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Interesting photo.
Definitely Senior.
Looks to me like a 127" wheel base. If it is 127", it can't be a 1942 Senior and it can't be a 180 of either 1941 or 1942. Can't tell the year for sure without a better look at the front end. I suspect 1941.

My guess would be a 1941 160 Touring Sedan model 1472. Anybody else have a differing opinion?

I'll leave the discussion of how the U.S.A. made the transition from peacetime to wartime economy to any historians that feel qualified to tackle the question.

Gusha asks:

Who made the decision to stop the car production...

It was the government's War Production Board (WPB), and all significant manufacturers, cars, trucks, and others, small and large, potentially came under their control.

You mentioned one of the most famous of the relatively small number of cars considered bona-fide Classics, Isotta Fraschini!. Never driven one, and I've only seen perhaps two dozen in my life. Long gone as a car maker but I was surprised in 1997 in taking an engine room tour of Holland America's m/s Rotterdam (VI) and seeing a large Isotta Fraschini standby diesel engine/generator set. A little Googling later and I found they were still very much an engine manufacturer.

The fact that they joined the Axis in WW II and of course wouldn't be supplying the Allies with engines reminds me of one of Winston Churchill's famous quips, and he was just wonderful with those off the cuff comments. Upon being told that Italy had joined the Axis, his response was something like "well, that's only fair, we had to take them in the last war". No offense to our Italian friends, it just reminded me of one of those wonderful "Churchill-isms" too interesting not to share.

Owen, in 1,000 years of history the italian army has never lost a war. They switch sides when the tide turns, much easier.

BTW I found a lucid explanation, why Vosper, a shipbuilding company in Portsmouth were looking for an alternative engine unit for their torpedo boats:

"...To power these boats, Vosper obtained a licence to manufacture the Italian Isotta Franschini engine, later developed to produce nearly 1500hp. When the supply of these engines became difficult due to the war, Packard engines were fitted..." [source: www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk)
Gerd, My father served in the Royal Canadian Navy in a mahogany hull Vosper built motor torpedo boat fitted with 4 Packard marine engines burning high octane gasoline. He saw plenty of fighting against the German E-boats in the Scheldt estuary and the English Channel in 1943-44. He had a great deal of respect for the aluminum hulls and Diesel engines of the E-boats which were faster than the MTB's but not so well armed and not so prone to catch fire or explode when hit with gunfire.

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Dave, yes - the Champagne Navy! This boat looks more like a destroyer escort than a patrol torpedo boat. Impressive, and I honor their service.

(o{I}o)

Napoleon was quoted as saying that the Italians never finished a war on the same side as they started - except once when they switched sides twice.

A good Sicilian friend swiftly responded that showed the superiority of Italian politicians: why go down in flames like the French and Germans?

Martin K. O'Toole
Marietta, Georgia

regarding the row of sedans: proportion of rear door/window to front looks like the 127" wb. Senior front bumper and tail-lights. Hood louver crest looks like the small crest in a white field, not cloissonn?. 160.
military order - appears to have no stainless around the windshield

Life Magazine 1941 War production Rolls Royce Engines being produced at Packard.

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You might mention Canada's contribution to the war effort.

Germany invaded Poland Sept 1 1939. England and France declared war on the 3d. Canada's Parliament declared war on the 10th of September, 1939 just one week after England and France.

The US joined in on December 7 1941, more than two long years later.

Canada was in full war production by early 1940. WW2 aficionados will recall the boxy slab sided army trucks so common in England. They were a Canadian product made by Chevrolet and Ford to a standard design.

Canada contributed 1.1 million soldiers, sailor and airmen to the armed forces and over $10 billion dollars worth of weapons and equipment.

Not bad for a country with a population between 10 and 11 millions.

To put that into perspective 10% of the population was under arms of whom 1 in 10 was killed or wounded.

Some information about Canada's war industries.

http://wwii.ca/content-17/world-war-ii/canadian-war-industry/