John Dykstra was born on April 6, 1898, on the outskirts of Stiens in the Dutch province of Friesland. He was one of four sons of Theodore Dykstra and Nellie DeVries. His father was a coppersmith who emigrated to the United States in 1902 and worked for the Hudson Motor Car Company in Detroit.
Dykstra left school in 1914 to become an apprentice diemaker, later attending night classes in mechanical engineering at the Cass Technical School (1915-1917).
He took correspondence courses in foremanship and related subjects at the LaSalle Extension University from 1921 to 1926.
From 1917 to 1919, Dykstra served in the U. S. Army. After the war, Dykstra was a diemaker at Layton and Lambert, which soon was taken over by Hudson. There he entered the administrative ranks, helping to organize body plant management and supervising production. He rose to plant manager for sheet metal and body fabrication. In 1934, Dykstra left Hudson to join the Oldsmobile Division of the General Motors Corporation, where after serving in various managerial capacities he became general superintendent in 1939 and manufacturing manager in 1941. In 1947, he joined the Ford Motors Company as general production assistant to D. S. Harder, vice-president for manufacturing. When automobile manufacture ceased in 1942 and Ford converted to military production, Dykstra began supervising the manufacture of a variety of armed carriers. After World War II, Dykstra played a key role in the conversion of Ford to automobile manufacturing. He served as general manager at several Ford factories and in 1948 became manager of the general manufacturing division. Two years later he was named vice-president in charge of the aircraft engine, tractor, and machined products group and a director of Ford Motors.
Henry Ford II relinquished the company presidency to Dykstra on April 12, 1961. Dykstra inherited a company in the midst of an industrywide slump.
Later Henry Ford decided not to extend Dykstra's contract, and let the public know in an unceremonious fashion. In April 1963, Dykstra's retirement was announced between innings of a Detroit Tigers baseball game. His successor was Arjay Miller, another "whiz kid. " In time the Dykstra regime came to be looked upon as the transitional between those of McNamara and Miller. Dykstra remained on the Ford board until 1965.
Quotations: "Inspectors cannot 'inspect' quality into products. The best guarantee of quality is the pride of workmanship - regardless of the advances that have been made in automatic machinery and plant equipment. "
Dyksta married Marion S. Hyde on March 2, 1918; they had two children.
