Ford-Vairogs ("Vairogs" meaning "Shield") (earlier called "Fenikss") was the name of a car factory in Riga, Latvia, that produced license-built Ford cars between September 1937 and 1940 when it was expropriated as the property of the Soviet government. Not including the war department orders, Ford-Vairogs made 200 buses, 1000 trucks and 332 automobiles.
History
The history of the Vairogs factory began in the late 19th century. In 1895 Austro-Hungarian citizen Oscar Freivirt got permission from the Russian Emperor to establish a train carriage factory in Riga (Rīgas Vagonbūves Rūpnīca). It was known as joint stock company Fēnikss ("Phoenix").[1]
In the 1930s the factory started to experience financial difficulties, and the Latvian government decided to intervene. In Autumn 1936, the Latvian government bought all 4000 shares of the near-bankrupt factory. In December a new state owned company Vairogs was founded. it produced a wide variety of passenger cars, trucks, dumper trucks, buses, ambulances and fire engines, a total of 300 passenger cars and 1'000 trucks.[2]