Look in the background, they are touring the Tucker plant on Chicago’s south side where previously Dodge had a contract to produce Wright R 3350 engines for B-29 bombers. Today that floor space is occupied by Tootsie Roll Industries, where they produce a number of different candies.
And after Tucker, Ford took control of the plant to build the later versions of the R-4360 “corncob” engines for Pratt and Whitney. B-36 model on the dyno in this picture.
In response to the photo that Swi66 posted of the 55 Buick on the guywire. It's all fun and games until you have removed two passed out drunks from a car positioned like that. I have. Front bumper was against a utility pole, rear bumper, one corner was on a guard rail, other corner on a cement block wall, different heights also. So each time you moved you felt the car move and the pole sway. Waiting for the car to roll over, the pole to break or a 7500 volt line to come down atop the car. Or a combination of all three at once. I'll never forget that one. Christmas Eve 1983. I was a volunteer Firefighter/EMT at that time.
Yes, Ford had a time there too, I think they also had contracts for engines used in the Korean war. Since the early 1960’s a large portion of the property to the south of Tootsie Roll is known as Ford City Shopping Center. Haven’t been that way for years, but like many shopping centers now it is on the skids. The dyno cells, six I think(?) are still visible, they are taller than the roof of the main building. BITD Dodge used the dynos to produce a portion of the plants electricity.
The Jalopy Journal
