The Ford Motor Company which was first established in Singapore at Anson Road in 1926, moved to its new state-of-the-art factory located at Upper Bukit Timah Road in October 1941. The Art Deco factory became Ford’s first motorcar assembly plant in Southeast Asia. The factory was later taken over by the Royal Air Force during the Malayan Campaign where it was used to assemble fighter planes.

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On 13 February 1942, the factory was seized by Japanese forces and turned into the temporary headquarters of Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Japanese Commander of the 25th Army. Two days later on 15 February 1942, Lieutenant-General A. E. Percival, the British General Officer Commanding (Malaya), met Lieutenant-General Yamashita in the Boardroom of the Ford Factory, where the British surrendered unconditionally to the Japanese.

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The Former Ford Factory was restored by the National Archives of Singapore and currently houses a permanent World War II exhibition on the war and its legacies.