Totally disillusioned

[carolinamudwalker]

I watched an old show from the history channel called 'THE CARS THAT MADE AMERICA GREAT' I am totally disillusioned. Henry did not build the model A. He fought it until the day he became demented. He built the model "T" and the assembly line. He would not listen to his son and drove Ford motor company to near bankruptcy. I hear " Keep the car as henry built it" all the time but it is not true. So in the future we need to say " keep the car as Edsel built it

[CM2]

There is more than enough evidence that the father/son dynamic wasn't ideal.Take some time and read some of the oral histories,it will shape their relationship with first hand observations.Edsel Ford was involved with all aspects of the Model A design,like his father,but was often overruled due to the 'dynamic'. His flair for body design couldn't be held down,the man was a genius in his own right.It would be correct to say Mr Ford did not want to stop producing the T, but he also built the Rouge at the same time,no way was the worlds largest industrial complex built without an eye to the future.The Model A was a test of his efficiency,to come up with an adequate solution to the grave loss of market share the T was experiencing,that basic point was driven by Edsel. The Model A suffered for their inability to come up with a new engine,they poured years into the X engine and it didn't bear fruit,settling on a 4 cylinder doomed the car.Mr Fords view of another T sized run was flawed,progress negated it,the A wouldn't stand the public's desire for advancement, though it is interesting that the basic chassis design was produced till 1948.
One other point is the loss of market and dealers during the changeover was severe.Ford might not have stood the teething problems they had with the V8 casting while developing the A it would have set the introduction of the car back even more. There is a few mentions of this in the oral histories,the struggle to mass produce the complex casting needed for the V8 was intense,and curing the issue took quite awhile.The four cylinder was a proven design.Upgrading it from the T didnt incur risk.Another interesting dynamic was the infighting between Highland Park 'T' guys and Rouge 'A' guys...Amazing time.








The Harold Hicks interview is neat,he speaks first hand of developing the A engine horsepower from 23 to 40,he had Mr.Fords ear at the time,they disagreed when Hicks mentioned the weakness of the main bearings in design..given his way things might have been way different..


http://cdm15889.contentdm.oclc.org/c...on/p15889coll2

[Chevmn56]

And lets not forget the Dodge Brothers involvement in the design of the T....those 2 boys really got the shaft.

[CM2]

Ford was hard on his subcontractors,Briggs Body had real labor problems trying to keep his overhead down and meet Fords demands,others struggled..

[Ray Horton]

And yet for all of that more Model A’s have survived and been restored than any other pre-war vehicle.

[ClaudeC]

When you actually look back in history you will find that many of the inventions were originally done by people not credited for the inventions. Often, new ideas were sold for several hundred dollars to a someone who takes the credit for the original idea.
https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/telephone.html The light bulb

The invention of the light bulb is another interesting story. It is usually stated that American inventor Thomas Alva Edison was the father of this remarkable creation. But you have to read the "fine print" of his patent: Edison patented the first "commercially viable" bulb where he used already invented light bulbs, inside which he added a carbon filament, which was more stable at high temperatures. But the inventor of the light bulb was the Russian Pavel Yablochkov, who built an electric carbon arc lamp which worked with alternate current to keep it burning for a long period of time.



His invention was called the "Yablochkov candle” and it was not just a lab experiment. Yablochkov sold his bulbs, which brought light to important places such as the department stores Grand Magasins du Louvre in Paris and the Victoria Embankment in London.

[CM2]

And yet for all of that more Model A’s have survived and been restored than any other pre-war vehicle.

So much of the car reflects the quality of the individuals who designed it,from Edsel's flair for the aesthetic,to His fathers exacting engineering ethics.The Rouge,at the time, the worlds largest industrial complex,gearing toward vertical integration.All of this combined to produce a car that stands the test of time. In a way,the car has outlasted it all,the visionaries are dead,the glory of the Rouge diminished..the car lives on,and odds are will still be around when the age of the internal combustion engine comes to an end.

[SeaSlugs]

And yet for all of that more Model A’s have survived and been restored than any other pre-war vehicle.

This is true - 5 million of them were created in 4 years. I wonder if we didn't have the great depression, dust bowl, and ww2 starting up since noone could buy a car during the war years and gas rations helped keep the model A around so long. By the time the war started they were 10+ years old and the great depression happened oct 29 but didnt affect most people till 30 and beyond people just made do. Model A had much more steel than the competitors and wood just doesnt last so thats part of it. They are remarkably reliable simple cars that can have a ton of farmer fixes applied to them and still keep going is also why they just stuck around and why would anyone get rid of a working piece of machinery if they had the space to store it?

[carolinamudwalker]

In the video THE CARS THAT MADE AMERICA GREAT Edsel made a prototype Model A with many improvements including hydraulic brakes. Henry, in a rage took a sledge hammer and totally destroyed it.

[tbirdtbird]

When you watch the many documentaries on Henry, starting from day one, you soon come to realize that he was a genius and a nutcase all at the same time. He got more nutty as he got older. During WW2 he was a nazi sympathizer. Oh well, we'll just have to focus on genius part

[CM2]

Ford admired National Socialism well before the war,he gave them help when they were building Wolfsburg,the Vw plant..yes there was a dark side..Harry Bennett epitomized Fords dark side,'ford service' was his personal goon squad,they had legendary parties at Willow Run,they basically had the run of Fords money and government money at that time.Mr Ford was slipping by then and 'II' didnt have the power before Mr Ford passed away,not to mention Edsel was dead by then as well..Henry Ford II's first act as president of Ford Motor Company was to fire and escort off the grounds Harry Bennett..one things for sure,Ford Motor was run and owned by humans.the product transcended their acts..

[carolinamudwalker]

CM2 you seem to have a good grasp of history. Have you done recent research?

[CM2]

I enjoy Ford history,read the oral histories of people who worked for Ford back then,its in the Benson Ford research center site..heres the link to the site:

http://cdm15889.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15889coll2

people who worked directly for Mr Ford,engineers,production supervisors,you name it,a total of 238 remeberances,fascinating stuff.

[Mike V. Florida]

When Ford lost sales to other companies he just dropped the price of his T until the time came where he could no longer afford to do so, thus the new A.