Longtime Ford Dealer, WWII Vet Takes Special Tour of Ford Heritage Fleet

It was a 1961 Ford Starliner. Dark blue. Bill McCubbin remembers handing over the keys like it was yesterday, although it was far from that. The customer, McCubbin's memory tells him, was a first-time car buyer, and he drove off the lot in that Starliner for around $2,000.

McCubbin Ford in Madison, Indiana, was technically born when it opened nearly a week earlier in 1961, but that transaction made it official. The first sale. McCubbin, 102, smiles at the memory.

“That was very exciting, you can imagine,” he said.

The dealership, which later became McCubbin Motors, went on to become one of the oldest Ford Dealerships in Indiana. Bill was eventually joined in the business by his son, Kevin. The dealership’s six-decade run came to a close when Kevin sold the business in 2021.

But you know what they say: You can take the boy out of Ford ...

McCubbin and his family were at Ford World Headquarters Monday, where they took a special tour of the Ford Heritage Fleet, a collection of vehicles that represent milestone moments in Ford’s long history — including many that prompted McCubbin to remember the early days of McCubbin Ford.

The collection that captures a lifetime

The idea for a trip came from his daughter, Anne Gernet, who saw a story on the Ford Heritage Fleet on TV.

“Dad would love to see that,” she thought at the time. Another daughter, Nancy Starr, and her husband Lenny, sent an online message to Ted Ryan, Ford archives and heritage brand manager. Ryan was fascinated by McCubbin’s life story and arranged a special visit.

McCubbin, along with a son, three daughters, three sons-in-law, and a grandson, toured the collection and marveled. For McCubbin, many of the vehicles triggered memories that stretch back decades. The 1964 Lincoln Continental he used to own. The time he saw a Mustang prototype before nearly anybody else.

The Heritage Fleet walked him through a lifetime of memories that started when he was just a child.

Joining the Ford war effort

McCubbin has a long history with Ford, which dates back before he went to serve in World War II. He had already been drafted and was awaiting a date to report. So, when he graduated from high school in 1941, McCubbin hitchhiked from his hometown of Campbellsville, Kentucky, to Michigan, where one of his older brothers had been living.

For four months, McCubbin lived in Ann Arbor and worked at the Ford Willow Run plant, driving rivets through Plexiglass during the production of B-24 Liberator bombers. After reporting to the Navy later that year, McCubbin drove a 36-foot Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP), or Higgins boat, transporting soldiers and equipment to different beaches in the South Pacific.  

“Soldiers got off the boat and went in to fight the enemy, and I’d go back and get a load of whatever they needed me to take in,” McCubbin said. “Let me tell you, if anybody ever tells you they were in the military and never were frightened, they never saw any action.”

Ultimately, McCubbin returned home as part of the V-12 Navy College Training Program, designed to rapidly train college-aged men for officer positions. The program allowed participants to pursue their college education while simultaneously receiving military training, and McCubbin eventually attended the University of Louisville.

During his studies, McCubbin worked part time at a service station as a used car salesman. After graduating, he took a job at Summers-Hermann Ford Dealership in Louisville, planting the seeds for a career that would leave a 60-year legacy.

‘I’ve loved Ford ever since.’

To make the trip from Kentucky even more special, Ryan also arranged for a visit to Michigan Central Station, as well as a stay at the Dearborn Inn. Shawn Alexander, senior manager, and Jorge Vivas, director, presented McCubbin with the Global Dealer Engagement Awards & Recognition, including a special award and letter from Elena Ford. Kevin Millitello, software engineering supervisor with FordPass, also represented the Ford Veterans Resource Center to present McCubbin with a coveted Ford Military Challenge Medal.

“I was very honored to come through here today; it was a real treat,” McCubbin said, wearing a Ford baseball cap while sitting among the Heritage Fleet. “When my brother came home from Detroit in 1930 in a Ford roadster, and remember, I was seven years old and impressionable, I knew I had to have something like that. I’ve loved Ford ever since.”

You can take the boy out of Ford ...