Dearborn Assembly Plant opened in 1918 as a three-story factory building Eagle boats, known as submarine chasers, for the U.S. government. The plant was known as B Building. Torpedo boats and PT boats also were produced.
In 1921, assembly of the Fordson Tractor moved to the plant, and wooden body parts for the Model T were manufactured here. In 1927, Model A debuted at the plant. In 1932, production of Ford V8 began, replacing the Model A. 1936 saw the introduction of the V8 light truck.
In 1939, a third assembly line was added with the introduction of Mercury division. For nearly 50 years, the plant built the following Mercury brand models: Mercury (1939-1941, 1945-1950), Meteor (1962-1963), Cougar (1966-1973), Comet (1972-1973), Capri (1972-1985).
From 1941 through 1945, the plant was converted to build military vehicles: tanks, trucks, staff cars and jeep amphibians. After the war, the plant returned to automobile production. From 1945 through 1961, the plant produced all Ford brand models including Deluxe Tudor, Galaxie, Fairlane, Thunderbird, Ranchero, Falcon and Maverick. For one year, 1945, the plant produced Lincoln.
In 1948, the plant was named Dearborn Assembly Plant.
In 1955, Thunderbird production began; and in 1964, Mustang was born. In 1978, the plant added production of Mercury Capri and celebrated the company's 150 millionth vehicle, a Mustang. The convertible model of Mustang was introduced in 1982.
Mustang won Car and Driver's Top Ten awards in 1987 and 1988. The 1994 Mustang won the Motor Trend Car of the Year award.
In September 1995, DAP received ISO9001 Certification for successfully implementing a standardized quality improvement process.
DAP was visited by Nelson Mandela in 1990 and by President Bill Clinton in 1994.
The last addition to the plant was 2000, when a paint shop was added.
Dearborn Assembly has built 6.7 million Mustangs in 40 years. The company built a total of 8.3 million Mustangs during that same period.