Henry Ford's Soybean-mobile

 

Even before contemporary times, automakers have expressed occasional interest in lighter-than-steel materials. Among the earliest efforts was a plastic-bodied car made by the Ford Motor Company. It's been unofficially dubbed the "soybean car," though the exact ingredients for the car's plastic panels are unknown. According to The Henry Ford museum, one person involved in the project said the formula consisted of "soybean fiber in a phenolic resin with formaldehyde used in the impregnation." Hmmm, fibers and resin: That sounds an awful lot like the process automakers would come to use for making lightweight fiberglass panels, and later, carbon fiber.