Know Our History - Henry Ford on the American Experience

[NeilBlanchard]

I know that all of you reading this have more than a passing interest in cars, and this 1:52 American Experience program on Henry Ford will be very interesting to you; probably on several levels.

Video: Henry Ford | Watch American Experience Online | PBS Video

Henry Ford was brilliant but uneducated, visionary and paranoid, prescient and a domineering egomaniac, a teetotalling racist - in many ways he was the father of the 20th century manufacturing age - but he loved the 19th century better.

The Model T is still a model of a durable, practical, efficient and affordable car - exactly the kind of car we need to reclaim here in the 21st century.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

...The Model T is still a model of a durable, practical, efficient and affordable car - exactly the kind of car we need to reclaim here in the 21st century.

The Model T also had an effect on world history, General Allenby (in charge of forces in the middle east in WW1) counted the model T as one of his 3 main advantages over his enemies.

The model T itself didn't last long overseas though - in Europe it failed due to the engine being too large (the HP tax), and elsewhere it rapidly became old fashioned. It was efficient in terms of being easy to fix and cheap to buy, in terms of fuel usage it was and is a pig but mileage travelled in those days was far lower.

The idea has been tried though, think of the "economy" cars of the world, e.g.

Trojan
Austin 7
Morris 8
Dixie Werk (Austin 7 under licence)
Bantam (Austin 7 US under licence)
Rosengart (Austin 7 France - you get the idea...)
2CV
Fiat Topolino
Fiat 500
BMC Mini
Subaru 360
Datsun 510
VW Beetle
Fiat 124/128

etc. right down to cars like the VW Up! (dare I say the Aygo ) - cheap to run and cheap to fix.

[Frank Lee]

The "T" may have been a pig, but it got better than TODAY'S Uhmerican fleet average!

[NeilBlanchard]

Frank, I think you are about right - the average car in the US today gets about the same MPG as the Model T.

I hope you folks get to watch the program - the thing that Henry Ford got right I think, is that the Model T was improved as needed, and they avoided planned obsolescence. We have Alfred P. Sloan (of GM) to thank for that...

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

The Model T is still a model of a durable, practical, efficient and affordable car - exactly the kind of car we need to reclaim here in the 21st century.

Due to the nanny-state dictating which safety standards must be followed by every vehicle, and the average Joe not wanting to get rid of some ammenities to save some bucks on fuel and maintenance, it's pretty hard to see another vehicle with the same versatility of the Model T, among other vehicles of its time.

[NeilBlanchard]

Volvos and Mercedes got a lot safer because their designers knew that protecting the owners of their cars was the right thing to do. They added passenger protection cells and shoulder seat belts and crumple zones. They put four wheel disk brakes with dual circuits of hydraulics (that each works on both front and one rear brake) and these saved lives.

But the car companies who are only motivated to change the "style" and "features" and actually *wanted* their cars to wear out quickly, couldn't be arsed to add *seatbelts* and *collapsible* steering columns and *disk brakes*, let alone exploding gas tanks or care two shakes about the weight or aerodynamics - why should we stand for that?

Planned obsolescence is probably the worst idea in modern economic history; because it has done more damage to our economy and even more importantly, it has done more damage to our world - without which our economy is meaningless.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Frank, I think you are about right - the average car in the US today gets about the same MPG as the Model T.

Do you have comparisons for the other indicators - like maybe CO2, speed, braking performance, safety rating, aero, carrying capacity... ?

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Volvos and Mercedes got a lot safer because their designers knew that protecting the owners of their cars was the right thing to do....

Whilst car makers did wrongly make style, looks and performance a priority I think that suggesting no car maker wanted to make sure the passengers were safe is stretching it a little. Whilst US makers were perhaps late to the idea of safety they still did stuff - like air bags.

In 1971, the Ford car company built an experimental airbag fleet. General Motors tested airbags on the 1973 model Chevrolet automobile that were only sold for government use. The 1973, Oldsmobile Toronado was the first car with a passenger air bag intended for sale to the public.

Volvo's list is more impressive:

1944 Safety cage
1944 Laminated windscreen
1957 Anchor points for 2–point safety belts front
1958 Anchor points for 2–point safety belts rear
1959 3–point front safety belts standard
1964 First rearward–facing child safety seat prototype tested
1966 Crumple zones front and rear
1966 Safety door–locks
1969 Inertia reel safety belts
1971 Reminder safety belt
1972 3–point safety belts – rear
1972 Rearward–facing child safety seat
1974 Multistage impact absorbing steering column
1974 Bulb integrity sensor
1975 Braking system with stepped bore master cylinder
1978 Child safety booster cushion
1982 "Anti–submarining" protection
1986 Three–point safety belt centre rear seat
1990 Integrated child safety cushion in centre rear seat
1991 Side Impact Protection System (SIPS)
1991 Automatic height adjusting safety belt
1992 Reinforced rear seats in estate models
1995 Integrated child safety cushion outer rear seats
1997 ROPS – Roll Over Protection System (C70)
1998 WHIPS – Whiplash Protection System
1998 IC – Inflatable Curtain
2001 SCC – Volvo Safety Concept Car
2002 RSC – Roll Stability Control
2003 New Front Structure called Volvo Intelligent Vehicle Architecture (VIVA, S40, V50)
2003 Rear seat belt reminders (in S40 and V50)
2003 IDIS – Intelligent Driver Information System (in S40 and V50)
2003 Inauguration of Volvo's Traffic Accident Research Team in Bangkok
2004 BLIS – Blind Spot Information System (in S40 and V50)
2005 Introduction of DMIC (Door Mounted Inflatable Curtain, new Volvo C70)
2006 PCC – Personal Car Communicator (S80)
2006 CWBS – Collision Warning with Brake Support (S80)
2007 PPB – Power Park Brake (S80)
2007 DAC – Driver Alert Control (V70, XC70)
2009 City Safety – Automatically stop car at speeds below 19 mph (31 km/h) if obstruction is detected in front of car (XC60)
2010 Pedestrian Detection with auto brake (New S60)
2012 Pedestrian airbag, covering half the windscreen in case of collision with pedestrian which debuted on the new Volvo V40 hatchback model

As for the economic model ? Think about seperating the baby and the bathwater here.

Car makers are no different from anyone else in wanting to sell you a newer "thing" - think ipad, iphone, samsung stuff, PCs, Macs, TVs - pretty much everything from Armchairs to Zumba courses.

In short it does drive innovation and things like doing more with less.

It also makes this possible



which today is stupidly expensive but may just change how designers work in the future like the original Prius and Insight did.

[Frank Lee]

Do you have comparisons for the other indicators - like maybe CO2, speed, braking performance, safety rating, aero, carrying capacity... ?

No, but they aren't relevant when the parameter is mpg.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

No, but they aren't relevant when the parameter is mpg.

MPG is not the only fruit.

[Frank Lee]

I am fully aware of that. I realize that there have been advancements in auto tech over the last 100+ years. It is not news to me. What may be news to many, however, is that TODAY'S U.S. national fleet of crap consisting of SUVs, pickups, and maybe some cars here and there has an average MPG similar to that of the 100 year old "T". I find that pathetic and offensive.