I found the following photo in T. C.
Rozelle’s archive when Marjorie let me scan everything he collected. Even though he made the annotations shown with the photo,
I couldn’t guess what it was all about. I was certain the Sugar
Land Motor Company never sold Ford automobiles, so it was very
puzzling. (The location is the refinery entrance. The old main offices are on the left.)
Last week, Bruce’s daughter-in-law
sent me two scans from her mother’s archive, which you see below. I’d
read that Ford had an auto assembly plant on Navigation, which began
operation around 1930 (building Model A vehicles) and ceased production when
Ford sold the complex to General Foods in 1946. It’s the Maxwell
House Coffee plant – or was, I don’t know what it’s called now.
Even though the sign says Bothager
Automotive Company, I thought that may be Ford’s assembly plant,
but I couldn’t get anywhere with that idea. I assume Bothager is the
name of a prominent Houston dealership back in the 1930s. I knew I’d
seen the car before and remembered the mysterious photo in T. C.’s
archive.
I decided to google ’20 millionth
Ford,’ and found what I wanted. Ford built its 20 millionth
vehicle in April, 1931 and celebrated the occasion with a promotional
tour of the country. You can read an interesting article on the car and the tour by clicking the
link below, but I've provided a Cliff Notes version in the following paragraphs.
Link to story about the 20 millionth Ford vehicle.
Link to story about the 20 millionth Ford vehicle.
The 20 millionth Ford was a Model A sedan.
Henry drove it off the assembly line himself. Here’s a link to a short video – no sound and it repeats itself, but you can see the
historic occasion in moving images. The Ford Company toured the car around the
country from April to December, 1931. The article says they had
other promotional cars, but I have no reason to doubt the car in
these pictures is the genuine car. I can easily imagine the car made an
appearance at the assembly plant and then headed out 90A to
points west. Why they stopped in Sugar Land is a mystery, but I
guess William T. Eldridge, Sr. and Gus Ulrich had some pull. (Note
that Gus is sitting in the car.)
As you’ll read in the article, the
car still exists. A family on Michigan's northern peninsula owned it through the intervening years. The current owner leased it back to Ford, and they
restored it for the company’s centennial celebration.
Unfortunately, the log book (which recorded all stops on the
nation-wide tour) is lost. I hope they find it so we can prove
conclusively that the celebrated chariot made a pit stop in little ol’
Sugar Land back in 1931.
