Old Ford pics

[RICH MUISE]

I always thought of car manufacturers in terms of assembly plants. I didn't realize they got bigtime into stuff like steel processing plants, their own power plants, etc. I wonder if GM and Chrysler did also. Sure must have made for an ugly skyline in those cities.......I guess that's why you only saw the pretty (and clean)assembly plants.

[CobraJoe]

Two sides to the coin; Ford had plants for making charcoal as well as farms for employees to grow food.

"In pursuit of self-sufficient automobile manufacture, Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company purchased over 313,000 acres of timberland for logging in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A massive sawmill complex and powerful hydroelectric plant were constructed at Iron Mountain. Here, sawmill workers produced huge quantities of lumber for wooden automobile framework, floorboards, and wheels."

Ford Motor Company Iron Mountain Plant Sawmill and Power House, circa 1920








Henry Ford's Views on Farming
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED | JULY 17, 1926

"We cultivate several thousand acres at Dearborn; we also have a dairy herd of around three thousand cows; and near our coal mines in Kentucky, on mountain soil that was not supposed to be good for much of anything, we are growing garden vegetables and fruit. Most of my own life has been spent on a farm. We are in touch with farming nearly everywhere through the sales of automobiles and tractors. And so we are not without knowledge of farm needs and wants.

This phrase "Garden for Security" was the guiding philosophy of the Ford Motor Company Garden Educational Service. Established in late 1943, the program provided help to the thousands of Americans doing their part in the "food battle" during World War II.

While Willow Run was producing almost a plane an hour in 1944, the Ford Educational Garden Service was boosting Victory Gardens all over the country, helping civilians produce 40 percent of the vegetables grown that year in the United States.

The efforts of the Ford Educational Garden Service ensured that civilians would have access to produce healthier, more productive gardens. Current gardeners, as well as thousands who had never had a garden before, had access to a service that would be able to make their food source more secure. The Educational Garden Service gave tips on what to grow, what insects to look out for and how to control them, as well as tips for canning your crops. As a 1944 Service pamphlet stated, "Can all you can, store all you can. In this, in addition to a summer's supply of vegetables, lies security." These gardens were opportunity for both supplying nutrition and boosting morale during the hardships of war."

[CobraJoe]

1958 Ford Rouge Complex conveyor

[CobraJoe]

1961 Employees on assembly line at Ford La Boca Plant

[oldave57]

Joe,

I don't know how in the world you come up with these historical Ford pics and information, but I absolutely love them.  Keep them coming.

Dave

[CobraJoe]

Thanks Dave 

1965 Ford Mustang at World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan

[Ecode70D]

Joe   Those are some good pictures.  Thank you Jay
    I did not make it to the Friday night (7/21/23) cruise again because the weather liars kept saying all day that we would have rain.
   This makes about 8 Fridays in a row this summer.   

[59meteor]

Henry Ford was quite a visionary, he was making Ford Motor Company a self supplying empire, with it`s own power plants, casting, forging, stamping, woodworking, glass, etc divisions, FoMoCo was able to do pretty much everything in house, and not being held up by delivery issues from outside suppliers. And they were able to produce many more vehicles back in those years, despite all the "modern technological advancements" of current production. Kinda sad now, to see the manufacturers being hamstrung by problems with outside suppliers, from all over the world, and government restrictions and hurdles.

[gasman826]

When the Fords married into the Firestone family, the Feds stepped in.

[CobraJoe]

1957 Exterior view of Power House at Dagenham Plant, England

[RICH MUISE]

Firestone...........great company 'til the Japanese management screwed it up. I had the infamous Mountaineer tires on my '97 (?)Mercury Mountaineer when that whole fiasco started. Mine were made in a different factory than the one with the major issues, but after Ford canceling their 100+ year contract with Firestone, Ford replaced all 4 of my worn-out tires at their expense. I'll never have Firestone tires on my cars again, but I've wondered if Ford would have done what they did trying to force Firestone into replacing all Mountaineer tires if they knew it would backfire at their expense. Either way, Ford cowboyed-up.

[CobraJoe]

For those not familiar with Rich's story....



"The story begins back in 1906, six years after Harvey Firestone founded his eponymous Firestone Tire and Rubber company. Firestone was personal friends with Henry Ford, who chose to outfit Firestone tires to his new Model T. Having supplied the rubber for the most influential car of all time, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company would form a seemingly indelible partnership with the Ford Motor Company.

Then, in 1990, the two allies unwittingly set the stage for what was to become the most controversial recall of the early 21st century. That year, Ford began producing its now-legendary Explorer for the first time. Once again, Ford used tyres made by Firestone, who had recently been acquired by the Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone.

Ultimately, the Explorer's versatility, four-wheel drive practicality and iconic styling made it an all-star in the fledgling SUV market. Not only was the Explorer a favorite among suburban families, it was popular among off-road enthusiasts who wanted a toy that could also serve as a cushy daily driver. Despite being in production for nearly 30 years, the Explorer is still one of Ford's strongest sellers in the North American market. However, the first versions of the Explorer were tainted by a series of engineering and corporate failures that forever damaged the reputations of both Ford and Firestone.

In order to understand the early Explorer's bad reputation, it helps to understand its handling characteristics. Having driven an older Explorer, I feel confident that a drunken giraffe could handle a set of corners more confidently. It's heavy, has a high center of gravity, and awfully sloppy steering. As far as early SUVs were concerned, this was par for the course. However, the Explorer featured a twin I-beam front suspension that was supposed to offer better stability than the live axle setup that was offered in the Jeep Cherokee. This early form of independent front suspension gave the Explorer a smoother ride, but the extra comfort came with some drawbacks. Any vertical movement of the suspension (e.g. going over a bump) would upset the wheel's camber angle to some extent, resulting in reduced high-speed stability and increased rollover danger. This phenomenon was similar to what was infamously experienced by the first-generation Chevrolet Corvair.

This deficiency in the Explorer's front-end stability contributed, in part, to rollovers in preproduction testing. Engineers recommended that the design of front suspension be modified. Instead, Ford decided to correct the instability in the same way that Chevrolet fixed the Corvair's handling issues: by running the Explorer with a lower front tire pressure than usual. This jury-rig solution seemed to work, and the Explorer's front-end stability was sufficiently improved. It did, however, come with a price: the lower pressure would reduce the durability and lifespan of the tire.

Initially, engineers at Ford and Firestone believed that they had solved the Explorer's stability problems. In 2000, Firestone made a slight modification to the design of their tyres. They added a nylon cap to the tyre's belted radial to give extra strength to the tread. At first, it looked like a routine design upgrade. What the public did not know, however, was that both Ford and Firestone were under pressure from investigations by the National Highway Transportation Safety Association (NHTSA) and U.S. Congress.

Between 1990 and 2000, the NHTSA received a large number of complaints regarding tire failures on Ford Explorers equipped with Firestone ATX, ATX II, and Wilderness AT model tires. Ford did their own investigation into the matter, and confirmed that the Firestones were suffering from alarmingly high failure rates. Despite this knowledge, a special committee formed by the U.S. Senate found evidence that Ford and Firestone did not inform the NHTSA of the problem. It was estimated that, as a result of the problems with Firestone tires, over 200 people died in accidents brought on by tread separation.

For Ford and Firestone, the consequences were staggering. Widespread recalls were issued, and both companies were inundated with lawsuits. Although tread separations had occurred on Explorers fitted with tyres made by other manufacturers, the damage to Firestone's reputation was so severe that they were forced to shut down their Decatur, Illinois production facility in 2001. For the 2002 redesign of the Explorer, Ford outfitted the Explorer with a much-improved four-wheel independent suspension. That move may have been too little, too late for Ford. Their reputation was damaged as they were accused of knowingly selling an unsafe vehicle, much like they did with the infamous Pinto 20 years earlier.

The damage done to the relationship between Ford and Firestone was even more profound. After 95 years of supplying Ford with tyres, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company ended their partnership with Ford Motor Company, citing a lack of trust in the company. It was a dramatic ending to an alliance that began from a personal friendship between two of America's most prominent automotive pioneers."

[RICH MUISE]

Interesting read with lots of details I had never heard, like Firestone "ending the relationship"......thought it was the other way around. Also, the name of the tire.......I was 98% sure it matched the name of my SUV.....Mountaineer.
Thanks for the info, Joe. Great stuff as always.

[CobraJoe]

My pleasure bud   

[CobraJoe]

How about camping with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone and President Harding shows up...lol



"Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, President Warren G. Harding, and Harvey Firestone at a campsite in Maryland in June 1921.



"During the week of July 21-27, 1921, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone camped at a site about six miles east of Hancock in Washington County. During the weekend, President Warren G. Harding joined the "vagabonds" — the name the wealthy industrialists gave themselves when they camped together. The 200-acre farm where they made camp was located about one mile north of the National Turnpike along Licking Creek. Today, the campsite lies inside Camp Harding County Park. A plaque memorializes the gathering of these famous campers.



This was not the first time the vagabonds had been in the Old Line State. In 1918, while traveling from their camp site near Greensburg, Pa., to Leadmine, W.Va., the group passed through Garrett County. They stopped to eat lunch at Swallow Falls and purchased supplies in Oakland.

It wasn't until the 1921 trip, however, that the vagabonds actually camped in Western Maryland. There were several other firsts that distinguished the 1921 outing from other trips the vagabonds had taken since they began camping together in 1915. It was the first time their wives joined them; it was the first time the president of the United States camped with them; and it was the first time their friend, famed naturalist John Burroughs, was not with them. He had passed away earlier that year.

About mid-morning on July 23, 1921, Ford, Edison and Firestone left their campsite at Licking Creek and drove west on U.S. Route 40 to Funkstown to meet Harding, who had left the White House earlier that morning.

Large crowds gathered along the roadside in Hagerstown to watch the long caravan of vehicles rumble by as they headed back to the camp site.

Harding's group numbered more than 40 people and included, among others, Secret Service personnel and 10 white house photographers. The vagabond's entourage included family members, cooks, truck drivers and maintenance staff. Including the public hanging around to gawk at the famous, there were at times over 100 people crowding the camp site.

Harding and the vagabonds arrived back at Licking Creek at about 1 p.m. Newspaper reporters wrote that the president arrived just in time to help cook for the entire party. Reports say that Harding took off his coat, and with a "business-like grip" around an ax, cut enough firewood to cook food for the entire group.


After lunch, Harding retired to his tent to take a nap. A photographer also captured a shot of Edison napping on the ground under an elm tree.



While the president and the inventor grabbed 40 winks, Ford and Firestone conducted a wood-chopping contest for the benefit of the press and onlookers. Despite the noise just outside his tent, Harding emerged rested and refreshed from his hour-long nap and immediately went to the wood pile to chop more firewood.



Afterwards, the president and Firestone walked over to Licking Creek, where Harding reminisced about the swimming holes he enjoyed as a child.

Warren G. Harding, Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford horseback riding  through Maryland during a camping trip in 1921.Firestone had shipped six horses from Ohio to the camp site, and Harding went riding twice during his stay. A reporter noted that it was "the first horseback work he (Harding) had done in many years."




The adventures of the president and the vagabonds and their camping trip in Maryland captured public imagination across America. In the early 1900s, camping for fun in the outdoors was a relatively new concept. Some urban dwellers believed that the only people who camped in tents were either in the Army or were suffering hard times.



Many Americans worked a six-day week, laboring 10 or more hours each day. There was little time for recreation. As more leisure time became available, people began touring in their new automobiles and searching for vagabond types of adventures. This created a demand for more public parks and forests, like Green Ridge State Forest, one of Maryland's public land crown jewels. "