Former Ford Factory

The Former Ford Factory (also Old Ford Motor Factory and Old Ford Factory depending on sources) is located along Upper Bukit Timah Road at Bukit Timah in Singapore. It is the place where the British Army forces surrendered to Imperial Japanese Army forces on 15 February 1942 after the Battle of Singapore. The Old Ford Motor Factory had since been gazetted as a National Monument in 2006, and converted into an exhibition gallery and archive named Memories at Old Ford Factory. The permanent exhibition gallery showcases life in Singapore under Japanese wartime rule, and the exhibition is one of the continuation of final battles from Pasir Panjang and at Fort Siloso. History The factory was established and built for the Ford Motor Company of Malaya (also known as Ford Malaya in short) in October 1941 and possessed an Art Deco-style façade, which was typical of most buildings and structures, both public and private, of that era, and became Ford's first motor-car and vehicle assembly and construction plant in the region of Southeast Asia. During the Malayan Campaign of the World War II starting from December 1941, the factory's modern and state-of-the-art assembly equipment was taken over and used by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) to assemble fighter aircraft for defending Allied air forces in the region, aside from the RAF. The fighter planes, most of which were of American origin (such as the Brewster Buffalo), came in individual break-down parts that were shipped to Singapore in large wooden crates. However, most of the aircraft constructed at the factory never fulfilled their intended purpose of defending British Malaya as well as their main stronghold of Singapore. They were all gradually flown out of Singapore towards the end of January 1942 when the prospects for Singapore's defense against the Japanese military's conquest looked bleak and grim. Many battles and skirmishes were fought between the British Army forces and the Imperial Japanese Army forces around the areas of the Ford Motor Factory in Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, Hillview, Bukit Batok and Bukit Timah. The factory was subsequently taken over by the Japanese forces and used as its military headquarters for commanding all of its forces in both the recently captured Malaya as well as Singapore.