The 20 Millionth Ford Vehicle, 1931

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.

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.