The fighter planes, most of which were of American origin (such as the Brewster Buffalo), came in individual break-down parts that were shipped to Singapore in large wooden crates.

However, most of the aircraft constructed at the factory never fulfilled their intended purpose of defending British Malaya as well as their main stronghold of Singapore.

Nissan, which was then a prominent zaibatsu, or a vertically-integrated monopoly, took over the entire plant to assemble trucks and other motor vehicles for the Japanese military based in Malaya and Singapore as well as abroad elsewhere, such as in its various occupied territories in the Asia-Pacific region.

Between 1947 and 1980, the plant continued to produce cars and vehicles, including parts and equipment such as tires and engine components for the local as well as regional markets.

Such paranormal tales include the presence of ghosts of former Japanese personnel and troops once stationed at the motor plant, some of whom also committed suicide at the factory following their country's surrender at the end of WWII, and the sightings and sounds of supernatural activities at the locked-up premises, such as the supposed playing of old Japanese music and songs dating back to the 1930s and 1940s and alleged sightings of restless, perhaps sometimes even hostile and malevolent, spirits roaming around the old factory's buildings.

The museum is also dedicated to the entire history of the Ford Factory, together with the events in World War II, including wartime crops and food rationing.

[7] It was renamed Surviving the Japanese Occupation: War and Its Legacies on 15 February 2017, by Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim.