Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. There's an ancient proverb that says, the enemy
Speaker 1: of my enemy is my friend. When two factions oppose
Speaker 1: a mutual threats, they can join forces to defeat them.
Speaker 1: Just before the start of World War Two, Finland had
Speaker 1: two enemies, Germany and the Soviet Union, and because of
Speaker 1: one side's aggressive tactics, it had to make a very
Speaker 1: unfortunate friend of the other. You see, Germany and the
Speaker 1: Russians had divvied up Finland in Latvia, Estonia and several
Speaker 1: other Baltic states as part of the Molotov Ribbon trot.
Speaker 1: Packed The Soviets invaded Poland in mid September, then tried
Speaker 1: to negotiate a portion of Finnish territory for their own uses.
Speaker 1: For one, they wanted to install a military base on
Speaker 1: Finnish soil, just as they had done with several other
Speaker 1: Baltic States, but Finland wouldn't have it, so a second conflict,
Speaker 1: known as the Winter War kicked off between the two parties.
Speaker 1: It resulted in many casualties and the eventual signing of
Speaker 1: the Moscow Peace Treaty, which gave the Soviet Union one
Speaker 1: tenth of Finland for themselves. We look back at the
Speaker 1: Soviets as allies who helped us defeat the Nazis, but
Speaker 1: after the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed, many countries saw
Speaker 1: them as a bully, and Finland had no interest in
Speaker 1: aligning themselves with Germany as they were still seen as
Speaker 1: being associated with the Soviet Union. After reaching out to
Speaker 1: the United Kingdom for help but getting a refusal, they
Speaker 1: realized that they had to solve the problem on their own.
Speaker 1: The Soviets continued to push into Finland and so did Hitler.
Speaker 1: With nowhere else to turn and Hitler's rejection of the
Speaker 1: Molotov ribbon trot packed the Finnish were forced to partner
Speaker 1: with them against the Russians in Nte. Finland, now backed
Speaker 1: by Germany, was able to reclaim the land that had
Speaker 1: lost to the Soviets, including the city of Weiberg. It
Speaker 1: was a great story. But even though the Soviets no
Speaker 1: longer occupied the territory, they weren't completely gone. You see,
Speaker 1: on their way out, the Red Army had left behind
Speaker 1: one thousand land mines, and those mines started exploding all
Speaker 1: over the city. It was believed that they were on
Speaker 1: a time delay, but towards the end of August of
Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, Finnished forces soon discovered the truth. Under
Speaker 1: one of the town's bridges, a mine had been deposited,
Speaker 1: packed with six ms of an explosive charge. Attached to
Speaker 1: the charge was a small device which was taken to
Speaker 1: an engineer at the communications departments, and that engineer took
Speaker 1: it apart and found something amazing. A small radio received
Speaker 1: her inside the mines had been designed to go off
Speaker 1: when their internal radios received a remote signal at the
Speaker 1: right frequency. When that signal was received, boom and worse yet,
Speaker 1: similar receivers were found on all the minds around Weiberg.
Speaker 1: After some more digging, Finish engineers found out that the
Speaker 1: signal was close to the A M frequency used by
Speaker 1: public radio broadcasts, so they came up with a bizarre
Speaker 1: scheme to block that signal. A polka specifically the Sacki
Speaker 1: arv Polka, which was looped for twenty four hours a
Speaker 1: day by the Finnish public radio. As long as the
Speaker 1: song was playing, the Soviets couldn't set off their minds.
Speaker 1: Of course, it didn't take long for the Soviets to
Speaker 1: figure out their plan, so they changed the signal to
Speaker 1: match one of the other two radio frequencies used by
Speaker 1: the receivers. Well, the Fins figured that out too, and
Speaker 1: jammed every possible frequency with their polka all day and
Speaker 1: all night. The fast paced tune played out over the
Speaker 1: radio waves. Three months later, only a dozen minds had
Speaker 1: gone off out of the thousands the Russians had planted,
Speaker 1: a long enough delay for their batteries to have run
Speaker 1: out and the threat of remote detonation to no longer
Speaker 1: be a concern. The Soviets would eventually return and take
Speaker 1: back their territory from the Germans who occupied it, helping
Speaker 1: the Allies win the war in the process, but the
Speaker 1: Saki r v Polka became a major hit in Finland
Speaker 1: and an unofficial anthem at the end of the war.
Speaker 1: Today it stands as a fun reminder that for a
Speaker 1: short time at least Finland bested one of the biggest
Speaker 1: powers in the world with nothing more than a little
Speaker 1: ingenuity and a whole lot of polka. Few industries have
Speaker 1: seen as much innovation over the years as that of
Speaker 1: the auto industry. From steam engines and the electric starter
Speaker 1: to to cruise control and intermittent wipers, cars have never
Speaker 1: been strangers to leaps and technological advancement. Aside from alternative
Speaker 1: fuel sources, one area of immense change has been in
Speaker 1: the materials used to make car bodies. The earliest models
Speaker 1: were unsurprisingly comprised of wood. After all, wood had been
Speaker 1: used to make chariots, carts, wagons, and carriages for centuries,
Speaker 1: it only made sense to build the first automobiles out
Speaker 1: of wood as well. The Model T added aluminum panels
Speaker 1: to the equation, which improved strength and rigidity, While the
Speaker 1: nineteen fifties saw the advent of fiber reinforced plastic or
Speaker 1: f RP. This new material was made from a polyester
Speaker 1: resin by companies like Chevrolet for their Corvette. But back
Speaker 1: in the nineteen forties, one automaker tried to revolutionize the
Speaker 1: fabrication of his car's body panels, and he didn't turn
Speaker 1: to metal or fiberglass. He looked to the farm. That's
Speaker 1: where Henry Ford grew up, on a farm in Michigan,
Speaker 1: and he hated it. But no matter how far away
Speaker 1: he got from that farm, he never forgot about his
Speaker 1: experiences there. They stayed with him even as he developed
Speaker 1: his first automobile, his factory, and his eventual empire. Perhaps
Speaker 1: inspired by his time in the fields, he developed a
Speaker 1: fascination with pushing the limits of agriculture, so much so
Speaker 1: that he cultivated a friendship with the inventor who came
Speaker 1: up with over three uses for the common peanuts, George
Speaker 1: Washington Carver. Carver was heading the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama
Speaker 1: at the time, but traveled to Michigan to assist Ford
Speaker 1: with his next big breakthrough, an automotive technology, soybeans. Ford
Speaker 1: saw the soybean as an alternative to other materials being
Speaker 1: used to make car parts. To demonstrate his seriousness at
Speaker 1: the prospect, he built a factory dedicated to his next
Speaker 1: big thing, the soybean car. Of course, the car itself
Speaker 1: wouldn't be made from pure soybeans. The beans would be
Speaker 1: used as the basis for a new kind of plastic.
Speaker 1: Ford believed a plastic car was safer than those made
Speaker 1: of steel. If it rolled over in an accident, it
Speaker 1: wouldn't get crushed, and using plastic would free up metal
Speaker 1: for tanks and planes. During wartime, Henry Ford had planted
Speaker 1: the seeds for the next automobile, and he put designer
Speaker 1: Eugene Gregory in charge of nurturing the soil so to speak.
Speaker 1: The Soybeans car frame was made of tubular steel, upon
Speaker 1: which sat fourteen plastic body panels that were easily assembled.
Speaker 1: The windows were made of acrylic, and even with a
Speaker 1: V eight engine inside, the vehicle was surprisingly light less
Speaker 1: than two thousand pounds. Ford allegedly tested the Soybeans plastic
Speaker 1: resilience by whacking it with an axe. According to a
Speaker 1: video of the demonstration, he couldn't make a dent. The
Speaker 1: prototype made its debut with the nineteen forty one Dearborn
Speaker 1: Days Festival, followed by an exhibition at the Michigan State
Speaker 1: Fair the next year. Unfortunately, Ford's grand plan for the
Speaker 1: future of the car was ill timed. World War Two
Speaker 1: put a stop to all car manufacturing in the US,
Speaker 1: and Ford himself was already in poor health. He handed
Speaker 1: control of a company to his grandson. After the war,
Speaker 1: no one had any interest in making the plastic car anymore.
Speaker 1: Ford had poured millions into the projects and the result
Speaker 1: had been mixed. In fact, his engineer, who hadn't been
Speaker 1: a fan of the soybean car in the first place,
Speaker 1: was responsible for destroying the only prototype. No formula for
Speaker 1: the plastic exists today. However, Ford wasn't the only car
Speaker 1: maker with the bright idea to make one out of plastic.
Speaker 1: General Motors had tried their luck with a plastic automobile
Speaker 1: just a few years earlier. At the New York World's
Speaker 1: Fair of nineteen thirty nine, GM debut two models of
Speaker 1: their own, but rather than use plastic made from soybeans,
Speaker 1: they turned to a clear, acrylic plexiglass. What they unveiled
Speaker 1: was a four door touring sedan with sea through panels,
Speaker 1: allowing pedestrians and other drivers to gaze at the inner
Speaker 1: workings of the car as it drove by. The steel frame,
Speaker 1: the brackets and rivets, even the spare higher We're all
Speaker 1: clearly visible, giving outsiders the sense that they had X
Speaker 1: ray vision like Superman, and just like Ford's soybean car,
Speaker 1: GMS ghost cars were never put into production. They were
Speaker 1: primarily designed as display pieces to show off the benefits
Speaker 1: of plexiglass. Plastic cars have popped up every now and
Speaker 1: then over the years, but Steele continues to be the
Speaker 1: material of choice for today's automobiles. It's a fantastic idea, though,
Speaker 1: but one that seems to have never succeeded in taking root.
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
Speaker 1: World of Loure dot Come and until next time, stay curious. Yeah,