The Inspector wrote:
The story goes that FORD was first choice to build MERLINS but old Henery said he 'wasn't buildin' no durn ferrin engines' so the contract went to PACKARD, don't know if it's true but it makes good rumors material.
Interesting - a quick look at wiki:
Quote:
In June 1940, Henry Ford had offered to manufacture 1,000 aircraft a day if the Government would let him do it his way, and during a discussion with Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. regarding what the Ford company might produce, Ford's son Edsel tentatively agreed to make 6,000 Rolls-Royce liquid-cooled engines for Great Britain and 3,000 for the U.S.[2] However, at the beginning of July Henry Ford stated that he would manufacture only for Defense, not for Britain, and the entire deal was declared off. Members of the Defense Advisory Commission subsequently began negotiations with other manufacturers in an effort to place the $130,000,000 Rolls-Royce order,[2] and Packard Motor Car Company was eventually chosen because the parent British company was impressed by its attention to high-quality engineering. Agreement was reached in September 1940, and the first Packard-built engine, designated V-1650-1, ran in August 1941.[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_V-1650Quote:
[Ford]...a fervent isolationist, he will manufacture only for "Defense," not for Britain. At once the entire deal was declared off. Defense Commissioner William S. Knudsen issued a pained, circumstantial account; Morgenthau explained that inasmuch as Britain had given the U.S. permission to make the Rolls motor, "fairness and policy" required that Britain should have the right to buy them. Said Henry Ford: "My offer to make airplanes, aviation engines or anything else the U. S. Government needs for defensive purposes still stands."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 76,00.html
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