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The Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford in Detroit, Michigan on 16th June 1903. The company brought a radical modernisation in the mass production of cars. Ford dealt with the ideas of Eli Whitney, which sketched the first production line which used exchangeable parts. So the cars could be made much cheaper and with increased reliability. Later, large numbers of Ford passenger cars and lorries were found all over the world. The co-operation of Ford with different companies in other countries was one reason for this. The largest part of Ford vehicles in the stock of the Wehrmacht originated from the Ford works in Cologne. During the west campaign several foreign Ford vehicles were captured. Ford operated several works in Europe - for example in the Netherlands, in Belgium and in France. The vehicles manufactured there had minor changes compared to the American models. After the west campaign, production was kept up under German direction. It is hard to find out the origin of these vehicles, so they will be treated here. Because Ford blocked a high measure of standard parts world-wide, these vehicles could be transferred to the German vehicle stocks, easily.
Because Ford passenger cars and lorries were common all over the world, buses on Ford chassis were quite frequent, too. Mainly, the used chassis originated from the Ford works of the respective countries. The origin is hard to define in most cases. So all Ford buses which origin was not the Ford works in Cologne are illustrated here.
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