Pioneer of Ford automotive brand – Henry Ford has been known for his love of soybeans. He was also known to have a soft corner for farmers who eventually turned out to be a large part of his customers. To aid farmers in generating good crop produce, Henry Ford had reportedly Soybean Experimental Laboratory in Greenfield Village sometime in 1930, which was situated close to his factory in Dearborn, Michigan.
Reporters from that era remember being taken out for lunch often by him where Soy would be present on the menu. Sometime in 1937 he invented soybean wool which first found use in the making of his own soybean tie and suit. The year 1941, saw the birth of plastic car made from soybeans. The vehicle came with benefit of being lighter in weight, more fuel efficient, and the body panels could also be easily replaced in the event of an accident. Fixing a plastic panel was indeed not easy, hence he had to come up with tubular steel framework on which plastic panels could be bolted on with ease. For this purpose, he had also received a US patent no 2,269,451. But, with the onset of World War II the project never materialized and was halted.
Later on some of the other plastic based cars indeed made to production like Chevrolet Corvette, which sprang to life in 1953 and is still produced today, is stated to be made of fiberglass composite. And in the UK, the Reliant Robin – was produced from 1973 to sometime in 2002.
Source: MW
