Period photo(s) of Mark IIs on car hauler?

[Pat Marshall]

I'm interested in any documentation of shipment by rail.

I have all (but the I.U.'s) invoices and nearly every one lists the shipping ("via") as a trucking company. A few were left blank, some were "Factory Delivery" (prep in plant and customer pick-up). I don't recall ever seeing mention of rail shipment, so I really would like info on that.

[Barry Wolk]

They were shipped by truck for short trips and rail for long trips. We saw cars on train carriers all the time in the Detroit area. Since there was no RR siding at the plant they were all initially shipped by truck, hence the notations.

[Barry Wolk]

[Mark Norris]

Yep, I'm sure the film I saw had The Continental Mkii's being loaded into covered rail cars

[Pat Marshall]

I'm not doubting that they were shipped by rail. My documentation only references trucking shipments. Being a documented history kind of guy, I am looking for the source of the shipment by rail information.

Since Mark II's were such low production, I'm wondering if they could ever fill a whole rail car with II's. It seems to me that one or two cars on a train car which generally held 15 or so cars, would create some big handling problems and risk at the freight load break-down and transfer facilities. I'm really interested how that was done.

[Barry Wolk]

Modern enclosed haulers have a elevator platform. I wonder what it saved by building a platform for loading cars? The the hydraulics of a carrier make loading and unloading quite simple, if you know what you're doing.

It appears the car could be accessed through a zippered window opening on the side, so the cover could be left on during transfers.

[Mark Norris]

I'm pretty sure in the film I saw the covered rail cars only had one level so say 5 Mkii's in each. They certainly were not out in the open like the cars in the rail photo.

[Barry Wolk]

By the end of the '50s Auto Convoy of Texas nearly put the auto transport business out of business by transporting trailers on box cars. An auto maker would consign cars to a shipper. They would make arrangements to get cars to the distribution centers in big cities where they would distribute the cars to dealers, pretty much the same way it’s done today.

[Jeff Smith]

I would like a follow up on what happened to the Mark with the noise/rough running engine and the one with the dash fire from the Ammeter. Just would be of interest.

[Barry Wolk]

1120 could be the other H & E convertible and 1248's Production Order was pulled from the records. I surmise that there were no parts to fix the burned dash, they likely would have had to replace the dash and interior to get rid of the smell of burned wiring and leather. Since there was no supply line I would imagine that it was parted out in the Chicago area to meet immediate needs.

Many of the Production Orders I looked at showed many cars were missing radios and other parts when shipped, leading me to call further BS on the quality controls for he fledgling assembly company. Just like any other Ford product, the production problems were left for the dealer to deal with.