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  
   

Detrola Corporation During World War Two
Detroit, MI
1931-1948

This page updated 2-7-2023.

In 1931 John Ross started a radio company at the corner of Beard and Chatfield Streets on the south west side of Detroit, MI.  Mr. Ross named his new company the Detrola Corporation and began a successful business of making affordable radios during the Great Depression.  Detrola not only manufactured its own name plate radios but built radios for over 100 different brand names including Truetone for Western Auto and Silvertone for Sears and Roebuck.  Early in World War Two, Mr. Ross sold Detrola to the International Machine Tool Company and then became International Detrola.  Three years after World War Two ended the company closed. 

Author's Note:  This is one of the shortest lifespans of any company I have researched for this website.  There are several companies on this website that were in business for over 100 years.  Detrola's seventeen year lifespan was the proverbial flash-in-the-pan.  But what was interesting is that Detrola made radios in a city best known for its hundreds of companies that were part of the American Auto Industry.  While it may have only been around for a short time, it gave the auto workers in the Detroit area a source of cost effective radios in a time of high unemployment.

Detrola Corporation World War Two Products:  During World War Two, Detrola had $48,645,000 in major contracts, as shown in Table 1, which included various types of communication equipment for both the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy.  The U.S. Army was Detrola's largest customer with $37,889,000 in contracts.  This was 78% of the company's total major contracts.  All but one of the contracts were with the Army Signal Corps.  The other Army contracts were from the Army Corps of Engineers for mine detectors.  The procurement of these types of devices were later taken over by the Signal Corps.

The U.S. Navy procured $10,756,000 worth of communication equipment, radio receivers, radio equipment, and direction finders.  This was 22% of the major contracts. 

Included in the many electronic components the company manufactured for the Army and Navy were M-1 portable anti-tank mine detectors, SCR-625-series mine detectors, DU-2 radio direction finders, and Model 438 beacon receivers.

Table 1 - Detrola Corporation's 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.  Table added 2-7-2023.
Product - Customer Contract Amount Contract Awarded Date Completion Date
Receivers Radio - Army Signal Corps $175,000 7-1942 1-1943
Radio Equipment - Army Corps of Engineers $415,000 7-1942 12-1942
Antenna - Army Signal Corps $373,000 9-1942 7-1943
Detectors - Army Signal Corps $464,000 10-1942 4-1943
Receivers Radio - Army Signal Corps $572,000 11-1942 5-1943
Communication Equipment - Navy $196,000 11-1942 7-1943
Communication Equipment - Navy $4,288,000 1-1943 6-1944
Radio Parts - Army Signal Corps $5,084,000 1-1943 6-1945
Communication Equipment - Army Signal Corps $778,000 1-1943 10-1943
Generators - Army Signal Corps $1,592,000 2-1943 4-1944
Detector Sets - Army Signal Corps $1,727,000 4-1943 12-1943
 Radio Transmitters - Army Signal Corps $5,643,000 5-1943 6-1945
 Detector Sets - Army Signal Corps $359,000 5-1943 3-1944
Signal Generators - Army Signal Corps $1,009,000 5-1943 6-1944
 Covers - Army Signal Corps $204,000 7-1943 10-1943
Signal Generators - Army Signal Corps $606,000 8-1943 3-1945
 Radio Sets - Army Signal Corps $1,239,000 9-1943 6-1944
 Communication Equipment - Navy $230,000 9-1943 7-1944
Radio Detectors SCR 625 - Army Signal Corps $1,439,000 10-1943 8-1944
 Radio Equipment - Army Signal Corps $331,000 11-1943 8-1944
 Radio Equipment - Navy $4,080,000 12-1943 2-1945
Detector Sets SCR 625 - Army Signal Corps $500,000 1-1944 8-1944
Direction Finders - Navy $411,000 6-1944 9-1944
 Radio Transmitters - Army Signal Corp $459,000 6-1944 9-1944
 Detector Sets SCR 625 - Army Signal Corps $2,058,000 8-1944 4-1945
 Radio Receivers - Navy $121,000 8-1944 11-1944
Radio Detection Sets - Army Signal Corp $740,000 10-1944 8-1945
 Sig Generators 1208 - Army Signal Corp $278,000 10-1944 8-1945
 Signal Generators 1208 - Army Signal Corp $296,000 10-1944 4-1945
 Radio Receivers - Navy $177,000 11-1944 4-1945
Detector Sets SCR 625 - Army Signal Corps $2,146,000 1-1945 5-1945
 Homing Adptr Pts - Army Signal Corp $2,848,000 3-1945 8-1946
 Mine Detector Set Kits - Army Signal Corp $52,000 4-1945 8-1945
 Detector Sets PRS3 - Army Signal Corp $4,683,000 4-1945 11-1945
 Amplifiers BC1141 - Army Signal Corp $93,000 4-1945 6-1945
 Modification Kits - Army Signal Corp $1,726,000 4-1945 8-1945
Radio Receivers - Navy $295,000 6-1945 9-1945
Radio Receivers - Navy $166,000 6-1945 12-1945
 Receivers ARW17 - Navy $183,000 8-1945 1-1946
Receivers ARW37 - Navy $609,000 8-1945 12-1945
Total $48,645,000    


This M-1 Portable Anti-Tank Mine Detector is on display at the Museum located at the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center, Merritt Island, FL.  Author's photo.


Author's photo.


Detrola Corporation built the M-1 mine detector for the Army Corps of Engineers.  Contract W145-Eng-441 is the 415,000 contract awarded in July 1942.  At this point in the war, the Corps of Engineers was ordering this type of equipment.  The next order for mine detectors was from the Signal Corps.

This was built early in World War Two, before the Mr. Ross sold the company to the International Machine Tool Company.  The data plate therefore shows Detrola Corporation as the builder.  Author's photo.


Author's photo.


Author's photo.


This Detrola International-built SCR-625-H Detector Set was built for the Army Signal Corps.  This unit is on display at the Vermillion County War Museum in Danville, IL.  Author's photo. 


Author's photo. 


This Dector Set is serial number L 9181.  It was built after the company had been sold to the International Machine Tool Company.  Author's photo. 


This SCR-625-C is on display at the WWII American Experience located in Gettysburg, PA.  Author's photo added 2-7-2023.


 Author's photo added 2-7-2023.


 This unit is serial number 14957.  Author's photo added 2-7-2023.


Author's photo added 2-7-2023.


This World War Two era advertisement shows the factory as being a four story building.  The ad indicates that "Detrola Radio" was a subsidiary of International Detrola Corporation.  


This is a Model DU-2 radio direction finder unit with a Type CDT 5006 coupler unit.  The entire direction finder was 17.5 inches tall by 12 inches wide. 


Detrola Corporation built these units for the United States Navy.  The control box was 6.25 inches x 5 inches in size and weighed 8 pounds.  The unit was small and light enough to be used in Navy crew-served aircraft.


Detrola also made the Model 438 beacon receiver for the war effort.

 

Excerpts from Technical Manual 11-1122 for the SCR-625 series and M-1 Detector Sets:

 

 

 

 

Email us at:  Webmaster