Letter: Soya bean Fords

alongside your article "Soya bean car that will make rust a thing of the past" (29 October) gives an ironic twist to the content.

The first Henry Ford (1863-1947) experimented extensively with soya bean derivatives in the Twenties and Thirties. By the late Thirties, components of Ford vehicles such as switch knobs and steering wheel rims were being made of soya-derived plastic. The paint, too was soya bean- derived; I have a publicity photograph of Mr Ford hitting the boot lid of his own car to demonstrate the strength of the paint.

NIGEL STENNETT-COX

North Walsham,

Norfolk