"In the beginning"

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The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily the views of the blog management, (on the other hand, they are not necessarily not the views of the blog management).

No effort has been made to stay within the bounds of the truth in this blog as it has always been the view of the management that the truth should never be allowed to stand in the way of a good story.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Henry Ford

UPDATE ON HENRY FORD

Some of the lesser known facts
about Henry Ford don't exactly
endear him to us.

It is virtual certainty that Henry
funded Hitler, while Hitler in turn
fed Henry’s ego. Hitler had a
portrait of Henry on his wall and
copied much of his Jew baiting
straight from Ford’s own writings.
Each man, a narrow uneducated ‘success’, admired the other in mutual
support. Ford had automated factory production and Adolph set in motion the
automating of society, these two are soul mates under the skin. It is sobering to
realize that Ford was within a very short distance of becoming a senator, and
that he was suggested by silly people as a possible president; fortunately he lost
interest in political office as he moved onto his next enthusiasm.

. Although initially an opponent of the USA becoming involved in the second world
war, after
Pearl Harbor, Ford turned over his vast production resources to his
country. For example, the Ford plant at Willow Run produced over 8,000
Liberator bombers during the war.


Henry Ford; founder of the "Ford Motor Company"


1863 – 1947 died at age 84



While Henry Ford did not invent the motor car, he did more to make it
available to the public than anyone else.


Henry’s vision in creating the modern “assembly line” style of
manufacturing that exists in all industry today enabled him to produce
more “Model T Fords” than all his combined rivals of the day by 1918 more
than half the cars in America were Model Ts.


His sales literature stated you could have a Mode T in any color you liked,
as long as you liked black!

When Henry Fords financial backers wanted him to build a car for the rich
he went against them and designed the Model T for the masses, he eventually
bought them out so that he could do things his way.

Not only did Ford create the first moving lines for mass production, he also
invented the Dealer Franchise system to sell and service his cars, by 1912
there were 7000 Ford dealers across the country.

He pushed for gas stations everywhere to fuel his cars, he pushed for better
roads, which eventually led to an interstate highway system that is still the
envy of the world.

When Henry left the family farm in 1879 at 16, he walked 8 miles to his first job
in a Detroit machine shop, only 2 out of 8 Americans lived in the cities then,
Ford played a big part in changing that, his factories employed 100,000
workers who were earning more than twice the going rate at the time.

A lot of these workers were the buyers of his everyman’s Model T,
15 million would be built before production ceased in 1927, they were
completing a car in 53 minutes by then, the very popular Model A
came next, and in 1932 the Ford V8 was born.

Some of Ford’s less popular traits were by now apparent, he was opposed to
management, other than his own, he was outspoken in his anti semantic views
he was a supporter of Adolph Hitler, to name just a few.

By the time WW2 began it was Fords ability to diversify into aircraft
manufacture that saved the company from probable bankruptcy, Ford
were the first company to have a car roll of their production line after
the war though.

No matter his views on race or for that matter his autocratic ways,
Ford still did more to improve the lot of Americans than any individual
before or since.


9 comments:

OldHorsetailSnake said...

In the summer of 1948, four of us high school graduates found a Model T sitting in a guy's front yard, where it had been for 15 years or more. We bought it for $20, took it to our fathers, who cleaned it up. They never even took the block off -- just cranked it up and varoom, it ran. Amazing.

Karen said...

I agree, the man did a lot for our industry. It's too bad he couldn't have lived for another 50 years...

Have a great weekend!

StringMan said...

While I certainly enjoyed the Ford article, and can get excited about cars, it's Elle McPherson that starts my engine. Even at 40. No, especially at 40.

mreddie said...

Enjoyed the article, he was a pioneer at what he did. ec

Hale McKay said...

Another fact about how clever a business man he was, Pete. When he ordered parts from other companies for his cars, he even gave them the specifications for the crates for the parts to be shipped to him. They would be made of a certain wood, be of certain lengths and widths and put together with a specified number of nails or screws - all of which would become part of the finished auto of the line. The boards would be runners or floorboards and the screws would be precisely how many he needed to attach them to his cars. He even counted screws - imagine.

Merle said...

Peter ~~ I liked the washing out the mouth with chocolate too.

Do you remember the Ute that Pat had before we were married.
It was either a Model T
Ford. or Model A Ford.
Thanks anyway Henry! I liked the way he ordered the boards & screws of the crates that Mike
pointed out.

Cliff said...

You're right Peter, the man changed the world forever. Can we blame the traffic jams on him too?
On a different subject, Elle is one of the best Aussie products of all time. I didn't see the film where she gained the weight, but I'm guessing she still looked fetching.

LZ Blogger said...

Peter ~ The photo doesn't quite have the same quality as the ELLE photo. Can you see what a differnce color photography makes? ~ jb///

Jamie Dawn said...

I'd like to have that car he's pictured with. What fun that would be to toodle around in!
I didn't know he supported HItler. That's not good at all!