Big winner from government auto buying? Ford.

According to the New York Times, Ford -- the only member of Detroit's Big Three not to receive a government bailout -- was the company that got the most cars bought with stimulus money.

[W]hen the federal General Services Administration announced this week that it had spent $287 million in stimulus money to buy 17,205 new cars, it turned out that the biggest beneficiary was the Ford Motor Company, the only one of Detroit’s Big Three automakers that has not received a government bailout.

The General Services Administration, which manages a fleet of 213,000 vehicles for some 75 federal agencies, said it spent $129 million to buy 7,924 Fords; $105 million on 6,348 General Motors vehicles; and $53 million on 2,993 Chryslers.

Maybe it's because Ford makes better, cheaper vehicles that they aren't going out of business -- and that the government bought more vehicles from them than either GM or Chrysler.

For the record, I drive a Pontiac -- a GM car.