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Originally Posted by mhsprecher
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That's an interesting read, but I wonder what official Ford documentation the author used for reference. The whole problem with the "Edison got the first Model A" scenario is that, going off of the engine release log, the first car to be built should have been *A14*, and engine *A1* wasn't sent to the line until a week or ten days later. That's why Pluck asked the question he did, because neither of us has ever seen any actual concrete proof (such as internal Ford memos, title history, etc.) that would prove Edison actually received the car with engine number *A1*. I'm not implying that the proof doesn't exist, just that neither of us has seen it. Lots of stories about "Oh yeah, everybody knows Edison got the first Model A, cause I read it in a book somewhere..", but no verifiable proof that I've seen.
Taken at face value, "Edison got the first Model A" could just mean that he was gifted a new Model A before anyone else got theirs, before they actually went on sale to the general public. It could also mean that he received the first car off the line (which according to the engine shop foreman's logs should have been *A14*), or it could mean that he did indeed receive the car with engine number *A1*. That's what we're trying to determine.