Ford model BB

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ford
Ford Model BB 157 (1934)
Ford Model BB 157 (1934)
BB
Manufacturer: ford
Production period: 1932-1945
Previous model: Ford AA
Successor: Ford V 3000 S.
Technical specifications
Engines: Petrol engines :
3.3 liters
(37-38 kW)
Payload: 3.0 t
Ford Model BB, second version (1934)
Eastern Front 1942: Ford BB of the Wehrmacht (left), next to it a Mercedes L 3000

The Ford Model BB was a truck made by the Ford automaker that was produced and sold worldwide from 1932 until the 1940s.

General

The Ford Model BB truck was developed in the USA with only minor modifications - a modified front suspension and a more powerful engine - from the predecessor model Ford Model AA and produced worldwide. The truck has a water-cooled 3.3 liter 4-cylinder in- line petrol engine with 50, later 52 HP and, with an average consumption of 24 liters of gasoline per 100 km, reaches a top speed of 75 km / h. Its driving behavior and its low price soon made it widespread.

German production

The Ford BB was u. a. 1932–1939 at the Cologne-Niehl plant by the German Ford Motor Company AG (from 1939: Ford-Werke AG). Until 1935 only parts produced elsewhere were assembled here, after which the vehicle was completely produced there, both with a flatbed and box body and as a bus. They were available as BB-Kurz or BB-Spezial with a payload of 1.75 t and a short wheelbase (3,340 mm) and BB-Lang with a load of 2.5 t and a long wheelbase (3,990 mm), reinforced suspension, vacuum Brake booster and reduction gear .

The noticeable difference between the German and foreign models is the continuous windshield. Production ran almost unchanged for seven years: from 1934, the radiator grille of the car models was adopted. In 1937 further minor modifications were made, including a more modern cab and the replacement of the curved headlight suspension in front of the radiator with a straight one. In the meantime, the inexpensive Ford BB has also been exported from Germany to Great Britain, as many British customers continued to order BB models instead of buying the new, but much more expensive V8 produced there.

The production of the Ford BB in Cologne ended at the beginning of the war in 1939, as did that of the newer type 817T with a V8 engine (referred to in Germany as the Ford model V8-51 ), since the standard truck was now under 3.0 t in the course of the switch to war production the name Ford V 3000 S was mainly manufactured for the Wehrmacht .

After the outbreak of war, most Ford BBs were drafted by the Wehrmacht as part of the material mobilization supplement and served on all fronts, often alongside looted trucks of the same type but of foreign origin.

Most of the remaining civilian Ford BBs were converted to " wood gasifiers ". The conversion was carried out at Ford as well as at other manufacturers by special workshops of the "Imbert-Generatoren-Gesellschaft" located on the company premises.

literature

  • Frank, Reinhard: Ford in War , Arsenal, Volume 123, Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Friedberg (1990), ISBN 3-7909-0394-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.fomcc.de/bb.htm