January 1, 1942  †  Until a rationing program goes into effect, the government has frozen all car sales. The program was supposed to be announced on January 15, eventually it will be postponed to February 14.  

January 10, 1942  - The program has been modified and allows the sale of cars to three groups.

1. Army, Navy, US Marines, Panama Canal and other government agencies

2. Persons with an assigned A, L, J  or higher preference rating

3. Army or Navy subcontractors in connection with the construction of defense projects with an A, L, J or higher rating

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January 14, 1942  - The government ordered the storage of all cars transported after January 15th. Cars delivered to dealers could not be sold until 'in the public interest' clearance was granted, but this was probably not granted until January 1943. Dealers were also required to keep the tires and inner tubes of these vehicles available for every 'possible instance' if this turned out to be necessary. The selling price would be limited to the list price ex works but including excise duty, freight costs and a margin of 5%  of the list price and freight, or $75 if the total was less. As of February 1, a margin of 1% of the list price or $15, whichever is less, was also allowed for storage, maintenance and insurance. Financing costs could also be charged.

January 29, 1942  - KT Keller (Chrysler) contacted dealers to ignore the January 14 order regarding the delivery of new defense and coast guard vehicles. He went on to assume that new cars could also be supplied to doctors, surgeons, community nurses, vets, firefighters, crime fighting, health care law enforcement, and postal security and transportation. Of course also people who had bought a car from January 2, but had not yet received the car.  

February 1942  - Production will be shut down after the sale. Cadillac's production was halted after only 16,511 units. The last car rolls off the production line at Pontiac on February 10. There were 83,555 1942 models made at that time.  Until the end of the war, 139 cars are said to have been built at Pontiac in 1943 and 610 in 1944. Those cars were probably built from spare parts that were left over  after shutting down the assembly lines. It is difficult to give an accurate figure because the government registered the 1941 and 1942 models as 1943, 1944 and 1945 models.  The War Department's TM-9-2800 document authorized the building of light and heavy cars for the officers. The light ones were Chevrolets, Fords and Plymouths, the heavy ones were Buicks and Packards. These were leftover models that were built from  spare parts.  Packard is said to have built Clippers for the army until 1943. Especially extended versions. One was even later used in the testing of an atomic bomb and is now in the National Atomic Museum in America.

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February 14, 1942  - The government allows all new cars to be put in storage for a long time.  Also, all car owners are required to provide the serial numbers of the  record tires and report them to the authorities. They were also allowed to have only 5 inner tube tires per car for each car they owned.

Nov 13, 1943  - One could really just say that the 1943 Cadillac was the M24 tank. It was equipped with 2 V8 engines, each linked to a hydra-matic. Each combination powered one track.

The war production board changes the restrictions imposed from L-15. These restrictions related to the manufacture of spare parts. It also limited the prescribed inventory of used parts traded in. That included the obligation that all used contact points had to be handed in because of the tungsten that is in it. If someone needed service for their car and the parts were not in stock at the dealer or distributor then the owner had to sign a declaration  that these parts were really necessary.

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During the war - Many car manufacturers instructed dealers to sell accessories to keep up sales. For example, 50% of the cars sold before the war did not have a radio. In order to inform the public during these difficult times, it was recommended to address car owners.

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The following Pontiacs have been sold from government stocks:

1943: 12,681

1944 4,726

1945 1,330

In 1945 they started producing cars again for the model year 1946. These were still designs from before the war. Sales did not suffer because of the enormous demand for cars. Soldiers returning from Europe all wanted a car, money was not important. There was no time to design new models, cars just had to come. GM didn't have its first new post-war design until 1949. Due to the shortage of steel, the stations were often built with a partly wooden frame and wooden doors. These models are now extremely popular and valuable!

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Brief overview of the activities of the big 3 from 1942 to 1945

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Long before the USA became involved in the Second World War, the car manufacturers started to spend more and more time on the production of equipment for defense tasks. For example for export to Britain as well as for American use.

As American entry into the war became inevitable, the auto industry played a greater role than ever in arming the country.

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The Chrysler Corporation was one of the most active in defense work. They made everything, detonators for bombs, forged projectiles, cartridge cases, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, aircraft engines and they played an important role in the B29 bomber. She also made various military vehicles such as command cars, ambulances and trucks.

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Ford built aircraft engines for the British government and B24 Liberator bombers for the United States Air Force. The average Ford car had 15,000 parts and a B24 had 1.5 million. Ford also built tanks, armored cars, grenades, jeeps and engines for robot bombs. Ford's factories in England and Canada were also used for war production, producing everything from mobile canteens, 4x4 trucks to bombs and powered landing craft.

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GM committed all of its production to the war and delivered more than $12 billion in goods ranging from airplanes to tanks, marine diesel engines, trucks, machine guns and projectiles. No other manufacturer supplied so much material to the Allied forces.

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America launched more ships in 1941 than Japan during the entire war. By the end of the war, more than half of all industrial production took place in the USA.

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Without the vast quantities produced by millions of men and women on the home front, for use by the more than 11% of the population in uniform or the armed forces, the results of the war would have been very different.