Know Our History - Henry Ford on the American Experience

[user removed]

The model t was maybe the first "people's car". It was built to be repaired and maintained easily by people who had no knowledge or cars, engines, and how they operated.
One thing I remember was the quality of the steel used in the T was so exceptional many were scrapped in WW2 (would have been anyway) because the steel was very close to tool quality.
The transverse leaf spring chassis was extradorinarily strong for it's weight and could absorb punishment that would destroy a modern car in matter of weeks.
The first T's had no fuel pump and no water pump. Cooling was by thermosiphon, the hot coolant rose and forced the colder coolant into the bottom of the engine.
If you tried to climb a hill of too steep a grade, the engine would starve for fuel. The solution was to back up the hill since the tank (in the cowl) would actually be higher than on level ground and give suffecient fuel to keep the car running up very steep grades.
The "roads" in 1908 were virtually non existant as we know them today. Many roads were built due to the 15 million Model T's that were made between 1908 and 1926.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...and I restate myself:



...and, some of us have been semi "there" (Viet Nam), so we DO have some idea (albeit not identical) of what it was like.

THanks for your service. My oldest brother was in the 1st Marines working on battle damage repair on Intruders (I think, from memory). I went to Richmond for a pre-induction physical two weeks after my 18th birthday, in December of 1969. They "found" a hernia and I was classified as 1Y which meant they had to declare war and then could draft me and force me to have the operation.

I had it fixed at age 58. I thought of the later vets as I posted about POP, but he flew over enemy territory and the allied pilots knew they could easily be pitchforked if they were shot down over Germany. That applies to any pilot who flew missions in Vietnam and most here know of the suffering of John McCain and others at the hands of the North. The only difference I see is in WW2 there was a chance we would loose the war, although when the UAS entered that chance became practically 0.

regards
Mech

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

What lessons do you draw from the design of the Model T and Ford the company?

The Model T didn't add anything great to the design of the car at the time - no major new technology, nothing particularly special or unusual about the engineering except the odd pedal arrangement. By unusual for the time I mean most cars were different in one way or another as makers were experimenting a lot.

What it did do was simplify it all by using standard parts across different models making them cheap to make and fix. By being so cheap it also introduced "not very wealthy" people to the idea of car ownership. The technology to do that started a trend - here in the UK William Morris imported a lot of machinery developed to produce cars by Ford and his competitors - this allowed Morris to cut his prices several times in the 1920s which eventually allowed him to overtake Ford to be No.1 in the UK market.

As for the company, in the earlier years by all accounts it was very conservative keeping the T in production for perhaps longer than it should and piling a lot of pressure onto it's successor (the Model A ?). Maybe this was down to Henry himself maybe not. Some of the more radical moves such as overseas plants seemed to be guided more by outside investors (e.g. Trafford Park in Manchester) or by Henry's children (Dagenham).

Also I wonder if projects like the DFV and F1, the Mustang, world cars would have been done with Henry guiding things.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

The only difference I see is in WW2 there was a chance we would loose the war, although when the UAS entered that chance became practically 0.

Germany declared war on the US not the other way round. Not all that clever after all

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

I wonder if projects like the DFV and F1, the Mustang, world cars would have been done with Henry guiding things.

If he was still alive, I believe the Focus and the Transit Connect would be his favorite models in the current Ford lineup.

[Frank Lee]

I think Henry would have liked the Tempo/Topaz; they were kind of old-school even when new, especially the low rpm OHV engines, paucity of baubles and frills, and generally robust construction. It's a bit of a stretch but I don't know what else in the fairly recent line-up would be closest to being a "Modern T".

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I think Henry would have liked the Tempo/Topaz; they were kind of old-school even when new, especially the low rpm OHV engines, paucity of baubles and frills, and generally robust construction. It's a bit of a stretch but I don't know what else in the fairly recent line-up would be closest to being a "Modern T".

I quoted the Focus and the Transit Connect for 2 reasons: the Focus because of its global presence, and the Transit Connect because of its balance of size, weight and versatility - just lacks some cross-country ability. Well, for that matter, the EcoSport would be closer...

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I think Henry would have liked the Tempo/Topaz; they were kind of old-school even when new, especially the low rpm OHV engines, paucity of baubles and frills, and generally robust construction. It's a bit of a stretch but I don't know what else in the fairly recent line-up would be closest to being a "Modern T".

For the US what about the Festiva or the US only Mazda based Ford Scrote, oops, Escort ?

For Europe they have done loads. The KA is an excellent example - engine and floorplan from the Fiesta, alter the suspension and steering because the Fiesta was cr@p in both areas, drop in an old (cheap to make / fix) engine and a funky body style - sell them by the shipload.

Had one of these for my Honeymoon in Spain and it was brilliant.

[Frank Lee]

Festiva is good, but not really a Ford.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

I quoted the Focus and the Transit Connect for 2 reasons: the Focus because of its global presence, and the Transit Connect because of its balance of size, weight and versatility - just lacks some cross-country ability. Well, for that matter, the EcoSport would be closer...

Yeah I saw that. I guess we need to decide what criteria we are thinking of; when I think of Ts I think of ultimate simplicity and ruggedness. Your choices are good too.