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   Haynes Stellite Company   Hercules Body Company   Horton Manufacturing Company   Howe Fire Apparatus   J.D. Adams Company   Kokomo Spring Company   Magnavox  
Muncie Gear Works   Pierce Governor Company   Portland Forge and Foundry   Reliance Manufacturing Company   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   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   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   Gibson Guitar   Gibson Refrigerator Company   Goodyear   Hall-Scott   Hanson Clutch and Machinery Company   Harley-Davidson   Harris-Seybold-Potter   Herreshoff Manufacturing Company   Higgins Industries    Highway Trailer   Hill Diesel Company   Holland Hitch Company   Homelite Company   Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation   Huffman Manufacturing   Indian Motorcycle   Ingersoll Steel and Disk   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   Queen City Manufacturing Company   R.G. LeTourneau   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   Youngstown Steel Door Company  
   

 Baker War Industries, Inc. in World War Two
Baker County, OR

1942-1945

This page added 12-4-2022.

Baker War Industries was actually a group of 26 small individual companies in Baker County, Oregon.  It was one of ten pools of 150 small factories in the state that formed local war industries in order to attract war contracts and help win World War Two.  Baker County is typical of these small war industries.  As of the 2020 census, the county has a population of 16,668 and its major industry is tourism.  Its largest town is Baker City with a current population of 10,099 located in the high desert of eastern Oregon.  In 1942, the county most likely had no industrial concerns of any size.  Most likely, Baker War Industries was a consortium of 26 companies consisting of small machine shops and woodworking facilities.  Banding together, the 26 small entities were able to obtain a respectable eight major contracts during the war worth $3,891,000.  Three of the contracts were for truck bodies or wooden cargo bodies worth $2,495,000 or 64% of its total business.  It also had a contract for trailers worth $1,072,000 or 28% of its business.

Table 1 - Baker War Industries Major World War Two Contracts
The information below comes from the "Alphabetical Listing of Major War Supply Contracts, June 1940 through September 1945."  This was published by the Civilian Production Administration, Industrial Statistics Division. 
Product - Customer Contract Number Contract Amount Contract Awarded Date Completion Date
Bodies Truck - Army 883-ORD-2725 $336,000 7-1942 1-1943
Wood Cargo Bodies- Army 883-ORD-2854 $1,101,000 1-1943 12-1943
Standard Parts Bins - Army 883-ORD-3043 $65,000 6-1943 8-1943
Wood Cargo Bodies- Army 420-ORD-30 $1,058,000 9-1943 12-1944
Pallets - Army 420157-PO-5040 $86,000 1-1944 3-1944
Trailers - Army 4200-ORD-539 $1,072,000 8-1944 6-1946
Carpenter Chests - Army 35026-ENG-143 $73,000 9-1944 2-1945
Trailer Repairs - Army 4200-ORD-611 $100,000 9-1944 9-1945
  Total $3,891,000    

 

Table 2 - Baker War Industries World War Two Trailers Accepted by Detroit Ordnance, US Army
The information below comes from "Summary Report of Acceptances, Tank-Automotive Material, 1940-1945"
Published by Army Services Forces, Office, Chief of Ordnance-Detroit, Production Division, Requirements and Progress Branch January 21, 1946.
Type 1945 Total
Trailer, 1-Ton, 2W, Cargo 2,271 2,271

Truck Cargo Bodies:  Two of the three contracts for cargo bodies note that they were of wood manufacture.  Originally, all of the truck bodies produced for the U.S. Army were furnished with steel cargo bodies.  However, once war production began in earnest in 1942, there was a shortage of steel.  Therefore, it was decided to manufacture many of the truck bodies of wood to save on steel usage.

There were only three truck manufacturers of note on the west coast, and none of them produced the types of trucks that would require wooden bodies.  All of the truck manufacturers that would require them were in the Midwest.  Most likely, Baker War Industries built up the wooden truck bodies and then disassembled them for shipment by rail to the truck companies in the Central United States.   


This is an HAR-1 4-ton 4x4 World War Two era truck built by the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company of Clintonville, WI.  The truck is part of the collection of the Wheels of Freedom in Gettysburg, PA.  Photo courtesy of Jeff Lakaszcyck.


The HAR-1 was originally painted in U.S. Army olive-drab paint.  The Wheels of Liberation decided to repaint the vehicle with that color paint and removed the cab, engine hood, and cowlings to have the vehicle bead blasted.  I visited the Wheels of Liberation not long after the HAR-1 returned from the bead blaster.  Author's photo.


This allowed me to photograph many parts of the vehicle that are not seen when it is a complete truck.  Without the paint, the wood of the body on the HAR-1 can readily be seen.  Author's photo.


The wooden body is a combination of wood and steel bracing and reinforcements.  Baker War Industries made wooden cargo bodies similar to the one shown here.  It is unknown which truck model or models the company supplied the bodies to.  Interestingly enough, the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company in Clintonville, WI is the closest truck company to Baker War Industries in Oregon.  Author's photo.

One-Ton, 2 Wheel Cargo Trailers Baker War Industries built 2,271 trailers under U.S. Army Ordnance contract 4200-ORD-539 for $1,072,000.  The average cost of each trailer was $4,720.  Table 1 shows that the contract for the trailers was supposed to end in June 1946 and more trailers were contracted to be built than the 2,271 accepted in 1945.  However, with the end of the war in August 1945, all contracts were cancelled.  Therefore, the $4,720 cost per trailer may be too high.


This Baker War Industries-built trailer is also part of the collection at the Wheels of Liberation.  Author's photo.


This trailer is serial number 2259, making it one of the last one's built.  Only twelve more were built after this one.  Author's photo.


  Author's photo.


The Wheels of Liberation was moving into a new facility when I visited them.  Therefore, everything was still not in its final display location.  Author's photo.

The Wheels of Liberation has many rare World War Two vehicles in its collection.  This trailer may be one of the rarest, since the museum has one of only 2,271 trailers built by a particular company.  Because of the Wheels of Liberation preserving his unique artifact, I was able to research and present information on the little known group of companies in Baker County, OR that came together to help win World War Two.

 

 

 

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