THE BATTLE BEGINS HERE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 July 1943, Page 2

THE BATTLE BEGINS HERE

In a quiet hospital-like department in the Canadian Ford factory, at Windsor, Ontario, these’s a battle going on constantly. Stange-looking machines twist solid metal as you would twist a telephone cord. A giant X-ray machine shoots pictures through steel, searching _ out hidden defects. Continuous salt .4 spray beats on parts of army vehicles, ; giving them a “lifetime” test in a few hours. A machine designed like a guillotine crashes a weight down on a Ford-built gear. This shattering “kick in the teeth” is but one of the tests through which Ford’s fighting machines must pass before they are given an Al rating for war. Thousands of miles away a British motorised column sweeps down the winding roadway into battle position. Huge 3-ton lorries bring up thousands of men, tons of supplies and ammunition in an endless stream. Mile after mile over rugged terrain these modern military pachyderms roll on—carrying the battle into enemy territory. That Ford gear—and every one of the thousands of parts of a military vehicle, must stay on the job. Precious time and brave men’s lives depend on it. It’s all one battle: the roaring advance of an Empire column, and the quiet thoroughness of the Ford Canadian test laboratory. At Ford factories throughout the Empire and U.S.A, a vast army of employees all have war jobs to do. The productive efficiency of "the Ford way'' of doing things has made the Ford plant in New Zealand — and, in fact, Ford plants throughout the British Empire and the United States — a vital source of mechanical vehicles for the United Nations. Ford has only one job today—making the tools of. Victory.—P.B.A.