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Old 01-31-2013, 11:38 AM   #1
blucar
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Default PBS Henry Ford story

I watched a very interesting program about Henry Ford and Ford on PBS last night.. Some very interesting points were brought out, especially his dictorial management style and his relationship with Harry Bennett and Bennett' gang of gun toting thugs... i.e. security force..
Almost made Bennett and his group sound like Nazi Storm Troopers...
One of the interesting facts that was brought out was Henry's reluctance to listen to his son Edsel.... by the mid 1920's Edsel and his group wanted to phase out the Model T in favor of a newer more modern car.. Henry would not hear of it.. The result being that by 1926 Ford' market share had slipped to less than 50%... Ford soldiered along with the "T" while Chevy came out with the "Cast Iron Wonder" the OHV 6, and Chrysler came out with the Plymouth.. Ford was never able to recapture the market share taken over by GM and Chrysler...
According to the program the only thing that kept Ford from going broke after the market crash of 1929 was the huge Rouge complex which produced just about everything related to their vehicles and their extensive cash reserves. The biggest life saver was in 1941, the huge US Government contact to build the B24 bombers.
During the turbulent anti-union years of the 1930's, Harry Bennett and his "security force" would not allow the Ford production workers to talk to each other while they were at work....
Not a fun place to work I would say....
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Old 02-02-2013, 08:58 AM   #2
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Default Re: PBS Henry Ford story

I, too, watched the show and found it very interesting. What is also interesting to me is that there were no comments to your thread.

In history, I like the contrasts between great figures. For example, contrast Henry with his great contribution in putting America on wheels and all of the culture that evolved from that and someone like Bill Gates and the impact of the PC. Then look at their legacies. Henry is remembered for his anti-Semitic bias, his storm trooper right hand man and his crappy treatment of his son. Bill is doing a magnificent job of spreading his fortune around the world for good causes.
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Old 02-02-2013, 09:34 AM   #3
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Back in the sixty's when I work at the Lorain Ford plant the guys from the Buffalo plant N.Y. were transferd because they close that plant use to tell the story's how tough it was back then in the old days.What in the movie is true and there is a lot that not being told.They treated you like a dog until you got your 90 days in if you were lucky.You made good money at Ford.Lots of over time which I liked. We bought a new home and I put my wife through colledge as a RN. In the long run Ford was very good to me.If I had to do it over again I would not change a thing. I drove a Model A to work in the summer.They wanted us to drive a Ford and I had a Plymouth 56. So I found a Model A for sale and now I had a Ford. They loved it that I drove a Model A to work. Good old days.
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Old 02-02-2013, 09:46 AM   #4
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Default Re: PBS Henry Ford story

Did Ford offer incentives or big discounts for employees to buy a new car or truck? I know GM did and never knew any employee who would buy a competitors product. No discounts on the Corvette though .
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Old 02-02-2013, 10:02 AM   #5
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Default Re: PBS Henry Ford story

Redneck, was there talk of the old days when Bennett was breaking heads trying to keep the union out? Seems to me that you were there in the heydays. A much bigger cultural and historical story to me is how the decline of unions mirrors the decline of the middle class over the last 30 to 40 years.
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Old 02-02-2013, 10:10 AM   #6
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You might find the book Ford, by Robert Lacey, a good read.

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Old 02-02-2013, 10:30 AM   #7
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Default Re: PBS Henry Ford story

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Originally Posted by 37 Coupe View Post
Did Ford offer incentives or big discounts for employees to buy a new car or truck? I know GM did and never knew any employee who would buy a competitors product. No discounts on the Corvette though .
Can't speak for Ford but regarding GM the hourly workers (I was one) did not receive the discount until July of '82. We (the UAW) had fought long and hard to enjoy that benefit and believe me in that era it was a substantial discount. I bought a 2WD '82 Blazer and it was something like 20% vehicle and 23% options. It varied with the vehicle and size of the model. If I purchased a new Tahoe today ($$$) I expect I might see $2500-$3000 off the purchase price. When you consider the margin that seems like a pittance but still it's better than nothing.
Salaried staff, supervisors, clerical, engineers, etc. had a separate subsidized cafeteria, could come and go from the plant with abandon, never had their briefcase or purse looked into, and enjoyed select parking. We on the other hand paid full price for lunch if we went to our cafeteria, needed a pass to leave the property, all lunch buckets or purses had to be open for inspection by plant protection, and parking was in the north forty.
Don't get me wrong, it paid well and many of my supervisors were decent people but there were definite lines of demarcation.
As far as not buying a competitors product I believe Ford may have had preferred parking if you drove their vehicles. No such restriction at GM.
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Old 02-02-2013, 10:38 AM   #8
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Default Re: PBS Henry Ford story

The comment made by "36tbird" pertaining to the lack of relativity within my comments about the content of the PBS H. Ford story could indicate that his personal feelings for the Ford vehicles has jaded his concept of the reality of the program.
The program contained extensive coverage of the huge Rouge complex, with 1,500 mile of RR track within the complex.. Many instances were also mentioned wherein Ford was able to control the majority of the supplies needed to build their vehicles..
Harry Bennett and his "gang of gun totting thugs" was also covered very well..
There is no doubt that H. Ford was a great man.. Men like him that are able to amass a huge fortune while at the same time build a company that survives long after they are gone, has to be respected, even if they leave a huge trail of wreckage behind them..
Billy Durant (GM) and the Dodge Brothers are just a few of the examples of early automotive pioneers who actually did much better than Ford for several years, only to have their fortunes slip away due to their own lack of business sense..
In my own life I worked for a company for many years that was the largest in it's industry.. The man that had started the company was a Russian immigrant that started with nothing.. His ability to force and/or buy out his competitors is what built the company.. Hmmmmm? Kind of like H. Ford....
One of the company employee policy's was... "They paid the bodies scale, everyone else was paid what they were worth"... I thought the company was great, I worked there almost 15 years.. I was paid very well, never drove my own car to work.. Got a new one every couple of years..
I left the company to start my own, which was very successful...
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Old 02-02-2013, 12:28 PM   #9
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Default Re: PBS Henry Ford story

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Blucar
You might find the book Ford, by Robert Lacey, a good read.

Bruce

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I have read the majority of the books about Ford. I have also read the majority of the books written about William (Billy) Carpo Durant, (GM), the Dodge Brothers, Walter P. Chrysler, Studebaker, Hudson, etc., to name just a few.. I have them in my personal car library..
An interesting side bar about Walter P. and H. Ford is the story behind the Plymouth...
When the first Plymouth was operational in 1927 Walter P. drove it over to the Ford complex to show it to Henry Ford.. Ford looked at the car, was not impressed.. He thought the hydraulic brakes were unsafe.. Henry told Walter P. that the car would never sell.... Within two years Chrysler spent over 5 million dollars building a whole new plant to build just Plymouth's.. The market share for the Plymouth's were generally former Ford customers..
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Old 02-02-2013, 12:57 PM   #10
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Default Re: PBS Henry Ford story

Looks like the first warning device was not a horn but a 'bell'
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Old 02-02-2013, 12:59 PM   #11
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When reading about Henry Ford history and watching shows about his life I often wonder if and how the other car manufacturers would have existed if not for Henry's negativity. His draging his feet on changes,hydraulic brakes cost a lot of customers, as did his views on Jewish people ,some I knew would never buy a Ford ,Mercury or Lincoln . Plymouth would have had trouble becoming #2 and would GM be able to add or sustain Buick Pontiac,Olds etc. I always believe if Edsel was truly allowed to run the company and keep the executives he wanted Ford would have been #1 all through the thirties and who knows how long.
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Old 02-02-2013, 05:59 PM   #12
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Default Re: PBS Henry Ford story

Was a very good watch! I thought it was interesting how his father when he worked on the farm allowed him the freedom to explore his interest in finding various ways to do the work easier thru inventions, but when it came to his son Edsel he gave him no such opportunities. One example of that was when he turned the company over to Edsel and Edsel decided to tear a hole in a wall because he was going to expand that section of the plant to give the workers more room to work, when his father found out he lashed because he wasn't consulted and said the workers did not need more room, Edsel said he would have it closed back up and Henry told him to do no such thing that when his son came into work everyday it would remind him of who was in charge.

I did find it interesting for a non educated man how he turned the company over to his son, and let out the idea he was going to seek out other ventures of interest, which made his investors nervous because a 25yr old was now running the company, then Henry got a trusted individual to go out and buy out all the investors one by one, till he now was the sole owner of the company, and did not have to adhere to anymore of their decision making which always seem to differ from his big picture.

The part where he bought an island I believe to acquire the rubber trees, to be able to have the resource to make the tires and other parts for the car that used rubber.

As hard as he was on his son, and that he thought his son was weak, he was tremendously devostated when Edsel died at age 49 of stomach cancer and even then Henry blamed it on the fact that his son as well as society didn't eat right according to his standards.

Part of me wishes I hadn't seen it, because I have been a fan of Ford since I was little primarily because that's all my father owned, and you know ignorance can be bliss, and after seeing that show, the fact that he was a tyrant at times, and hard on everyone around him... and yet he was for the betterment (is that even a word) of society and what he could do to help the working class, especially the farmers.

The fact that the streets changed gradually and then all of a sudden from horse and buggy to completed lining the streets with cars. The model T for me was always fascinating, and even looked at a couple in my 20's to buy in Hayward Ca. at the time, but never pulled the trigger, and still look at them all the time, so simple and the design especially for me the doctors coupe? lol

That's my take and thanks for listening or reading that is.
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Old 02-03-2013, 10:51 AM   #13
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Default Re: PBS Henry Ford story

When I first hired in at Ford it was very hard to get use to the work. Until you got your 90 days in for any reason they could get rid of you. They had a 50 gal. drum at the door to catch the badges when guy were fired or left on there own. I needed a job so I hung in there. The first two weeks were thee toughest after that it was ok. The money was very good if you wanted the overtime which I did.I did after I left I sent a letter thanking them for the job that they offered me. I would go back today if they would hire me.
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Old 02-03-2013, 01:03 PM   #14
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Default Re: PBS Henry Ford story

Redneck...... When I started Ford in the early 60's at The Rouge.........the Boss would come by on Friday and ask if we wanted to work on Saturday which I did. The old timers there told me of the old days when they were asked if they wanted overtime.......the Bennett boys were right behind asking for a cut of the overtime money. No cut.....no more overtime !

I worked near Gate 4. Union organizing area in the day !
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