Mr. & Mrs. Michael Schreiner 1955

[IFHP]

Mr. & Mrs. Michael Schreiner of Vancouver, BC shaking hands with the staff of Brown Brothers Motors, a Ford British dealer in Vancouver. The Schreiners were not purchasing the Mk I Zephyr convertible in the background, rather they had ordered a Zodiac sedan. It turns out that the car they ordered was Ford of England’s millionth export vehicle (since WW II). Ford of England was eager to promote this fact and in September 1955, Ford flew the Schreiners to Dagenham to pick up their car; it was a gala event complete with a parade.

Exports were very important to the British economy after WW II and Ford was Britain’s leading vehicle exporter.

Michael

[IFHP]

Here we see the fanfare at Dagenham as the Schreiner's drive off in Export Job 1,000,000. According to historian Michael Allen (in his 1983 book Consul, Zephyr, Zodiac, Executive) this event happened on September 5th, 1955. Later the Zodiac was shipped to Vancouver aboard the maiden voyage of the Norwegian freighter MV Evanger.

Notice the British Columbia plates. I sometimes wonder if this car survives, and what color it was.

Thanks to Patrick Wilson for finding these photos and bringing them to my attention.

Michael