First high rise intake manifold to be installed on a Ford V8

That one is a very early flathead, a giant step forward but it got better latter. The most desirable flathead is the 1948 Mercury (59AB) block with a 1951 crank (stoker). I put one in my first car http://www.panteraplace.com/page67.htm at age sixteen. A pretty complex engine swap for a young kid.

Mike

I betcha ol' Hank had no idea what he was on to!

Michael

My father ran the Great American Auto race with a 24 Cad flathead which was the pre-curser to the 305. The rods were very long and the cylinders were NOT off set. Every other rod split in two and stradles the oposing rod.

Gary

Don't forget that if it hadn't been for Henry Ford we would have lost WWII. His methods allowed us to construct tens of thousand of planes a month and thousands of ships a month. Without his creating the wealth of a middle class, we would have been a minor player and not a superpower.

Mike,

I have always assumed that photo was a publicity picture taken at the introduction of the flat head V8 in 1932. That would make Mr. Ford 69 years old in that photo. Mr Ford advertised the flat head as "8 cylinders for the price of 4". He's a very interesting man, and generous. I could write for hours regarding Henry Ford. While all other manufacturers considered the automobile a play thing for the rich, Mr. Ford had the vision to see what an amazing mechanism it would be if it were made for the common person.

Some little known history of Mr. Ford: He was chief engineer of the Edison Compamy in Detroit until 1899 when he left to form the Detroit Automobile Company with several associates. The Detroit Automobile Company manufactured custom cars for the wealthy. He then left that company to build racing cars on his own. Those race cars were very successful, set several records and earned Mr Ford significant public notoriety. His new found fame attracted the partners he needed to form the Ford Motor Company in 1903, he was 40 years old at the time.

Mr Ford was the son of Irish immigrants, he only attended public school through age 15. He had a tremendous curiousity and aptitude for mechanical things. Mr Ford had a deep concern for the welfare of workers and an equally deep respect for the dignity of work. When the average industrial wage was $11 per week, Mr Ford raised the salaries of his employees to $5 per day. Even after becoming an industrial giant and wealthy, it was not uncommon for Mr Ford to remove his coat, roll up his sleeves, and join his auto plant mechanics on repair jobs.

DeTom, Mr Ford's contributions to the war and modern society are taken for granted. Nobody realizes the importance of the automobile in daily life, travel, leisure, business, industry. It is my conviction that he was the most influential man of the 20th century, not the person selected by Time magazine.

Mr. Ford continued to run his company until 1945, to the end of the war, at age 82. He passed away 2 years later.

your friend on the DTBB, George

p.s. Mike's first hot rod Ford, cool MIke!

Didn't Time magazine pick Adolph Hitler?? Shows you how stupid they are.

Thanks George, Interesting, I remember the pic of him in the Soybean feild with a metal tractor. He also had an interest in plastic from soy oil, invented charcoal with the Ash shaving on the production floors, I'm just glad his son married the Italian woman and he went to Italy.

Ahhh yes, Bill, you bring up another interesting tid bit in the history of Ford Motor Company.

It was actually Henry Ford's grandson, Henry Ford II, known as the Deuce. He began dating an Italian hottie in 1962, Maria Cristina Vettore. She was a big fan of auto racing.

Since 1957 Ford had adhered to a ruling by the Automobile Manufacturer's Association of America banning auto manufacturer's involvement in auto racing. In 1962 the Deuce announced Ford would no longer adhere to that restriction and he ordered Ford to corporately "dive in to auto racing with both feet". 1962 was the year Mr Shelby struck his deal with Ford and began bulding Cobras. The next year Iacocca announced the "total performance program", that was also the year Ford made an offer to purchase Ferrari, and when that deal fell through, the Deuce ordered Ford to build him his own race car that could beat Ferrari at LeMans, the GT40. Ford's entire thrust to dominate auto racing in the '60s was a result of the charms of Miss Vettore.

your friend on the DTBB, George

You should hear me tell that story at the car events..a love story.. triple wins..correct?

Ford was a shrewd man as well. If he had not done what he did in the auto industry, some one else would likely have done it. It was the way of the times. In the early 1900's there were 100's of auto manufacturers. Many of them such as Oldsmobile who had the first mass produced auto got off on the wrong track. They started marketing more expensive cars which REO was very much aginst. In doing so they lost their edge as did 100's of other auto companies. It took focus, understanding and some shrewd business practices. REO by the way left Olds to make trucks and (despite up and downs) was far more sucseful then Olds...Which sold out.

Gary

Bill, the GT40 won LeMans 4 years in a row.

Like I've written before, love makes a man do foolish things, right DeTom?

George

quote:

Originally posted by george pence:
Bill, the GT40 won LeMans 4 years in a row.

Like I've written before, love makes a man do foolish things, right DeTom?

George

Oh heck yeah George. In my case it is more lust that gets me in trouble than love. But I guess that is pretty much the same thing.
Yeah Ford won three years in a row, but the last year they had three cars finish first second and thrid!! The best was Dan gurney and I think, Stirling Moss, in a Shelby prepped GT-40 Mk IV. The most stunning car to have ever existed on the face of this planet. I theorise that is why aliens started to vist this planet. To check out the Mk IV.

Lust, Love, Hormonal Disorder; it's all the same!

LOL......................

George

At the risk of stirring the kettle, Henry Ford was no Mr. Nice guy. In reality he was personal friends with one Mr. Hitler and contributed, or at least inspired his rise to power (scroll 2/3 down page) Henry Ford and Nazism . Details of Ford's involvement, as well as other prominent American's in the Nazi party are detailed in this book The American Axis. As I put my flame suit on, keep in mind I am only trying to point out that great adavances have came from minds with less than perfect ideals.

Just rying to center the record.

No flames here.

Gary

LOL.............

Flame suit heh Ron?! No flame suit needed as far as I am concerned my friend. On that issue, 2 people who respect one another should be able to discuss differences in viewpoint without casting dispersions at each other. (You spawn of satan! lol.....)

I'll list a few points to consider when discussing the merrits of a person's life and then I'll write my typical long winded response regarding Mr. Ford's involvement in pre WWII Germany.

First point, the world is not black & white. So I think it is unfair to say Mr Ford was no Mr Nice Guy; because he accomplished many "beneficial" things for society, certainly traits of a nice guy. No human being is perfect, it is irrational for us to expect that. And all of us, no exceptions, do things and say things we later regret.

Second point, when discussing any topic, we must separate fact from heresay, and the more extreme a proposal is, the more concrete must be the evidence supporting it.

Third point, it is a sad condition of human nature, but people always want to lay an axe to the tallest trees (i.e. people who are famous, rich, powerful, in positions of authority). I don't personally need to expose the faults of a celebrity to know they are no different from me, but there are others who do not feel that way.

Fourth point, whether or not Mr Ford was involved in the associations he is accused of having, it does not contradict the points I made that he was responsible for the many beneficial contributions to the 20th century.

Fifth and last point, when examining the life of a person, both the parts we agree with and the parts we don't, it is helpful to understand the context of a persons life, the underlying theme of their life, what motivated them. It helps to find a commonality that makes sense of the whole of their life, otherwise any person will appear to be a series of contradictions, which is far from the truth.

For many historic figures this "life theme" is obscured from future generations. But with Mr. Ford, this has not been the case. Refer back to an earlier comment of mine that "Mr Ford had a deep concern for the welfare of workers and an equally deep respect for the dignity of work." It is that aspect of Mr Ford that lead to his involvement in Germany.

IN the 1920s Germany was devastated in the aftermath of WWI. Europe was rife with various degrees of socialistic political ideas, Marxism, etc. In Germany there was the Germany Workers Party, which later became the NAZI party, NAZI being an acronym in German for the National German Socialist Party. Hitler was not the founder of this party, he did not originate the beliefs of this party. He did aid the rapid growth of the party once he joined it around 1920. The party was not anti semetic, nor did it support the idea of a military dictatorship. What Ford did for Germany in the 1920s was to aid a country devastated by war, Mr Hitler was an upwardly mobile member of the workers Party during that period. The beliefs of the Germany Workers Party certainly had much in common with Mr Ford's own concern for the working class, and it would not be out of character for Mr. Ford to have associated with them. I am sure the Germany Workers Party readily embraced Mr Ford's ideas of an automobile for the common man built on an assembly line in factories that paid the worker a fair wage. I believe it is not unreasonable that the two would find common interests.

Mr Hitler's views on racism and the power of the "volk" detailed in Mein Kompf were not unique to him, they were widely held in Germany and throughout Europe. They were not controversial. He was not alone in pointing the finger at the Jewish populace for the economic woes of Europe. Hitler simply adopted the popular ideas of his countrymen to increase his popularity. The Jewish presence in Europe had been controversial for over a hundred years by that time. He did not take power in Germany in 1933 by force, it was given to him. He was a popular leader, his ability to sway people allowed him to convince his countrymen to cancel democratic elections making him a dictator. Worldwide economic recovery from the great depression had begun about the same time, but Hitler and the NAZI Party took credit for that recovery within Germany, increasing their popularity even further. Europe and America looked upon him as a leader who was bringing stability to Europe and the hope of economic recovery, even as German Troops marched on Austria, Czechoslovakia, etc. Even as sanctions against the Jews living in Germany were being levied. He was a good guy in the eyes of the world. He signed pacts with Russia and Poland in 1939 just months before he began his invasions that officially triggered WWII. Nobody outside his inner circle had any idea what he was planning. To have been a supporter of Hitler up to that point was not an evil thing, it was not controversial. The outside world did not learn of the autrocities of the Holocaust until Allied forces began liberating cities within the German Empire.

Mr Ford did not support Hitler after 1939, Mr Ford supported the effort to defeat him. Mr Ford's opinion of Germany's charismatic leader, along with the rest of the world, quickly changed once Hitler began his invasions. If Mr Ford was "no Mr. Nice guy" then that is true for many many other people and world leaders as well. We all do things we later regret.

your friend on the DTBB, George

George,
So you really went to your History class? I thought you would have blown that off for Auto shop.....
Once again I'm amazed at your knowledge and really impressed that you can remember it all!

...Yes! Hitler was a 'Monster'!! But, let's also, not forget that he and his engineers were responsible for designing and building the original 'Auto-Strauda'; so he could move his tanks, vehicles and armies, Faster. One great thing that lasted through the decades...