The cars that made America.

[Fibber Mcgee]

Just watched the first episode of three. Part 2 tonight, looks to be pretty good. I don't know how accurate it is but Henry doesn't come out looking so well. Ive read the stories about him but they are pretty harsh .....poor Edsel.

[hardtimes]

Originally Posted by Fibber Mcgee

Just watched the first episode of three. Part 2 tonight, looks to be pretty good. I don't know how accurate it is but Henry doesn't come out looking so well. Ive read the stories about him but they are pretty harsh .....poor Edsel.

Yup, very informative overall regarding industrial development in America ! I'm hooked for the remaining segments !

[LOWRIDER]

I'm hooked. Ford started out good but it seems like it all went to his head. His treatment of Edsel certainly wouldn't make anyone's "how to" list.

[Robert/Texas]

Check the MTFCA forum. I agree with most of the postings.

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages...tml?1502710192

[jimTN]

Wrong cars at wrong times, left out majority of original stockholders, 08 T's did not have accessory wires and on and on. Someone said it was fine for a third grade education level. We will see how it treats the advent of the A, B and v8 in the next show.

[GB SISSON]

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How do we see this show?

[bbrust]

History channel. Part 2 is on tonight.

[tubman]

Did anyone notice the scene in the Dodge brothers office where they are designing their first car? At the very beginning of the scene, there is what appears to be a flathead block sitting on a table.

[4t8v8]

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that the History Channel is associated with the main stream media. Facts don't matter. As much as a car nut as I've been for 70 years I didn't even bother to watch it as I knew I'd get mad and switch it.

[blucar]

A lot of creative writing for sure. Walter P. was in fact a mechanical whiz, youngest head of the railroads mechanical repair shops. However, Buick/Mr Nash did not hire Walter P away from the railroad, he had retired from his position with the RR in his early forties.
Walter P. did take the presidents' position at Buick following Billy Durant's departure.
Of course anyone that knows much automotive history will pick out the little nuances of fact vs fiction.. Still good entertainment last night.

[rotorwrench]

The Dodge brothers owned a lot of Ford stock early on and as partners they manufactured a lot of parts for Henry. He wanted to buy them out but they weren't going to give it away to him. Henry had several buy out deals with partners that cost him very dearly in those early years. After he bought back the stock from the Dodge bothers, they took the money and started their own car company. They would have done well except for one of the brothers died and the other couldn't live without him so they were both dead in a short period of time. A very sad story. They built a hell of a car right up until the end of them. Walter P Chrysler bought out what was left.

A lot of folks that make these documentaries think they will bore young folks with all the details so a lot is left out but there is a lot of interesting stuff in those details.

[corvette8n]

I watched it, certainly was hollywoodized, I just wanted to see the old cars, so I didn't much care what they said as I knew it wouldn't be accurate.

[Vintage Copper 47]

Originally Posted by 4t8v8

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that the History Channel is associated with the main stream media. Facts don't matter. As much as a car nut as I've been for 70 years I didn't even bother to watch it as I knew I'd get mad and switch it.

Yeah, the programming gurus (women).. are all into profit.. it was entertaining, but not really about CARS, more about the history of the men that manufactured them... my opinion

[bbrust]

I tried to watch episode 2 tonight but the amount of commercials made it unwatchable. Plus, after each commercial break, the narrations from before the break were repeated. Sometime 3 times.

[Tinker]

Originally Posted by tubman

Did anyone notice the scene in the Dodge brothers office where they are designing their first car? At the very beginning of the scene, there is what appears to be a flathead block sitting on a table.

Makes for great tv, also saying they are amazing innovative designers and if they didn't die, where would we be. Flying cars no less.

I like the dodge brothers by the way.

[d.conrad]

At the very beginning of #1 they said the year was 1927 as they showed a 1931 Model A. Soon after that I changed channels.

[Tinker]

Just showed a 5 min gm praise for innovation, after 10 mins of bashing Henry's morals. Then showed a poster of a 1928 ford model A for GMs new car release in 1926. Neat.

History channel needs to just keep making shows about alien history and ghost stories as they do now.

[Yoyodyne]

Originally Posted by tubman

Did anyone notice the scene in the Dodge brothers office where they are designing their first car? At the very beginning of the scene, there is what appears to be a flathead block sitting on a table.

I saw that, they showed it twice. It looked like one of these P-Ayr plastic blocks. I imagine someone said "get me an old engine block we can carry around the set"

[petehoovie]

The 2nd episode sucked even more than the 1st!....No mention of the development of the Flathead V8....

[A bones]

My sister called to tell me to switch it on. I looked for for maybe 15 minutes, then went back to whatever my wife was watching. I told her there was nothing to learn there. My bookshelf gives me the facts I need. Of course I'll thank sis when I talk to her (maybe).

[prpmmp]

Man!! Tough crowd!! They don,t call it the Boob tube for nothing!! Pete

[woodiewagon46]

I agree, way too many errors. I don't think the History Channel had anyone fact checking their script.

[Bob/Pa]

WOW..I'm surprised they didn't try to drag it out to 5 or 6 episodes. Boring at best.

[stangblue]

A lot of inaccuracies with the documentary. They are really trying to vilify Henry, not that he was a saint. He did put the Industrial Revolution on pace. Henry was very hard on Edsel trying to toughen him up through Harry Bennett as the henchman for the company. The Dearborn Press, his newspaper, was anti semantic and that has not been forgiven to this day. However, he was a pacifist and regretted all wars the US became involved in. Henry Ford and his automobile changed the world we live in. I am Grateful!

[fordwife]

Nothing has been said [yet] about the development of the V-8.
strange!

[Seth Swoboda]

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I DVR'ed it. I watched the first episode last night. It's pretty elementary. I think they developed this series so that a millennial could understand the basics. There are lots of inaccuracies and oddities. Oddities for example; they have a right hand drive Model A in the first episode. Also, the steam locomotives they show are all European type engines. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they are trying to appeal to an international audience. The series is O.K. The History channel really lacks substance and history throughout most of it's programming therefore I don't expect much out of them. Kind of like tuning into network T.V. I find myself saying "who watches this garbage?" Turn it off and go back to my family or Fords.

[4t8v8]

Wife wanted to watch American Ninja Warriors. Really enjoyed it.

[Vic Piano]

Like every other loosely historically based program they air, they are appealing to a general audience... While that should not give them, or the actual program producers a pass on content accuracy, it is clearly not their primary concern.

[rbone]

Interesting show, but I turned it off when they skipped from the start of the great depression to WW2. To me, Mr. Ford's 2nd most notable technical achievement was the single block casting V8 that we all love. Of course, 1st is the assembly line bringing cars prices down to levels that most people could afford.

[GB SISSON]

I also lasted 15 minutes, then went upstairs and read my book about Marconi and his wireless. I was reminded of how I was all excited to watch 'Harley and the Davidsons', which I also switched off.

[hardtimes]

Originally Posted by blucar

A lot of creative writing for sure. Walter P. was in fact a mechanical whiz, youngest head of the railroads mechanical repair shops. However, Buick/Mr Nash did not hire Walter P away from the railroad, he had retired from his position with the RR in his early forties.
Walter P. did take the presidents' position at Buick following Billy Durant's departure.
Of course anyone that knows much automotive history will pick out the little nuances of fact vs fiction.. Still good entertainment last night.

X2
I believe that's called 'poetic license'. Fancy words for ignoring / changing facts/truth to fit narrative.
Still plenty worthwhile , IMO, to get overview HOW America industrial revolution came about.

[waldo]

When Henry introduced the new 1928 Model A it was really new. It was a 1931 slant windshield Model A. Series is full of crap like that.

[blucar]

Watched the third segment of the show last night. Just like the earlier two there was a lot of creative (poetic license) writing, dialog. It is a well known fact that H. Ford was not a nice man, but then good guys finish last.
In the early days of Ford Motor, H. Ford was the man for the job, yes he was tough, ruthless, etc., the ultimate dictator, even to his family. One brief scene was correct when Henry's wife, took him to task and threatened to take the company apart if he did not leave Edsel along, and let him run the Company.
Of course most of us know, or should know that the Model A was designed by Edsel, copied from the Lincoln that Ford had recently purchased.
Ford handed the opportunity for Chrysler, Plymouth to prosper on a silver platter when Ford had to abruptly cease production of the "T" in 1927, because Ford had not done any product development. As I recall production at Ford was shut down for almost six months.