Ford T – the all-purpose vehicle

Gottlieb Duttweiler chose the Ford Model T for his Migros travelling shop concept. From day one, the vans also served as mobile advertising.

In 1925, the American car manufacturer Ford starts an independent company for the production and sale of its vehicles in Berlin. This is very opportune for Gottlieb Duttweiler as he aims to revolutionise the retail trade in Switzerland: Migros AG will not open any shops, but will sell its goods only out of vans.
A suitable vehicle is found: the Ford T, a two-axle car with a one-tonne loading capacity.
It is cheap and sturdy and is thus an all-purpose vehicle that can be adapted for many different uses. It is no coincidence that the car is used as a field ambulance during the First World War.
Duttweiler commissions a body repair shop to adapt his five Ford Ts and turn them into sales vans. The goods are stored in the wooden van body, which has two side flaps that can be raised and thus offer the goods and the salesperson a certain amount of protection from bad weather.
It is clear to Duttweiler from the beginning that the sales vans are his best advertisement. He therefore has a small display case built to present the products, and he decorates the vans with the advertising slogan of his new company. On the wooden van body, “Migros A-G” is written in large, two-colour letters; shortly thereafter, “die frischen Qualitäten” (fresh quality) is added. The Migros logo, the bridge is on the van doors from the start.