It appeared in December of and was such a departure from the old Ford that the company went back to the beginning of the alphabet for a name—they called it the Model A. The new car would not be produced at Highland Park. In Ford had started construction on an even bigger factory on the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan. Iron ore and coal were brought in on Great Lakes steamers and by railroad. The Model A was competitive for only four years before being replaced by a newer design.
In , at age 69 Ford introduced his last great automotive innovation, the lightweight, inexpensive V8 engine. In addition to troubles in the marketplace, Ford experienced troubles in the workplace. Struggling during the Great Depression, Ford was forced to lower wages and lay off workers. He fought back with intimidation and violence, but was ultimately forced to sign a union contract in But after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Ford Motor Company became one of the major US military contractors, supplying airplanes, engines, jeeps and tanks.
The influence of the aging Henry Ford, however, was declining. Henry Ford had laid the foundation of the twentieth century. The vast quantities of war material turned out on those assembly lines were crucial to the Allied victory in World War II.
High wage, low skilled factory jobs pioneered by Ford accelerated both immigration from overseas and the movement of Americans from the farms to the cities. The same jobs also accelerated the movement of the same people into an ever expanding middle class. In a dramatic demonstration of the law of unintended consequences, the creation of huge numbers of low skilled workers gave rise in the s to industrial unionism as a potent social and political force.
The Model T spawned mass automobility, altering our living patterns, our leisure activities, our landscape, even our atmosphere. There is a prophetic story of how the year-old Henry Ford got a pocket watch for his birthday, and then proceeded to take it apart.
He simply wanted to know how it worked. It was a character trait that marked the rest of Ford's life. Ford was interested in every aspect of life around him. He explored innovative forms of education which, in time, lead to the founding of the Edison Institute, known today as The Henry Ford. In a single location, Ford brought together dozens of buildings and millions of artifacts. It was one of the largest collections of its kind ever assembled, as well as a bold and ambitious new way for people of all ages to discover and explore the richness of the American experience for themselves.
Henry Ford took inspiration from the past, saw opportunities for the future, and believed in technology as a force for improving people's lives. To him, technology wasn't just a source of profits, it was a way to harness new ideas and, ultimately, further democratize American life.
An Innovator. Invention versus Innovation. Ford's Work Style. A Life-Long Tinkerer. Ford's Early Work Life. Ford's Curiosity. Ford's Innovations. From Kitchen Sink to Model T. By , Ford and his son Edsel introduced another successful car, the Model A, and the Ford Motor Company grew into an industrial behemoth. In , Ford launched the first moving assembly line for the mass production of the automobile. More than for his profits, Ford became renowned for his revolutionary vision: the manufacture of an inexpensive automobile made by skilled workers who earn steady wages and enjoyed a five-day, hour work week.
Ford was an ardent pacifist and opposed World War I , even funding a peace ship to Europe. Later, in , Ford and his family established the Ford Foundation to provide ongoing grants for research, education and development. In business, Ford offered profit sharing to select employees who stayed with the company for six months and, most important, who conducted their lives in a respectable manner.
He even went as far as to support a weekly newspaper, The Dearborn Independent , which furthered such views. The Ford company, in turn, said the factory was under the control of the Nazis, not the American corporate headquarters. Ford died on April 7, , of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 83, near his Dearborn estate, Fair Lane. Ford was an avid collector of Americana, with a particular interest in technological innovations and the lives of ordinary people: farmers, factory workers, shopkeepers and business people.
He decided to create a place where their lives and interests could be celebrated. Opening in , the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, displays the thousands of objects Ford collected and many more-recent additions, such as clocks and watches, an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, presidential limousines and other exhibits. Also on display in the expansive outdoor Greenfield Village are operational railroad roundhouses and engines, the Wright Brothers bicycle shop, a replica of Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory and Ford's relocated birthplace.
Ford's vision for the museum was stated as, "When we are through, we shall have reproduced American life as lived; and that, I think, is the best way of preserving at least a part of our history and tradition. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us!
This implementation gave Ford an edge over its competitors. This vaulted many low-skilled workers into the middle class, allowing them to afford the products that they made, and employee turnover dropped dramatically. By the end of the decade, two out of three cars on the road were a Model T. This period also saw the introduction and unfortunate demise of the Edsel, a luxury car that never caught on with the public.
Throughout the next several decades, Ford Motor Company continued to expand, opening operations in Asia, founding the Ford Motor Credit Company and acquiring other brands, including Mazda and Land Rover.
In Ford alone, of the big three American automakers, avoided bankruptcy and a government bailout.
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