Tag: Ford Motor Company

Edsel Ford and his Influence on Lincoln @FordMotorCompany

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February 4^th, 2022 marked the 100^th anniversary of the purchase of The Lincoln Motor Company by Ford Motor Company. The real result of that purchase is that for more than 100 years Lincoln products have reflected the design sense of a true automotive industry visionary, Edsel Ford. The DNA of the brand and its vehicles from the earliest days have been based on Edsel Ford’s sense of grace, beauty, art, spirit and design. We will get to the vehicles that show Edsel’s and Lincoln’s contributions to automotive history in a bit, but let’s set up the story first.

***This is an excellent read on the subject***

Henry Leland founded Lincoln in 1917, after he left GM and the Cadillac Division, in a patriotic move to build airplane engines during World War I. Leland named the company after Abraham Lincoln, who he claimed was the first President he ever voted for. The firm built Liberty V12 engines during the war under a $10 million governmental bond. After the war, relying on his previous experience, Leland shifted the production to automobiles, with the company finally producing the Model L in 1920. Unfortunately for Leland, Lincoln was plagued with production and design issues. Customers who placed orders for the Model L waited up to a year to receive their cars, and while Leland’s reputation for fine engineering was well deserved, the Model L styling was drab and lacked appeal to car buyers in the post war environment. Given these factors, The Lincoln Motor Company suffered financially and by 1922 had entered into receivership with nearly $8 million still owed to major creditors.

At the request of Edsel and his wife Eleanor, and his own wife Clara, Henry Ford was convinced to place an offer for Lincoln. The ultimate sale price was set at $8 million which was used to pay off the principal creditors of The Lincoln Motor Company. The sale date was set as February 4^th. Edsel Ford was named President of the company shortly thereafter.

In one of his first moves, Edsel Ford showed his true character in authorizing additional money after the purchase saying, “in addition we voluntarily paid all of the general creditors. This additional amount, aggregating more than $4 million, was paid purely out of generosity and without any obligation whatsoever to do so. In addition to this, a gift of $363,000 in cash was made to Mr. Henry M Leland on his seventy-ninth birthday, which was the equivalent of his investment in the old company.” That was quite a birthday gift, adjusted for inflation it would be comparable to over $6 million today.

Edsel Ford’s impact on the vehicles that Lincoln began to produce was nearly as profound as his business decisions. The oft used quote from Edsel that “Father made the most popular car in the world. I want to make the best car in the world” became the operating vision of The Lincoln Motor Company and was quickly noticeable in the vehicles and the company advertising.

Contrary to the concerns of Henry Leland at the time of the sale, Edsel not only embraced the engineering quality of the cars, he worked to improve them. He also understood that “a Lincoln not only has to function perfectly, it also has to look perfect.” With that goal in mind, (as is covered so eloquently in the 1996 Concours program) Edsel began to utilize the services of the greatest coachbuilders of the day. Names that ring down in automotive history like Brunn, Judkins, Fleetwood, Holbrook and LeBaron began to build the custom bodies coveted by Lincoln customers, raising the prestige of the brand. Edsel also changed the way Lincoln operated by ordering some of the body styles in batches of 50 and 100 units, which offered luxury at a relatively affordable price. The sales at Lincoln reflected the sweeping changes that Edsel Ford was making as 5,512 Lincolns were sold in the year after the purchase, effectively doubling what the Lelands had been able to sell the previous 17 months.

The Model K was introduced in 1931 to replace the Model L, which debuted under Leland’s ownership of Lincoln. For 1932 the Model K was split into the Model KA and KB series. The KB was the longer wheelbase at 145″ and sported a 447 cu. in. V-12 engine. The KB series badge sported a blue background, while the KA had a red background. There were nearly two dozen standard and customized body styles available. On May 30, 1932 Edsel Ford drove a Lincoln KB Murphy bodied roadster as the pace car at the Indianapolis 500. The Model KA and KB were only used through 1934 MY. In 1935 they reverted back to Model K and were designated by wheelbase. Some of the custom body designers were Derham Body Co., Willoughby, Brunn, Dietrich, Murphy, LeBaron and Judkins. Eventually, the Model K was discontinued after the 1939 Model Year as prices and tastes changed. The final few Model K’s were sold at 1940 MY.

In 1932, Edsel met Bob Gregorie, who had been designing yachts until the depression drove him to find work in the Detroit auto industry. Edsel, Gregorie, and John Crawford, Edsel’s executive assistant and shopmaster, formed a three-person design team for the Ford Motor Company and Lincoln. Two of the first projects they turned their attention to were the 1936 and 1938 Zephyr, both considered design classics for different reasons. The Briggs Body Company had been a featured coachbuilder for both Ford Motor Company and the Model L luxury Lincolns, but with the beginning of the depression and declining sales of ultra-luxury automobiles, they began to look for an alternate vehicle. Briggs designer John Tjaarda had done some preliminary studies of streamlined prototypes which were shown to Edsel Ford who immediately saw the potential in the vehicle.

The 1936 Zephyr was based on that aerodynamic shape (that Tjaarda had shown at the 1934 World’s Fair) but was converted to a front engine vehicle with a special version of the Ford flathead V-8, which had been converted to a V-12. While the 1936 Zephyr was not the first aerodynamic automobile produced, it was the first to achieve broad public acceptance. The aerodynamic design of the car was captured in its teardrop shaped logo and headlights that evoked the spirit of the “west wind.”

With the 1938 Zephyr, Bob Gregorie and Edsel Ford achieved one of the most successful makeovers of an existing automobile line. The original Zephyr sold well, but Gregorie and Edsel felt that it could still be improved. Gregorie changed the position of the radiator, necessitating a new lower front grille, which he designed with a horizontal pattern that was soon copied by the automobile industry. One pundit stated that while the Zephyr had been considered a successful streamlined car, beginning with the 1938 model it was beautiful as well.

n October of 1939, the Lincoln Zephyr Continental was introduced, and in many ways achieved Edsel’s vision of the perfect luxury automobile. The Continental was an immediate design icon and was displayed by the Museum of Modern Art in 1951 as one of eight cars epitomizing design excellence. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright considered it “the most beautiful car in the world” and bought two.

The inspiration for the Continental began with a trip by Edsel and Eleanor Ford to Europe in 1938. Edsel was impressed by the design and elegance of European automobiles. When he returned from the trip, he challenged Gregorie to work with him to create a new and stylish Lincoln.

The team began with the existing Lincoln Zephyr chassis. Gregorie designed a special convertible coupe, or cabriolet, by October 1938 with a 10th scale clay model produced shortly thereafter. The car became a passion point for Edsel Ford as he stopped by the design studio daily to monitor progress and offer suggestions. Gregorie later said of Edsel Ford “He had the vision. I did the work of translating his vision into workable designs.” In one instance, Gregorie wanted to hide the spare tire in the trunk, but Edsel insisted on keeping it mounted to the rear of the car to reinforce the image of a low speedy automobile. Special panels were added to lengthen the hood by 12 inches, while four inches were removed from the body to lower the car. The low, sleek Continental design was born.

By the beginning of 1939, as work on the prototype Lincoln-Zephyr Continental neared completion, Edsel liked it enough to order two more for his sons, Henry II and Benson. These vehicles were only eight inches longer and three inches lower than the original Zephyr, which became closer to the future Continental standard. With that order placed, Edsel headed to his winter home in Hobe Sound, Florida with instructions that the prototype be delivered to him there. According to legend, the car turned heads among his friends in Florida and Edsel returned to Dearborn with orders for 200 more! Sensing the demand, Edsel, Crawford, and Gregorie worked on a plan to produce the cars at a greater rate.

On October 2, an assembly line was set up to begin manufacture of the Lincoln-Zephyr Continental. By the end of 1939, 25 had been produced and were designated 1940 models. In all, 404 Continentals were produced the first model year, 350 cabriolets and 54 coupes. Each car was essentially hand built using Lincoln Zephyr branded trim pieces, with the upholstery a combination of leather and whipcord. The cars featured a Model H V-12 engine and prices began at $2,640 for either the cabriolet or the coupe.

With the 1941 Model year, Zephyr was dropped from the name plate and the car was known simply as the Lincoln Continental. Upgrades and modifications remained constant, as the goal was always to produce the finest automobile possible. Demand remained high and there were always standing orders for all of the cars produced. With the beginning of WWII and the conversion to wartime production, the manufacture of the Continental was discontinued in 1942.

After the war, the Continental was built from 1946 to 1948, but changing tastes and production techniques made it difficult to maintain sufficient manufacturing quantities. There was no longer room in the market for a small production, highly personalized luxury automobile. In order for The Lincoln Motor Company to continue the Continental line, a total redesign would have been required, and Edsel Ford passed away in 1943, leaving a void in vision and design for a new model.

This first generation, later designated Mark I, of the Lincoln Continental offered driving excellence and design elegance for a generation of auto enthusiasts. Ultimately, 5,324 Continentals were produced, 3,047 coupes and 2,277 cabriolets, all manufactured individually and hand constructed. The vision of Edsel Ford and the design expertise of Bob Gregorie led to one of Detroit’s classic cars.

Read on

Source Ford Motor Company

THE MODEL T @FordMotorCompany

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THE MODEL T IS FORD’S UNIVERSAL CAR THAT PUT THE WORLD ON WHEELS.

The Model T was introduced to the world in 1908. Henry Ford wanted the Model T to be affordable, simple to operate, and durable. The vehicle was one of the first mass production vehicles, allowing Ford to achieve his aim of manufacturing the universal car. The Model T was manufactured on the Ford Motor Company’s moving assembly line at Ford’s revolutionary Highland Park Plant. Due to the mass production of the vehicle, Ford Motor Company could sell the vehicle for between $260 and $850 as Henry Ford passed production savings on to his customers.

The Model T was first tested by Henry Ford himself who took the vehicle on a hunting trip to Wisconsin and northern Michigan. The Model T became famous for the stunts it could perform including climbing the stairs of the Tennessee State Capitol and reaching the top of Pikes Peak. After the test of his own product, the vehicle was shipped to its first customer on October 1, 1908.

The revolutionary vehicle saw the placement of the steering wheel on the left side, allowing passengers easy access to and from the cars. The vehicle was also the first to have its engine block and the crankcase cast as a single unit, the first to have a removable cylinder head for easy access, and the first to make such extensive use of the lightweight but strong alloy known as vanadium steel. The Model T’s agile transmission made shifting gears easy for everyone. These improvements and innovations allowed the world to move towards a more urban way of life. The early Model T came with a tool kit, packed the gas tank under the front passenger seat, provided a windshield as an option (before it was standardized), and had to be cranked to get it going.

A common myth is that all model T’s were black. While Henry Ford did say “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it’s black,” the policy was in place solely for efficiency and uniformity. The car was only offered in black from 1914-1925, however before and after that various models of the vehicle could be purchased in a variety of colors including blue, red, grey, and green.

The vehicle also became famous for its unique nickname—Tin Lizzie. There are various accounts of how this nickname was acquired by the Model T. Possible origins include the popularity of the female name “Lizzie” during that period to a famous Model T racecar named Old Liz. Despite the popularity of the nickname Tin Lizzie, the Model T had dozens of nicknames.

The Model T was so popular Henry Ford once said: “There’s no use trying to pass a Ford, because there’s always another one just ahead.” By the early 1920s more than half of the registered automobiles in the world were Fords. More than 15,000,000 Model T’s were built and sold. In May 1927 a ceremony was held to honor the end of production of the Model T. It was the end of an era.

While the vehicle is more than 100 years old, its legacy is timeless. The vehicle had many new features that were unique for its time. The low price point allowed many people to become a Ford owner, should they choose it, and caused Ford Motor Company to be a household name.

Source Ford Motor Company

The 1949 Ford @FordMotorCompany

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THE ICONIC 1949 FORD BRINGS AWARD-WINNING DESIGN TO THE LINE-UP AFTER THE END OF WORLD WAR II.

Following World War II, Ford Motor Company transitioned itself from a military manufacturing hub back to the consumer vehicle builder it had been previously. The 1949 Ford was the first post-war vehicle the company produced featuring a completely new design, under Henry Ford II’s leadership, and created by famed industrial and automotive designer, George Walker.

The 1949 design was molded along functional lines, resulting in its low sweeping silhouette. The iconic front end was distinctive, the hood large but smaller than prior vehicle models. The vehicle came in two lines, the Ford and the Ford Custom. Body styles in both lines include the four-door sedan, two-door sedan, club coupe. Convertible and station wagon models were obtained only in the Custom line and the three-passenger Coupe only in the Ford line. There were eight new exterior colors offered including Bayview Blue Metallic and Arabian Green.

The vehicle sales reflected the popularity of the car. In 1949 Ford Motor Company sold over one million Fords, Mercurys, and Lincolns to the American people. Their new popularity was reflected in Ford doubling its profit, emerging from the years of meager gains and disheartening losses to success and strength.

A total of 1,118,762 1949 Fords were produced. Historians refer to the car as the vehicle that saved Ford Motor Company as it was the 1949 Ford that started the company on the track from losses in the immediate post-war period to profits in the 1950s. The vehicle was only produced for a few years but it was crucial to the return of the company from wartime manufacturing to vehicle production. The 1949 Ford was the vehicle that proved that Ford Motor Company would remain strong in the new, post-war world.

Source Ford Motor Company

The Origins of the Lincoln Continental – The Story of the Creation of a Design Classic @FordMotorCompany

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LEARN THE HISTORY OF THE DESIGN CLASSIC, THE LINCOLN CONTINENTAL.

“Father made the most popular car in the world. I want to make the best car in the world.” With those words, Edsel Ford, President of the Lincoln Motor Company, stated its operating mission. In October of 1939, the Lincoln Zephyr Continental was introduced and in many ways fulfilled Edsel’s statement. The Continental was an immediate design icon and was even selected and displayed by the Museum of Modern Art in 1946 as one of the eight cars epitomizing design excellence. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright considered it “the most beautiful car in the world” and bought two. So what were the origins of the vehicle?

While the Ford Motor Company was known more for dependable transportation and the power of the V-8 engine than stylistic automobile design, Edsel wanted Lincoln to be different. In 1932, Edsel met Bob Gregorie, whose background had actually been designing yachts until the depression drove him to find work in the Detroit auto industry. Edsel, Gregorie and John Crawford, Edsel’s executive assistant and shopmaster formed a three-person design team for the Ford Motor Company and Lincoln. The inspiration of the Continental began with a trip by Edsel and Eleanor Ford to Europe in 1938. Edsel was impressed by the design and elegance of the European automobiles he saw. When he returned from the trip, he challenged Gregorie to work with him to create a new and stylish Lincoln.

The team began with the existing Lincoln Zephyr chassis as its basis. Gregorie designed a special convertible coupe (or cabriolet, keeping with our European theme). The drawings were ready by October 1938 with a 10th scale clay model shortly thereafter. The car became a passion point for Edsel Ford as he stopped by the design studio daily to monitor the progress and offer suggestions. Gregorie later said of Edsel Ford “He had the vision. I did the work of translating his vision into workable designs.” In one instance, Gregorie wanted to hide the spare tire in the trunk, but Edsel insisted in keeping it mounted to the rear of the car to reinforce the image of a low speedy automobile. The car had that look because special panels were added to lengthen the hood by 12 inches while four inches were removed from the body to lower the car. The low, sleek Continental design was born.

By the beginning of 1939, as work on the first prototype car, then called the Lincoln-Zephyr Continental, neared completion, Edsel liked it enough to order two more for his sons, Henry II and Benson, but these were only reduced to eight inches longer and three inches lower which became closer to the future Continental standard. With that order placed, Edsel headed off to his winter home in Hobe Sound, Florida with instructions that the prototype be delivered to him there. According to legend, the car turned heads among his friends in Florida and Edsel returned to Dearborn with orders for 200 more! Sensing the demand, Edsel, Crawford and Gregorie worked on a plan to produce the cars at a greater rate.

On October 2, an assembly line was set up to begin the manufacture of the Lincoln-Zephyr Continental. By the end of 1939, 25 had been produced and were designated 1940 models. In all, 404 Continentals were produced the first model year, 350 Cabriolets and 54 Coupes. Each car was essentially hand built using Lincoln Zephyr branded trim pieces with the upholstery a combination of leather and whipcord. The cars featured a Model H V-12 Engine and prices began at $ 2,640 for either the Cabriolet or the Coupe.

With the 1941 Model year, Zephyr was dropped from the name plate and the car was known simply as the Lincoln Continental. Upgrades and modifications on the car remained constant as the goal was always to produce the finest automobile possible. Demand for the car remained high and there were always standing orders for all of the cars produced. With the beginning of WWII and the conversion of the plants from automobiles to wartime production, the manufacture of the Continental was discontinued in 1942.

Read on

The Ford Rotunda: Gateway to the Rouge @FordMotorCompany

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IN 1936, FORD’S WORLD’S FAIR EXPOSITION FOUND A PERMANENT HOME IN DEARBORN AND BECAME ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.

“FORD will participate in the 1934 World’s Fair at Chicago!” exclaimed the March edition of the Ford News. That same spring, Ford Motor Company opened the doors on a new pavilion. Sitting on 11 acres of land along the Lake Michigan shoreline, the rotunda exhibition welcomed nearly 50 million people during its two-year run.

By late 1934, it was announced that following the Fair, the Rotunda would be re-located to Dearborn to act as a visitor center and starting point for public tours of the Rouge. The original architect, Albert Kahn, was called upon to update the building design for its new purpose. One thousand tons of structural steel as well as many of the interior displays were shipped from Chicago and reassembled on a 13 ½ acre site across from the Ford Administration Building. The original plasterboard siding was removed and replaced with Indiana limestone. The newly situated Rotunda would also feature the original “Roads of the World” outdoor exhibition.

After more than a year of construction, the new Rotunda was opened on May 14, 1936. The Rotunda welcomed nearly 1,000,000 visitors per year until it was closed to the public in early 1942. Movie stars, celebrities, business leaders, heads of state, and millions of ordinary people came to learn about and to celebrate the Ford Motor Company.

During the transition to wartime efforts, the Rotunda served as office space and a school for the Army Air Corps, with barracks set up across Rotunda Drive. The theater was used as a movie hall to entertain the soldiers. Following World War II, the Rotunda was used for Dealer presentations, press events and other business meetings. In 1946, ten young army officers, soon to be known as The Whiz Kids, first met Henry Ford II over lunch at the Rotunda.

In 1953, the building underwent a major renovation in anticipation of re-opening to the public. New displays were installed, and facilities were improved to better handle large crowds. The central courtyard was covered over with a light-weight geodesic dome, designed by Buckminster Fuller. A crowd of people braved stormy weather to watch as the Rotunda, decorated like a huge birthday cake, re-opened on the evening of June 16, 1953 – as the culmination of the Company’s 50th Anniversary celebration.

Nearly 1½ million people visited the Rotunda to see the displays, ride the cars, and tour the Rouge in the first twelve months after re-opening. Visitors were able to see how a car was designed, how steel was made, and how an assembly plant worked. In 1958, the new Continental was introduced to the press under a 100 foot tall model of the Eiffel Tower. In 1959, just after Alaska became the 49th state, a display was built featuring mountains, fishermen and a stuffed grizzly bear. Flower shows and custom car shows were also held within the Rotunda’s walls. However, among the most memorable displays was the annual Christmas Fantasy. Opening just after Thanksgiving, there were typically 60,000 or more guests on the opening Sunday. Children could visit with Santa or look at his workshop, while the rest of the family viewed the latest car models.

On November 9, 1962, as the Rotunda was preparing for the Christmas Fantasy, a fire started on the roof of the building where workers were making repairs. The fire quickly burned through and dropped onto the Christmas decorations. Fire crews from Dearborn and the Rouge were unable to stop the flames, and the Rotunda was destroyed.

Source Ford Motor Company

How to Identify and Select Ford Alternators – Jim Smart @Motortrend

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Mustangs have had alternator charging systems since August 1964, when all Fords and Mercurys became so equipped. Alternators are clearly better than generators in that they maintain a steady charge at all engine speeds, including idle.

In the beginning, Autolite 1G alternators, which were rated at 38-55 amps, didn’t have much to keep up with. There was the radio, heater, lighting, occasionally horns, and the ignition system.

Today, alternators have a much larger job to do thanks to all the accessories we like to install in automobiles that offer the comforts of home. When you start adding subwoofer sound systems, power windows and locks, high-intensity headlights, electric cooling fans, and the rest of it, it can make an older Autolite 1G alternator sweat with anxiety trying to keep up with the load.

Whether you’re restoring a classic Mustang or building a hot restomod, it’s important to know a bit about Ford-based alternators and how they have evolved over the last 50 years, then make the right selection for your application. Cool thing is, you can uprate an older 1G 38-amp to 100-amp with the right parts, or fit your classic with an uprated 1G for a stealthy improvement.Alternator selection boils down to electrical demand. Output must be greater than demand or you wind up with dim headlights and a dead battery.

Showroom stockers can get by with original equipment—the externally-regulated Autolite 1G common from 1965 to 1986 are all interchangeable. In 1982, Ford stepped up the charging system demand with the internally regulated 2G alternator, which looks basically like the 1G, only with a 2G-specific wiring harness. The 2G was common to all Mustangs from 1986 to 1993. It was replaced by the 3G in 1994, then the 4G and 6G later.

Not only were there differences in amperage rating, but also pulley sizing, width, and type, in either one-groove or two. Most small- and big-block Fords had a 2.62-inch-diameter, single-groove pulley. The 289 High-Performance V-8 alternators had a larger 3.87-inch- diameter, single-groove pulley to reduce rotor speed at high rpm. Dual-groove pulleys are 3.15 inches in diameter—slightly larger than the single groove. Pulley size, number of grooves, and amp rating depended upon application.

Alternator fan type is also very important to both identification and function. We see so many rebuilt Autolite 1G alternators out there with incorrect fans for the production time frame, and we’d like to set that straight.

According to Jack Brooks at www.deadnutson.com, fan type depends on when the alternator was manufactured, and this is easy to see at a glance. Those first 1G alternators had the flat 13-blade fan used before March 1965. Beginning in March 1965, a more sculptured (stronger) 13-blade fan was used on the 1G. Beginning November 17, 1969, the 1G got a 10-blade fan (fewer, wider blades), which was used through the end of 1G production in 1986. This 10-blade fan was also used on the internally regulated Motorcraft 2G alternator from 1982-1992.

1G Alternator

Alternator use and application gets complicated with the 1G. Because these 1G cores have been so scattered through rebuilds and salvage yards over the years, expect to see a wide variety of mismatched parts. The rounded case 1G Ford/Autolite alternator was used from mid-1964 through the ’71 model year. Beginning with the changeover to Motorcraft in 1971-1972, Ford redesigned the 1G case with a square corner housing, which was used through the end of 1G production in 1986.

2G Alternator

The Motorcraft 2G internally- regulated alternator (known as “firestarter” and “flame-thrower” among enthusiasts) was introduced in 1982 on full-sized Fords and Mercurys, later working into the Mustang beginning in 1986, with 5.0 liters and fuel injection

3G Alternator

Ask anyone about 3G and they might get it confused with the older cell phone network. However, Ford’s 3G high-amp alternator is the sweetest solution for anyone looking to boost charging system output in an afternoon.

4G Alternator

The Motorcraft 4G pancake-style high-output alternator, which looks similar to the 3G, is available from PA Performance and Performance Distributors for Modular engines, small-blocks, and big-blocks. It is more compact than the 3G and produces more amperage.

6G Alternator

The Motorcraft 6G alternator arrived on the Mustang for the ’99 model year (4.6-liter two-valve) and has been a mainstay ever since. The 6G is a super-high-output alternator designed more specifically for late-model Mustang applications with the 4.6L, 5.4L, and the Coyote V-8. There is virtually no reason to apply it to your classic Mustang application

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Christmas Fantasy at the Ford Rotunda – @TheHenryFord

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It lasted only nine years, from 1953 to 1961. Yet, many long-time Dearborn residents remember the Ford Rotunda’s Christmas Fantasy with nostalgia and a fierce sense of pride. After all, this great extravaganza of all things Christmas was staged in their own community by the company that Henry Ford—their favorite hometown-boy-made-good—had founded.

What was the Christmas Fantasy and why was it so memorable? The story starts back in 1934, at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago.

Rotunda Origins

When Henry Ford decided that his company needed to have a showy building at the 1934 Century of Progress Exposition, he turned to Albert Kahn, his favorite architect. Kahn had designed Ford’s Highland Park Plant, Rouge Plant, and the classically-styled Dearborn Inn. But, for this exposition building, Kahn broke completely from traditional architectural styles and designed an imposing cylindrical structure that simulated a graduated cluster of internally-meshed gears.

By the time the Century of Progress Exposition closed its doors in 1934, Henry Ford decided that the central gear-shaped structure would be perfect for displaying industrial exhibits back home in Dearborn. He intended to re-erect the structure in Greenfield Village, but his son Edsel persuaded him that it would serve a far better purpose as a visitor center and starting point for the company’s popular Rouge Plant tours. The newly named Ford Rotunda found a suitable home near the Rouge Plant, across from the Ford Administration Building on Schaefer Road.

In 1953, as part of its 50th anniversary celebration, Ford Motor Company executives decided to give the Rotunda and its exhibits a complete renovation. The new industrial exhibits and changing car displays were popular. But its biggest draw became the annual Christmas Fantasy.

The Christmas tree and doll display at the 1955 Christmas Fantasy. The large banners of the Rouge Plant on the wall behind the doll displays were part of the Rotunda’s regular exhibits. (74.300.1182.3.4)

A Walk through the Christmas Fantasy

Just inside the entrance to the Rotunda, the holiday mood was immediately set by an enormous live Christmas tree. This 35-foot-tall tree glistened with thousands of colored electric lights.

Stretching along one wall was the display of more than 2,000 dolls, dressed by members of the Ford Girls’ Club. These would later be distributed by the Goodfellows to underprivileged children.

*Visitors view dolls from the Ford Motor Company Girls’ Club “Doll Dressing Contest,” 1958. (74.300.1182.3.65)*

The Rotunda’s Christmas Fantasy became perhaps best known for its elaborate animated scenes. These were created by Silvestri Art Manufacturing Company of Chicago, who specialized in department store window displays. Santa’s Workshop—an early and ongoing display—featured a group of tiny elves working along a moving toy assembly line.

National Ford Tool Collectors Website (NAFTCO)

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Really interesting site based around Ford OEM and special tools

Focus-Mission Statement

Sharing information about the tools that were furnished with original domestic and export Ford automobiles, trucks, farm tractors, agricultural and industrial equipment, military vehicles, and specialty tools that were used to service these tools.

NAFTCO was founded on three basic principles:

1. Be an educational and informational resource for members to learn about Ford tools, their usage and their role in the Ford Motor Company history.

2. Provide a forum for members to exchange information and ideas as well as buy, sell and swap tools.

3. Promote camaraderie among members.

NAFTCO is open to any individual interested in Ford tools, whether you are a serious collector or you just have a casual interest and want to learn more about Ford tools. Enjoy the benefits of being a NAFTCO member and being in contact with other Ford tool collectors throughout the world.

NAFTCO publishes a quarterly newsletter entitled “FORD TOOL TIMES” that features articles about Ford tools and tools made by outside vendors that were used to service Ford products, letters from members, a swap and sell section and a listing of resources for locating Ford tool

You can find the site here

John Bugas, the man who cleaned Ford of its gangster element – David Conwill @Hemmings

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The History of Ford Motor Company is filled with larger-than-life figures, starting with the founder himself and continuing right up through Lee Iacocca. So many characters, as it happens, have cropped up in Dearborn history that some have been unfortunately overlooked to a great extent. John Bugas, better known as Jack, was one of them.

Bugas was one of 10 children born to Austro-Hungarian immigrant Andrej Bugos, who adopted the name Andrew Bugas and served six terms in the Wyoming State Legislature. In addition to politics, Andrew was a serial entrepreneur and a rancher. The family ranch, called Eagle’s Nest, would be John Bugas’ home from shortly after his birth in 1908 until he enrolled in the University of Wyoming.

In college, Bugas was an outstanding athlete. He studied law and supported himself by working jobs as diverse as forest ranger and trucker. Upon graduation, in 1934, he went to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

It was the height of the Public Enemies era, and the brave and capable Bugas was a valued asset to the Bureau. In 1938, he was appointed to head the Detroit office. There he would liaison with the auto industry, something the federal government was already viewing as a strategic asset as totalitarian regimes in Europe and the Far East made no secret of their territorial ambitions.

Even as he proved adept at fighting more mundane crimes like kidnapping and bank robbery, Bugas was particularly renowned for the work he did protecting Detroit’s defense plants from espionage. He broke up a Nazi spy ring centered on Canadian socialite “Countess” Grace Dineen, and could boast that no sabotage occurred in the Arsenal of Democracy while he was in charge.

Naturally, Bugas met many of the Motor City’s leading lights at this time. Henry Ford, apparently still fearing that his grandchildren might be kidnapped like the unfortunate Charles Lindbergh Jr., hired away Bugas to work under the notorious Harry Bennett, head of Ford’s euphemistically named Service Department— essentially, a private army answerable only to Henry.

The tough westerner was not overawed by the ex-boxer to whom Henry was so inexplicably devoted, but had been impressed with the cultured, sensitive Edsel, whom he had met before Edsel’s untimely death in 1943. A self-described “Edsel loyalist,” Bugas determined to carry out the younger Ford’s wishes rather than those of the thuggish Bennett.

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Terrible Swift Sword – Jim Donnelly @Hemmings

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The Ford Motor Company’s transformation under fire

*Family affair: Arrayed outside Willow Run bomber plant are Ford products ranging from B-24 Liberators and gliders to Jeeps, trucks and modified Fordson tractors*

The two titans hated each other.

It wasn’t a matter of upbringing or pedigree, either, because at first, Henry Ford had actually admired Franklin Delano Roosevelt, considering his sonorous reassurances to be good for a country mired in self-doubt over the fallout from a decade of reckless extravagance. What he proposed, however, government intervention in the economy and the social contract on an unprecedented scale, turned Ford into a fountainhead of venom for Roosevelt and his policies. The New Deal, in the form of its public works projects and business regulation, infuriated the Michigan farm boy turned mogul. At the same time, Ford’s intransigence and detestation of organized labor would rankle the New York patrician who occupied the White House.

The forces that whipsawed at the two American giants would eventually form the history of the Ford Motor Company in the early and middle 1940s, as it groaned to align itself with the massive World War II production torrent, and with its own future. Those years were a three-act play that would mold Ford into vibrancy, reversing its long skid toward oblivion and forging the business that would outlive its founder.

*Team of “Whiz Kids” executives joined sclerotic Ford en masse, reversed its slide*

In 1938, Henry Ford turned 75, and he had accepted the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, bestowed on the orders of Adolf Hitler himself. Perhaps he was the only person to express surprise at the uproar that followed, particularly given his own status as a former pacifist dating back to his ill-starred Peace Ship foray that failed to prevent or halt the First World War. Ford the elder had already given his public blessing to the “America First” movement founded by another American icon who would accept a bauble from the Third Reich, Charles A. Lindbergh. Meanwhile, Germany was “annexing” territory across Europe, and would invade Poland outright in late 1939. Ford and Lindbergh then openly opposed U.S. aid to either Britain or France, both of which were clearly in Germany’s sights.

Nevertheless, Ford declared in 1940, when the Reich had goose-stepped through France and Benelux, and its bombs were shattering residential blocks in Britain, that his workers were prepared to “swing into production of a thousand airplanes of standard design a day,” as Robert Lacey recounted in Ford: The Men and the Machine. Lacey believed that Ford became miffed at his onetime executive William S. “Big Bill” Knudsen, who had departed for the presidency of General Motors and was now commissioned as an Army general, in charge of Washington’s war-production effort, whom he apparently believed had steered an unfair percentage of governmental booty toward GM. For the record, Ford would ultimately rank third in wartime production, behind GM and Curtiss-Wright, the aircraft giant. Following Ford’s boast, Knudsen sent a relatively simple pursuit plane for Dearborn to evaluate, and the old man agreed to send his only son, Edsel, the company’s president, increasingly sickened by the intrigues of Ford’s tough guy, Harry Bennett, to meet with Knudsen and discuss a possible production plan.

At that point, Winston Churchill had approached Roosevelt with an urgent request for 6,000 license-built Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engines, which he believed could tip the Battle of Britain irrevocably against Germany. Knudsen agreed, and believed Ford, the birthplace of the modern American industrial-production miracle, was right for the job. Edsel Ford and the old man’s production maven, Charles E. Sorensen, were eager to jump on the Merlin job. Then Lord Beaverbrook, Knudsen’s British counterpart, publicly proclaimed that Ford’s help would be invaluable to the United Kingdom’s war effort. That was all Ford needed to hear. He undercut his son by refusing to allow the Merlin engines to be built, enraging Knudsen over rejection of his goodwill gesture toward Ford and holding Edsel up to public humiliation. Within three years, Edsel would be dead and Sorensen out the door, nudged not too gently by Bennett.

Pearl Harbor, however, galvanized Ford as a defense contractor. The company’s everlasting fame would manifest itself in the form of the Willow Run plant, a production leviathan that, when opened in early 1942, dwarfed even Ford’s fabled River Rouge works. It was, by far, the world’s biggest industrial building under one roof, sprawling across some 2.5 million square feet, its frontal face 3,200 feet across. The legendary industrial architect Albert Kahn, father of the Rouge and Highland Park, had outdone himself with an edifice for the ages (after the war, Kaiser-Frazer would begin automobile production at Willow Run). Its signature product would be one of the war’s most famous bombers, the four-engine B-24 Liberator, which was designed by Consolidated Aircraft Corp. in San Diego, but built by Ford, since the Liberator’s creators could never hope to build it in the numbers that Washington demanded. The Liberator would eventually be mentioned just after the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress; its fame would be forged during lethal operations such as the massed bombing raids on the Nazi oil fields at Ploesti, Romania.

Willow Run managed to get into full production well past 1942, after overcoming some daunting logistical barriers, not the least of which was that the bulk of its workforce lived in Detroit–a good hour away. The plant was actually located in Washtenaw County, Michigan, then a collection of farming communities with no local workforce of their own. Edsel Ford and Sorenson were still at their posts, however defanged their roles may have been, and Henry Ford suffered a major, debilitating stroke in 1941. At the time Willow Run was moving toward reality, with the Liberator force hanging in the balance, the person with the most power at the Ford Motor Company was arguably the conspiratorial Harry Bennett.

No less a Ford sycophant than Lindbergh would memorably call Willow Run “a sort of Grand Canyon of a mechanized world.” Henry Ford had loudly proclaimed that Willow Run would turn bins of parts into a flying aircraft at the rate of one an hour, though by late 1942 had built a total of 56 Liberators, less than half Consolidated’s production of 169 the previous year. Editorial writers, however, blazed with praise for Ford’s plant. It didn’t help that a War Department spokesman fed unrealistic expectations by declaring in May 1942 that Willow Run had begun full bomber production when, in fact, the opposite was true. Neither did Sorenson’s subsequent claim that Willow Run constituted an open invitation for Hitler to commit suicide. Once news of Willow Run’s slower-than-bragged-about startup broke in earnest, most of the blame was shifted to Edsel Ford, who was by then dying of complications from ulcers. While Edsel went on to create a reliable Willow Run P.R. apparatus, the damage was done, and he died in May 1943 at age 49, by which time Sorensen was being actively hounded out of Dearborn. Thus ended Act One.

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