Obviously the information is out there for all to see. Sometimes imbedded in other subject areas though like business, engineering, war, politics, etc. Actually I don’t recall either in high school or college being taught about the guy at all, good or bad, except maybe touching on assembly line techniques along with motion studies.
From these replies I don’t know if there is support or reluctance in purchasing a new vehicle this summer. How did Henry Ford become a factor in a new car purchases in 2021?
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Guess you just gotta read the replies. Something like this though: Starting a false panic, actual rubber shortage, Henry and Harvey started a rubber plantation for vertical manufacturing integration, then the old man called him a madman, and then some want to make sure all faults are publicized. Kinda like a normal coffee shop conversation. We didn’t even get to all these guys back then being friends and wintering in Florida. Bye.
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All of Ohio too?
I wanted some specific options and at that time there wasn’t many in Ohio. And the dealer in Indiana had it at a great price I couldn’t say no to. So that’s why I was willing to drive a long distance for the vehicle.
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… and then, many authors mistakenly credited Henry Ford with inventing the assembly line, when in reality, Ransom Olds should get the credit for that innovation. Ford certainly tweaked and improved-upon Olds’ idea, but he didn’t invent it.
A couple of years ago, I read a very complete history of Fordlandia–the failed Ford venture into Brazilian rubber tree agriculture–and it did not mention any involvement by Harvey Firestone. Yes, Ford & Firestone were friends, and–yes–Firestone did make Ford aware of the challenges of obtaining adequate rubber supplies for American tire mfrs, but that book did not mention any involvement in that failed venture by Firestone.
Can you provide a link that does mention Firestone’s involvement in the development of Fordlandia?
I think I learned somewhere that Ford operated a very large woodworking business in northern Michigan to make parts for cars - wheels spokes, top bows, etc. The scrap was converted to charcoal and sold as Kingsford.
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Back in those days, body panels were supported by wooden framing, so there was a need in the auto industry for huge supplies of lumber. And, because so much waste wood was left over after trimming the lumber, Henry told his engineers to come up with a use for that scrap/waste wood. And thus, Kingsford charcoal briquettes were created.
Ford dealers liked selling his cars, but they weren’t particularly happy when they were required to purchase and display bags of briquettes that often didn’t sell very well in the early years.
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In the truck and castor plant I worked at as a student, all of the wood scraps and saw dust were sucked up to provide heat for the plant and maybe fuel for the blast furnace I dunno. Nothing was wasted in the plants from the turn of the century. If you dropped screws on the floor, you picked them up so they were not wasted. (In another plant they didn’t want you wasting time picking up screws that fell on the floor.)
No I don’t have a link so could be mistaken about the rubber plant. But Ford and Firestone had a long history. Up through the 50’s and maybe 60’s, new Fords all came with Firestone tires. My memory is from books or discussions with a friend who’s dad owned the dealership and previous Ford exec. (Wait, maybe he was a Firestone exec? Geez that was 60 years ago.) This is pre-computer time and Wiki, and I don’t have a photographic memory.
Interesting though from a lecture last night, it was said that expansion of the rubber trees was not possible because of a fungus or something. So when England stole tree seeds and started plantations in Malaysia, Brazil couldn’t compete and lost their main export.
+1
The history of Fordlandia that I read a couple of years ago said that the enterprise was doomed to failure from the outset because they planted the trees too close together, in neat rows, and because they used a type of rubber tree from (I think…) SE Asia, and it did not have resistance to the types of plant diseases endemic to Brazil. The amount of rubber that was actually harvested over a decade or so was less than what one good SE Asian rubber plantation would have produced in a typical year.
Also, Henry’s imposition of his moral standards on Brazilians went against the grain of those employees, and they tended to rebel against his strictures that were enforced in their own homes. Even the houses that were built (essentially North American-style bungalows) were totally unsuited to the tropical heat conditions.
Henry Ford always thought that he knew better than anyone else, and while that philosophy was mostly valid during the boom years for the Model T, his refusal to listen to anyone who could be considered “expert” caused his family-run corporation to lose hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. Whether you want to consider his refusal to develop a successor to the Model T–thus leading to the total shutdown of his factories for a couple of years while the Model A was finally developed and the factories were refitted–or his refusal to adopt hydraulic brakes until many years after almost every other car company, or his refusal to allow buyers to finance their car purchases, or the Fordlandia fiasco, he would have singlehandedly driven the company into oblivion if his grandson hadn’t taken over in the '40s.
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It was called the South American Leaf Blight. I don’t know the actual scientific name. Trees in Brazil were far apart in the forest so not a big problem. The seeds and seedling stolen were used to develop a hybrid that could be used in farms I guess.
Yeah Edsel tried to get Henry to come up with a new model for the markets but Henry thought the model T was the perfect auto forever and wouldn’t hear of it. I guess not unusual for someone that manages to do what he did, but jeeze the guy was harsh with Edsel trying to mold him into something he wasn’t. I guess I’m more of a Sloan fan for management but Henry was a character to be studied anyway.
… and both of their fortunes have been put to great use for charitable purposes. Henry would likely be turning over in his grave because of the nature of many of the charities that were funded by his fortune, but once you set up a foundation, the administrators of that charitable fund will distribute your money as they see fit.
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Some Ford children married Firestone children.