Father’s Day Car Show in North Lima includes WWII vehicle

NORTH LIMA - If you were part of a German encampment during World War II, you likely would not have welcomed the sight of a 1943 Ford GPW that was set up as a forward observer and equipped with a radio and remote-control device.

“It was extremely high-tech in the 1940s,” said Gary Borman of Beaver Township, who owns just such a rare vehicle.

Borman’s Army vehicle wasn’t helping to track enemy sites, but was on hand at Sunday’s fourth annual Beaver Township Ruritan Father’s Day Car Show at South Range High School.

Borman, a former Beaver Township fire chief, explained that the radio and remote control were used primarily to navigate artillery strikes against the Germans by communicating with a command post, which relayed information to coordinate such bombings.

Borman’s father drove a Jeep and operated a radio as a member of Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army, and the Ford GPW has his father’s Army serial number etched on a side of the hood.

For its time, the vehicle was quite durable and could travel up to 55 mph, he said. The driver or passenger was able to use an available grease gun and oil can to service the GPW; it also came with a hand crank in case the electric starter malfunctioned, Borman noted.

“It’s a cool, cool piece of history,” he said, adding that the vehicle has the original Ford tractor engine and about 80,000 miles on it.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.