The American Automobile Industry in World War Two
An American Auto Industry Heritage Tribute by David D Jackson

Overview      Lansing Michigan in World War Two   The U.S. Auto Industry at the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944    The U.S. Auto Industry and the B-29 Bomber   U.S. Auto Industry Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   The Complete listing of All Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   Sherman Tanks of the American Auto Industry   Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry    M26 Pershing Tanks of the American Auto Industry   M36 Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry   Serial Numbers for WWII Tanks built by the American Auto Industry   Surviving LCVP Landing Craft    WWII Landing Craft Hull Numbers   Airborne Extra-Light Jeep Photos  The American Auto Industry vs. the German V-1 in WWII   American Auto Industry-Built Anti-Aircraft Guns in WWII   VT Proximity Manufacturers of WWII   World War One Era Motor Vehicles   National Museum of Military Vehicles  
Revisions   Links

 Automobile and Body Manufacturers:  American Bantam Car Company   Briggs Manufacturing Company   Checker Car Company   Chrysler Corporation   Crosley Corporation   Ford Motor Car Company   General Motors Corporation   Graham-Paige Motors Corporation   Hudson
Motor Car Company   Murray Corporation of America   Nash-Kelvinator   Packard Motor Car Company      Studebaker    Willys-Overland Motors

General Motors Divisions:  AC Spark Plug   Aeroproducts   Allison   Brown-Lipe-Chapin   Buick   Cadillac   Chevrolet   Cleveland Diesel   Delco Appliance   Delco Products   Delco Radio   Delco-Remy   Detroit Diesel   Detroit Transmission   Electro-Motive   Fisher Body   Frigidaire   GM Proving Grounds   GM of Canada   GMC   GMI   Guide Lamp   Harrison Radiator   Hyatt Bearings   Inland   Moraine Products   New Departure   Oldsmobile   Packard Electric   Pontiac   Saginaw Malleable Iron   Saginaw Steering Gear   Southern California Division   Rochester Products   Ternstedt Manufacturing Division   United Motors Service   Vauxhall Motors

 Indiana Companies:  Bailey Products Corporation   Chrysler Kokomo Plant   Continental Steel Corporation  Converto Manufacturing    Cummins Engine Company   Diamond Chain and Manufacturing Company   Delta Electric Company   Durham Manufacturing Company   Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation   General Electric Kokomo Plant   Haynes Stellite Company   Hercules Body Company   Horton Manufacturing Company   Howe Fire Apparatus   International Machine Tool Company   J.D. Adams Company   Kokomo Spring Company   Magnavox  
Muncie Gear Works   Pierce Governor Company   Portland Forge and Foundry   Reliance Manufacturing Company-Kokomo Plant   Reliance Manufacturing Company-Washington Plant   Republic Aviation Corporation - Indiana Division   Ross Gear and Tool Company   S.F. Bowser & Co.   Sherrill Research Corporation   Tokheim Oil Tank and Pump Company   Warner Gear   Wayne Pump Company   Wayne Works

Commercial Truck and Fire Apparatus Manufacturers:  American LaFrance   Autocar  
Biederman Motors Corporation   Brockway Motor Company   Detroit General   Diamond T   Duplex Truck Company   Federal Motor Truck   Four Wheel Drive Auto Company(FWD)   International Harvester   John Bean   Mack Truck   Marmon-Herrington Company   Michigan Power Shovel Company   Oshkosh Motor Truck Corporation   Pacific Car and Foundry   "Quick-Way" Truck Shovel Company  Reo Motor Car Company  Seagrave Fire Apparatus   Sterling Motor Truck Company    Ward LaFrance Truck Corporation   White Motor Company

Aviation Companies:  Abrams Instrument Corporation    Frankfort Sailplane Company   Hughes Aircraft Company   Kellett Aviation Corporation   Laister-Kauffman Aircraft Corporation   Naval Aircraft Factory   P-V Engineering Forum, Inc.    Rudolf Wurlitzer Company-DeKalb Division  Schweizer Aircraft Corporation   Sikorsky Division of United Aircraft Corporation   St. Louis Aircraft Corporation   Timm Aircraft Corporation

Other World War Two Manufacturers: 
Air King Products   Allis-Chalmers   American Car and Foundry   American Locomotive   American Stove Company   Annapolis Yacht Yard  
Andover Motors Company   B.F. Goodrich   Baker War Industries   Baldwin Locomotive Works   Blood Brothers Machine Company   Boyertown Auto Body Works   Briggs & Stratton   Burke Electric Company   Caterpillar   Cheney Bigelow Wire Works   Centrifugal Fusing   Chris-Craft   Clark Equipment Company   Cleaver-Brooks Company   Cleveland Tractor Company   Continental Motors   Cushman Motor Works   Crocker-Wheeler   Dail Steel Products   Detroit Wax Paper Company   Detrola   Engineering & Research Corporation   Farrand Optical Company   Federal Telephone and Radio Corp.   Firestone Tire and Rubber Company   Fruehauf Trailer Company   Fuller Manufacturing   Galvin Manufacturing   Gemmer Manufacturing Company   General Railway Signal Company   Gerstenslager Company   Gibson Guitar   Gibson Refrigerator Company   Goodyear   Hall-Scott   Hanson Clutch and Machinery Company   Harley-Davidson   Harris-Seybold-Potter   Herreshoff Manufacturing Company   Higgins Industries    Highway Traile    Hill Diesel Company   Holland Hitch Company   Homelite Company   Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation   Huffman Manufacturing   Indian Motorcycle   Ingersoll Steel and Disk   Iron Fireman Manufacturing Company   John Deere   Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company   Kimberly-Clark   Kohler Company   Kold-Hold Company   Landers, Frary & Clark  Lima Locomotive Works   Lundberg Screw Products   MacKenzie Muffler Company   Massey-Harris   Matthews Company   McCord Radiator & Mfg. Company   Metal Mouldings Corporation   Miller Printing Machinery Company   Morse Instrument Company   Motor Products Corporation   Motor Wheel Corporation   National Cash Resgister Company   Novo Engine Company   O'Keefe & Merritt Company   Olofsson Tool and Die Company   Oneida Ltd   Otis Elevator   Owens Yacht   Pressed Steel Car Company   Pressed Steel Tank Company   Queen City Manufacturing Company   R.G. LeTourneau   Richardson Boat Company   R.L. Drake Company   St. Clair Rubber Company   Samson United Corporation   Shakespeare Company   Sight Feed Generator Company   Simplex Manufacturing Company   Steel Products Engineering Company   St. Louis Car Company   Twin Disc Company   Victor Adding Machine Company   Vilter Manufacturing Company   Wells-Gardner   W.L. Maxson Corporation   W.W. Boes Company   Westfield Manufacturing Company   York-Hoover Body Company   York-Shipley, Inc.   Youngstown Steel Door Company  
   

Vauxhall Motors Subsidiary of General Motors Corporation in World War Two
Luton, Bedfordshire, England
1857 to Present
1925-2017 as part of General Motors


This page updated 6-1-2020.

Vauxhall Iron Works was formed in 1857 by Alexander Wilson to produce pumps and marine engines and in 1903 it began the manufacture of automobiles.  It was purchased in 1925 by General Motors which owned it for 92 years before selling it to Groupe PSA in 2017.  In 1930 the Bedford Subsidiary of Vauxhall Motors was created to produce trucks.

The Vauxhall Luton factory was bombed twice during World War Two, of which the one on August 30, 1940 was the worst.  Thirty-nine employees were killed in that attack.  Full production was restored within several days.

Vauxhall Motors World War Two Production Statistics:  Churchill A22 Infantry Tank - A portion 5,640 Churchill Tanks with 2,000 spare engines.  After the loss of most its equipment at Dunkirk in May-June 1940, the British Army only had 100 tanks remaining.  Vauxhall was given the task of designing and producing the A22 within a year.  The pilot model was ready by November 1940, and the first fourteen production models came off the assembly line in June 1941.  Production of the Churchill A22 was shared with Vauxhall by ten other companies.  Vauxhall produced the majority of the parts which were then assembled by Vauxhall and the other companies under Vauxhall's guidance.  It is unknown the number of actual A22s produced by Vauxhall or the other companies.

Other:  5 million sheet metal sides for jerrycans, four million rocket venturi tubes, 6-pounder armor piercing shells, and 750,000 steel helmets.

Vauxhall was instrumental in the building of the first 12 jet engines built in Britain.  The Luton factory did 95% of the work on these first 12 engines.  

Vauxhall also designed inflatable decoy trucks and string and canvas decoy aircraft.  It also made tooling for the Hercules aircraft engine, and assisted in the development of the Mosquito, Lancaster, and Halifax aircraft.  The GM subsidiary on mines, torpedoes, radiolocation equipment and bombs. 

Bedford Subsidiary World War Two Production Statistics:  (5,995) MW 1-1/2-ton 4x2 trucks, (52,247) QL 3-ton 4x4 lorries, 73,385 OY 3-ton 4x4 lorries, and
24,429 OX 3-ton 4x4 lorries

Note:  The British army designated 1-1/2 ton vehicles as trucks, and any over that size were considered lorries.


An inflatable decoy truck comes out of the Vauxhall Luton factory.


At the end of the war Vauxhall was working on the development of this half-track for use as a artillery prime mover.  This is one of six protyypes built and was powered by two Bedford engines. 


Vauxhall's automotive car output was only 100 10hp cars during World War Two.  One of the cars is seen next to a Churchill tank.


This Churchill Tank is part of the Armor and Cavalry Museum's collection at Fort Benning, GA.  This particular is one of approximately 800 that was converted to a flamethrower.  It was designated as the A22F and known as the Churchill Crocodile.  The final assembly point of the tank is unknown, but the most of the parts were produced by Vauxhall.   The Churchill was a Vauxhall design.  Author's photo. 


The flamethrower nozzle was located where the bow machine gun was originally located.  It had a maximum range of 150 yards and an effective range of 80 yards.  Author's photo.


The fuel was supplied from an armored 6.5-ton wheeled trailer that carried 400 gallons of flamethrower material and five tanks of liquid nitrogen .  The tank and the trailer were connected by three articulated links on the rear of the tank.  One of the links is still attached to this Crocodile.  Author's photo.


This Churchill Crocodile is on display at the American Heritage Museum in Hudson, MA.  Author's photo added 8-25-2019.


Author's photo added 8-25-2019.


Author's photo added 8-25-2019.


This Churchill Mark III Infantry tank is on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ont.   Author's photo.


This Churchill Crocodile was on display in front of the Land Warfare Hall at the Duxford Airfield at Cambridge, UK in May 2008.  Author's photo added 6-1-2020.

 

 

 

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