peter, "Ed" Martin and Charles Sorensen were basically at the same level in the hierarchy when relating to Henry Ford in that era. They had their titles that put Ed one step above Charley as vice president of manufacturing but that didn't matter much to Henry. Charley filled that position later after Ed started having heart troubles and retired. One of those names may be Fred Rockelman but I'm not sure about the others. Fred was the sales manager for Ford at the time. Last edited by rotorwrench; 02-11-2021 at 05:51 PM.

02-12-2021, 11:26 PM	#3
Brad in Germany Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Potomac, Maryland Posts: 911	Re: Deciphering witnessess's signatures on 1929 Soviet- Ford contract FORD MOTOR COMPANY: Peter E Martin {Vice President Ford Motor Company} Henry Ford SUPREME COUNCIL: OF NATIONAL ECONOMY OF U.S.S.R.: Valery I Mezhlauk (Valery Ivanovich Mezhlauk) Vice-chairman {of the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the U.S.S.R.} AMTORG TRADING CORPORATION: Saul G Bron President {of Amtorg Trading Corporation} In the presence of: Joseph Michael (attorney at Amtorg) Charles E Sorrensen S. Dybets (??? Stepan Dybets - head of Avtostroi, Soviet agency responsible for building the plant at Nizhnii) Aron L. Sheinman (??? Chairman of the State bank of the USSR) Unknown ......not sure if that helps much. It is from a machine read and translation of that contract and research of who else was present at the signing of that contract. If you are looking to polish your Russian language skills, here is an interesting video about the history of GAZ with lots of era movie clips of early GAZ vehicles: https://youtu.be/jpszTtCD4F0 Brad in Maryland

02-13-2021, 04:24 AM	#4
johnbuckley Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1,441	Re: Deciphering witnessess's signatures on 1929 Soviet- Ford contract Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) Thank you both Rotorwrench and Brad.