After twelve years of research, in 1941 Henry Ford presented a groundbreaking invention: his hemp fuelled and cellulose-plastic prototype car. The panels composed of 70% cellulose fibres proved to have the impact strength 10 times stronger than steel and the car was to run on hemp-ethanol.
“The experimental model is pictured as a step toward materialization of Henry Ford's belief that some day he would "grow automobiles from the soil."
—Popular Mechanics, December 1941
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 Although it [the plastic] uses the same type of binder employed in some well-established plastics, which are not a Ford development, the remaining portino, that is,the fill comes partly from the farm, in the form of strong fibers, such as hemp or ramie, and partly from the forest... —Iron Age Magazine, 1941, as cited by Herbert Chase, Society of Automobile Engineers in 30 March 1941 New York Times.
Comments