Lustron the house America's been waiting for

"In 1945, WWII was over, but the peace was yet to be won. With millions of veterans returned from abroad, the U.S. faced the worst housing shortage in its history. Enter Carl Strandlund--inventor, holder of 150 patents, civilian war hero for his innovations in army tank plate production. Strandlund envisioned the mass-production of porcelain-enameled steel houses on an auto-style assembly line-the Lustron home. Lustron represented a logical extension of the technological and organizational advances made during the war years to architecture, and at a projected 100 houses a day, would be key to solving the housing crisis. Poised for success, Washington opportunists marked Lustron as an easy money target, and threats, a take-over, bankruptcy, and finally a scandal involving Congressional hearings resulted. The story of the Lustron Corporation is an illuminating case study in the history of the American prefabricated housing industry during the first half of the 20th century."
""Follows the dramatic rise and fall of inventor Carl Strandlund and his all-steel Lustron home ... [due to] a government conspiracy that would eventually destroy what many believed would be the 'General Motors' of housing"--Container."@en