Model T Ford Truck Cabs
by the Field Body Corporation

Owosso, Michigan

The Field Body Corp. actually stated out as the Field Manufacturing Company in about 1918. The owner and general manager was John Franklin Fields who came to Owosso from Ionia. He setup shop in the old Owosso Carriage & Sleigh Company plant that had been vacant for a few years. It was a hugh building, several blocks in size with railroad tracks that ran into the building. The company was located at 201 Milwaukee St. and was situated on a siding of the Grand Trunk Railroad.

He began building truck bodies and eventually caught the eye of Henry Ford who was cranking out the famed Model T Ford. Henry wanted to build a truck and probably looked for someone who was building truck bodies that might fit onto his one-ton Model T chassis.

The following Field Body Catalog is from 1920's era. By 1926, the Field Body Corp. was in financial trouble and it was reported that the assets of the company were sold to the Grand Rapids Trust Company for $121,000. In October of 1926, a Grand Ledge, Michigan company purchased the plant itself at auction.

It appears that the Field Body Corp. was a going business and you have to wonder why it closed in such a short time. Perhaps, Ford decided to manufacture his own bodies for the new Model A that he would start production in 1927. Why Ford did not buy the Field Body Corp., is not known.

World's Largest Producer of Truck Bodies

Company officials included:
John Field President, Edward J. Frederick V.P. and Treasurer and Ann M. Cavanaugh served as company Secretery. In the 1926 Polk City Directory for Owosso, no mention of the Field Corp., however John Field was listed as owning a Machine Shop which also sold Studebakers at 1100 W. Main St. in Owosso. He and his wife resided at 404 W. Williams St. in Owosso.