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Great photo Frank, and I love those klaxon horns, does it sound as good as it looks?
I have just bought a pair of restored Lucas Windtone Horns to fit on the underside of the headlamp bar on my MG.
Great photo Frank, and I love those klaxon horns, does it sound as good as it looks?
Ford also commissioned more than 1000 buildings by Jewish architect Albert Kahn including some of the biggest factory buildings in the world. Ford was a strange quirky character. It is impossible to sum him up in a single garish political poster.
My study of Ford's life and work has led me to the opposite conclusion, that Ford was far from a mechanical genius but had considerable talent for dealing with people. He was also an uneducated man who had a taste for new ideas that were novel and even radical. Sometimes they led to great new innovations, sometimes they ended in the biggest mess you ever saw. His great talent was for sticking with ideas that worked, and abandoning ideas that didn't.
You keep harping on the way Ford fought the unions but fail to mention that he eventually capitulated and gave them what they wanted.
I also remember Ford introduced the $5 day when average wages in the auto industry were half that, and that he started a Sociology Department to gather information on working conditions and living conditions, in an effort to improve his employees' lives.
Or that he built hundreds of small factories in towns and villages, to supply parts for Ford, in an effort to disperse the jobs he created and allow workers to take advantage of better jobs without leaving their home towns.
Or his immense investment in farms and farming methods, his attempt to improve the lives of farmers and keep them on their farms.
I know it is easy and fun to reduce complex people to cartoons. But the truth can be more interesting if difficult to understand.
I also remember Ford introduced the $5 day when average wages in the auto industry were half that, and that he started a Sociology Department to gather information on working conditions and living conditions, in an effort to improve his employees' lives.
Or that he built hundreds of small factories in towns and villages, to supply parts for Ford, in an effort to disperse the jobs he created and allow workers to take advantage of better jobs without leaving their home towns.
Or his immense investment in farms and farming methods, his attempt to improve the lives of farmers and keep them on their farms.
I know it is easy and fun to reduce complex people to cartoons. But the truth can be more interesting if difficult to understand.
Yes, but remember his explanation of that contract, which ended up being the most generous in the industry; "Never underestimate the power of a woman". His beloved wife, Clara, threatened to leave him if he did not settle.
It's called revisionism. Henry Ford was a master at publicity and was probably interviewed and quoted more than any other industrialist. He built up a generally pro Ford mythology (except for the anti semitism thing).
Only in recent years have revisionists come along to emphasize his mistakes and shortcomings while ignoring his positive contributions.
Fashion Frank, very nice pictures and sounds like an outstanding day. The truck is fantastic - was that custom or could one order it from the factory that way?
Hello my fellow Loungers, went to the annual Model A Club picnic . Played a bunch of car games, ate a ton of food and had a lot of laughs.
All the Best,Fashion Frank
Very cool, Big Man. It will be nice to see her shine again.
I have heard good things about both sites. http://www.dearbornclassics.com/ and http://www.macsautoparts.com/ford_mercury_passenger/
The Fall Carlisle swap meet in Carlisle, PA is also a great place to find parts, reproduction, NOS, and used. I go every year and always find something. It's a bit of a hike for you, but it is totally worth the trip.
http://www.carlisleevents.com/carlisle-events/carlisle-fall-swap-meet-corral-auction/default.aspx
dh66 has a 61 Ford, so he may have some better input.
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Well, the time has come for me to go ahead and have my old '65 Ford Custom 500 painted. I've made arrangements to have it done the end of August. I got a good price on re-painting to the original color and fixing a couple rust spots here and there.
One thing extra I'd like to do while I'm at it is to go ahead and replace the front and rear bumpers. The front bumper isn't that bad, except for a place where some idiot backed into me with the trailer hitch of their truck. The rear bumper has a lot of rust, and the chrome is shot. I've thought about re-chroming, but with the damage to the front bumper, the turn-around time for having it done, the shipping to and from, I am just about convinced it would be better in the long run to buy new (already re-chromed) bumpers outright.
What about the experts here? Any thoughts? Any leads on sources?