1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, welcome to the podcast. I'm 3 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:17,600 Speaker 1: Sarah Dowdy and I am again joined by fellow editor 4 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 1: Scott Benjamin. I'm back. So Scott is the co host 5 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: of Car Staff, and we've been talking about Henry Ford, 6 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: one of the automotive greats, and we've really covered most 7 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 1: of his early career. In our first episode, sort of 8 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:37,520 Speaker 1: the farm boy starts tinkering with engines, machines, ends up 9 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: coming up with the Model T, and we even sort 10 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 1: of went over why the Model T was such a 11 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: revolutionary car. Yep. So we're we're getting to the point where, 12 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: you know, we've we've gone past the point where he's been. 13 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: He's successful at this point, right, Yes, he is. What 14 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: he does with that success, that's another story because he 15 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: kind of goes off the deep end. Yes. Where we 16 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: left off, Ford was is ripping apart a prototype car 17 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: with his own hands. Exactly. Yeah, he had he had 18 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: decided that, you know, the prototype that the engineers had 19 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: developed without his knowledge, sort of an upgrade of the 20 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: Model T exactly, an upgrade, a step up from the 21 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: Model T. Uh. He was not having any part of that, 22 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: and uh, in a in a dramatic fashion, he literally 23 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: ripped the model apart piece by piece with his bare hands. 24 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: So it's feel metal. If this was a movie, we 25 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 1: would have just freeze framed on Forard ripping apart the 26 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: car exactly. Um. And in this episode we're gonna really 27 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: roll with that and and go to the stranger's side 28 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: of Ford. I'm going to take a hard left turn 29 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: here into some of the more eccentric behad weird territory exactly. 30 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: And I think that that story really epitomizes the obsessive 31 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: control that Ford had on his company, you know, being 32 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: so against upgrades, so against his engineers doing something without 33 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: him that he would physically rip apart a car. But 34 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: that control really does extend to other aspects of his business, 35 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: and one of those aspects was materials. And this makes 36 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: sense in a way because his his assembly line was 37 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: so high functioning that a lot of times he would 38 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:20,679 Speaker 1: run out of a material because his suppliers couldn't keep up, 39 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: and if they had a shortage, then that was going 40 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: to slow him down. So his first way to deal 41 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: with that was to stockpile things like you know, we're 42 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: talking about upholstery things like that, um that he was 43 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:36,519 Speaker 1: not actively making, just stockpile it and if their production 44 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: slows at least to have it. But he started to think, well, 45 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: I'm so good at this, why don't I control all 46 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: of these all of these raw materials. So he bought 47 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: a railroad, he bought coal mines, he bought acreage of 48 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: timberland glass works. The most extreme example of this is, 49 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,239 Speaker 1: of course, for Landio, which I know you love, Katie, 50 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: and I have done an episode on it. For those 51 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,920 Speaker 1: of you who haven't listened to that episode, he creates 52 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,360 Speaker 1: his own model village of Ford type Fordlandia in the 53 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:14,519 Speaker 1: middle of the Amazon rainforests in order to control rubber production. 54 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: It doesn't play out that way, but just the idea 55 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: that that would be the preferable solution. That place is huge. 56 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 1: It's five thousand square miles. That's the size of Connecticut 57 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: that he purchased. And if you look at the map, 58 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: I mean you could do just a quick Google search 59 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: and type in for Landia and get a map and 60 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: it points to the middle of nowhere in Brazil south equator, 61 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: you know, south of Guyana. It's way down there in 62 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: the middle of Brazil. Um, I think they said that 63 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: even if you get to the nearest provincial town, it's 64 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: still an eighteen hour boat ride to get to Fordlandia. 65 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: And the crazy maybe maybe, I don't know. I'm not 66 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: going to say the crazy thing because there's everything's crazy 67 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: about it. I guess it's a good idea in in general, 68 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: but um it just never he never visited. He never 69 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: visited the place he's never been, and that was pretty 70 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: bad for morale parents. I would bet it would be 71 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: because the people they're expecting Ford to show up and 72 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: run this place, right, So they're thinking that, you know, 73 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 1: they're going to be among you know, the chosen Ford 74 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: and exactly the American elite, right, And so they're there 75 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 1: at this plant that's it's just an idle plant. It's 76 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:21,840 Speaker 1: an idol village and people live there and people live 77 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: there now, which is crazy. You can you can go 78 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: there and visit and the people Apparently for some reason, 79 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: I still think that there's a possibility that maybe Ford 80 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,480 Speaker 1: will fire this thing up again. It's that it's possibly 81 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,280 Speaker 1: going to produce rubber at some point in history. Even 82 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 1: though farm rubber in uh I think all except in 83 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: Asia has proved pretty impossible, and this place was abandoned 84 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: in that was officially like, you know, it's just we're 85 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: done with it for kind of you know, washed his 86 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:54,839 Speaker 1: hand and the whole thing. So that's our extreme example 87 00:04:54,839 --> 00:05:00,359 Speaker 1: of trying to control materials. More small example before you 88 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: go on, because he bought up smaller towns in Michigan 89 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: to do the same thing with wood, because he was 90 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: producing the woody station wagons and he was using somewhere 91 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: on the order of like I think it was two 92 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: or three million board feet of lumber every year or 93 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: something like that. It's an enormous amount of wood. And 94 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:18,159 Speaker 1: he thought, well, I'm going to supply wood, you know, 95 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: with the forest of Michigan. And the same thing that 96 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,360 Speaker 1: happened for landing. You know, they've built this this great 97 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:25,720 Speaker 1: uh you know, compound, and you know it's it's like 98 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: its own mini city, self sustaining in some ways, and 99 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:31,599 Speaker 1: then it just died away. I mean, we should give 100 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: some examples of this working though, this idea of buying 101 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: up related industries to make them work for you. Um. 102 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: One example I found when the River Rouge plant opened 103 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:47,039 Speaker 1: in n Or that had been taken from his minds 104 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:51,599 Speaker 1: and shipped down would enter one of would enter the 105 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: plant and then come out as a car only twenty 106 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,159 Speaker 1: hours later. You know, all the power coming from coal 107 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: that was from his minds, everything coming from a Ford 108 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:04,360 Speaker 1: owned property and turning into a car in such a 109 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: short amount. I feel like I need to clarify such 110 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:07,599 Speaker 1: a one. I said that this is a good idea. 111 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: When I was mentioning for Landy, I met something like 112 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: that in that you know, a self sustained company, that exactly. 113 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:16,240 Speaker 1: I mean, how else would you say that that's a 114 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: tremendous savings for him in the long run. But when 115 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: you when you invest millions and millions of dollars into 116 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 1: you know, the jungles in Brazil, and then never go 117 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: there and it's never used, that's wasteful. It's one thing 118 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:32,720 Speaker 1: to buy your own railroad, another to buy jungle property. Yeah, 119 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: like buying your own railroad. That's perfectly sane, right. Yeah, Well, 120 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 1: you know for a guy like Ford, Yeah, I guess, 121 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: so that's his toys, right. Um So this control, though, 122 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:44,159 Speaker 1: really extends beyond materials, because so far we're just talking 123 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:48,600 Speaker 1: about materials. You can understand a um an industrial and 124 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 1: an industrialist like Ford wanting to control his materials. It's 125 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,800 Speaker 1: a little less savory when somebody tries to do that 126 00:06:56,839 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: with people. Yeah, we're getting into the weird area here. 127 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:02,600 Speaker 1: We are already there. Okay, so here we are. It's 128 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:07,360 Speaker 1: like nineteen four, nine fifteen. Somewhere in there. Ford offers 129 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: the five dollar work day, and this all plays into 130 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 1: this somehow. I'll tell you in a second offers the 131 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:17,679 Speaker 1: five dollar work day, and that just blows people away. 132 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: They can't imagine making five dollars a day at a 133 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: production job like this. It's twice as much to make. Yeah, 134 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 1: other Automo automobile manufacturers are paying half that price and 135 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: he's paying that. He's offering that much. And it's only 136 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: an eight hour work day instead of a nine hour day, 137 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: but it's but it is. Initially it's offered at six days, 138 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: so you're working eight eight hours a day, six days 139 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: a week, which was then cut back to five days 140 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: weeks for forty hour a week. But regardless of that, 141 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: it drew people like you couldn't believe. I mean, people 142 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: came from all over well, probably the world, but at 143 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: least the United States. Uh, they're flocking to Ford, you know, 144 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: for this five dollar an opportunity to make five dollars 145 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: a day. Now, Ford saw it a different way. He said, 146 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to offer the five dollars a 147 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: day and expect this much work out of you. And 148 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:09,800 Speaker 1: that's fine. Uh, But it also gave him, or what 149 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: he thought, um kind of it broke down the boundaries. 150 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: It did. He thought it was such a generous salary 151 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: that it gave him the right to control non working 152 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: aspects of his employees. So he's it's almost like he's 153 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: purchasing the people. I mean it is. It is kind 154 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:32,680 Speaker 1: of like that. It's more like indentured servitude. This is bad, 155 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 1: this is really bad. So he he forms Now it 156 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: gets us the name. It's funny, the Ford Sociology Department. Yeah, 157 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: the sociology department. Now, the sociology department originally had about 158 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: thirty investigators. And these investigators, now, remember, you're making five 159 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:50,560 Speaker 1: dollars a day, so you've got to expect this right. 160 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: Cording to Ford, they would come to your house and 161 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: they would take notes on every aspect of your daily life, everything, 162 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 1: your whole family, not just you. It's it's the that 163 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: you live with, what you do, where you live, how 164 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,199 Speaker 1: you conduct your business at home, what you know, anything 165 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,199 Speaker 1: and everything about your personal life was exposed to him. 166 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,480 Speaker 1: And you know that that's one thing you could maybe expect. 167 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: All right, the guys coming over tonight, let's clean up 168 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,319 Speaker 1: the house, make sure we're on our best behavior. People 169 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:19,319 Speaker 1: are going to be at work too. There were gonna 170 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: be informants, spies, all working for Ford. So if you 171 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 1: were maybe just complaining a little bit to one of 172 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: your co workers, maybe if you took a break for 173 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:32,840 Speaker 1: a minute from the assembly line, you could expect all 174 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: of that information to get back to force. Isn't that 175 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: that's amazing to me? Yeah. Plus, you know, health issues, 176 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: drinking problems, gambling issues, anything like that. It's not going 177 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: to be even if it doesn't interfere with your work, 178 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:52,320 Speaker 1: it's going to And so for five dollars a day, 179 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: he felt that this that's purchased him the right to 180 00:09:55,640 --> 00:10:00,120 Speaker 1: you know, I guess install this, this bizarre monitoring of 181 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,200 Speaker 1: his employees daily lives, I mean, everything, every aspect of 182 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,719 Speaker 1: their life. This isn't the only strange thing that he 183 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,560 Speaker 1: strange department I think that he formed. I came across 184 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:12,439 Speaker 1: another one that I had just recently read about. I 185 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,719 Speaker 1: knew kind of the characters involved. But I didn't know 186 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: that this is called this. He also had another division, 187 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:21,600 Speaker 1: we'll call it that he that he called the Ford 188 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: Service Department. Now the Ford Service Department. That sounds like 189 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 1: something you would like. They work on cars, exactly, you 190 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:29,600 Speaker 1: drive to the service department today and get your oil changed, right, 191 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,720 Speaker 1: not the case in uh in What was this? From 192 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: like nineteen thirty to about ninety seven when Ford died, Um, 193 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:42,560 Speaker 1: he hired a guy named Henry I'm sorry, Harry Bennett 194 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:46,560 Speaker 1: bodyguard exactly. This is this is Ford's personal bodyguard. He 195 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: hired him to be second in command at Ford basically 196 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: um and he pray he ran forward with an iron fist. 197 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:56,720 Speaker 1: Now they say that you know Ford was the man 198 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,559 Speaker 1: in charge, of course, but you know Bennett was. He's 199 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,200 Speaker 1: the guy he's be enforced there. He's the presence and 200 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:04,920 Speaker 1: Bennet it was up to Bennett to hire employees to 201 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 1: work under him. Guess who hired. He hired the worst 202 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:12,280 Speaker 1: of the worst. I mean he hired um pro boxers, 203 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:16,079 Speaker 1: he hired wrestlers, he hired Khanman, he hired thugs, He 204 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:21,679 Speaker 1: aired hoodlums, people from the underworld that you would normally avoid. Hiring. 205 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 1: I mean, and not to say that, you know, but 206 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 1: these are people that you know, were on the edges 207 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:28,719 Speaker 1: of the society and they were hired not because they 208 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: were reformed from that, because they were very much in it. 209 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:36,560 Speaker 1: You you recommended. I look up pictures from one of 210 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:41,080 Speaker 1: these incidents involving the Service Department and of the Battle 211 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:43,440 Speaker 1: of the Overpast, the Battle of the Overpast. The guys 212 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:46,840 Speaker 1: look like they were out of work because Capone was 213 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:49,520 Speaker 1: in jail or something. Doesn't It look like every gangster 214 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:53,120 Speaker 1: movie you've ever seen, look like your stereotypical gangster. And 215 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:55,960 Speaker 1: they look like they are spoiling for trouble. And those 216 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 1: are Ray Bennett's men, and he hired He had a 217 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: an entire army of these goons that would go out 218 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: and they were they they were, um, the union busters. 219 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: These are the guys that you know, if there was 220 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: a threat of a union strike because Ford hated unions. 221 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:11,840 Speaker 1: He hated you know, um, every aspect of it. He 222 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: just couldn't stand it. So if you're on the line marching, 223 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,320 Speaker 1: watch out for Bennett's coons because they're they're coming. There's 224 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 1: no doubt about it. They're going to be there in 225 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:22,600 Speaker 1: some way, and they didn't care who's watching, because the 226 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:26,960 Speaker 1: Battle of the Overpast happened right in front of reporters. 227 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: Cameras they had, um, and that's still cameras. And in fact, 228 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: they had a lot more than what you'll see if 229 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: you do a search for this. I encouraged people to 230 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:37,440 Speaker 1: go and look at stuff all the time. Um, if 231 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: you do a search for a Battle of the Overpast, 232 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:41,920 Speaker 1: you'll see the photos that exist from this. Most of 233 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,840 Speaker 1: the photographs were destroyed by Bennett's men. Uh. They after 234 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: they attacked the the organizers of the event, Walter Ruther 235 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:53,640 Speaker 1: and UM Richard Frankenstein I think is his name. Um. 236 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,439 Speaker 1: They they then turned on the reporters that were recording 237 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:01,040 Speaker 1: this and even ladies who are there handing out pamphlet. Yeah. 238 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,800 Speaker 1: They when you say they turned out, they beat them up. 239 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:05,560 Speaker 1: I mean they were kicking them and punching them and 240 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,440 Speaker 1: dragging them down iron steps. And you can see photos 241 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:10,760 Speaker 1: of these guys just black and black and blue and 242 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 1: and bloody afterwards. Uh. The only way that these photographs 243 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 1: got out is is an amazing story. One of the photographers, 244 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: UM actually walked to the edge of the overpat ran 245 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:22,960 Speaker 1: to the edge of the overpast and dropped his camera 246 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 1: into a passing convertible and the convert will sped off 247 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,880 Speaker 1: with the with the camera. You know, this is a plan, exactly, 248 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: the plan to get the photographs out because they knew 249 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:34,320 Speaker 1: what to expect, and of course the reporters you know, 250 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: you know, probably beat silly. So yeah, so when we talk, 251 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,719 Speaker 1: I mean that gives um sort of new context to 252 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:44,440 Speaker 1: talking about the spies and informants too, because they're not 253 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 1: just trying to figure out what your life is like. 254 00:13:46,559 --> 00:13:49,000 Speaker 1: They're trying to figure out if you have union sympathies, 255 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: and you see what happens if you do. And what's 256 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,319 Speaker 1: so weird to me and all of this is that, um, 257 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: you know, by this point, Ford had allowed some of 258 00:13:57,400 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 1: the company control to go to his son, ed Saul, 259 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: but that was really nominal control. And that's not because 260 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:08,679 Speaker 1: Edzel was an incompetent UH manager and incompetent executive. It's 261 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 1: because his father really didn't trust his judgment, didn't want 262 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:15,600 Speaker 1: to relinquish control, and and Edel was thinking a little 263 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:18,200 Speaker 1: i don't know, in a more modern way about this, thinking, well, 264 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:20,680 Speaker 1: we should make a deal with the unions, we should 265 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: come to some sort of agreement while all this violence 266 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,600 Speaker 1: is happening, that is supported by his father. Ye, Edzel 267 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:29,240 Speaker 1: was a bit more sympathetic than than Henry, of course, 268 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 1: I mean far more. But the problem was, you know, 269 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: he had given control of Ford Motor Company to Edzel 270 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:38,000 Speaker 1: in nineteen so that's relatively early on in this thing, right, 271 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 1: I mean he had he had actually given up control, 272 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: which is hard to believe. But Henry had still commanding rights. 273 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 1: He had he had a the ability to veto any 274 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 1: decision that Etzel made, and he often did. And that, 275 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:52,920 Speaker 1: to me, it says, well, why is ze Leaven there? 276 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 1: It's almost like he's done a different job, just a figurehead. 277 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,480 Speaker 1: But you know he's Henry's trying to give him some 278 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,240 Speaker 1: some free him. Yet still he's he's got that iron 279 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: fist grip on him. Um, and just not allowing it happened. 280 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,040 Speaker 1: Can you imagine how that made Edgel feel not good? 281 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:10,960 Speaker 1: And and I mean he died pretty young, um, and 282 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 1: it sounded like he had a difficult life on under 283 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:18,040 Speaker 1: that iron thumb of his father, working at his father's company. Um. 284 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 1: We'll talk a little bit more about the next generation 285 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: a little later. Um, but you know, I think the 286 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:26,440 Speaker 1: next thing we have to address here. We've talked about 287 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 1: Ford in the unions and in the spying his anti Semitism, 288 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: and it really goes beyond just his his own personal opinions, 289 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: because he works quite hard to broadcast them. He thought 290 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:43,280 Speaker 1: that Jewish international bankers were responsible for World War One, 291 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: and it's strange. On the one hand that belief manifested 292 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 1: in some surprising pacivism on Ford's part. In nineteen fifteen, 293 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 1: he traveled to Europe in this attempt to stage some 294 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,280 Speaker 1: peace talks and uh, it was all aboard this ship 295 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: called the Piece Ship, which got him a lot of criticism. 296 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,239 Speaker 1: But he also bought a newspaper. He bought The Dearborn Independent, 297 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 1: and that was specifically to use as a platform against Jews. 298 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 1: These editorial comments or these editorial columns that he would 299 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:17,680 Speaker 1: write that that went in or other writers would would 300 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:19,920 Speaker 1: you know it, Supposedly he was reviewing all that he's 301 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:24,320 Speaker 1: editing this this, this, uh, this newspaper. Supposedly later he 302 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:28,760 Speaker 1: would deny it. But um had very very strong anti 303 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:31,520 Speaker 1: Semitic statements and them um, you know, and just to 304 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 1: go back, I mean, Henry, he blamed everything on the Jews. 305 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: I mean, he write down to you know, the world, 306 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 1: both world wars with the sinking to Lusitania. He was 307 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: the one that kind of bought into that conspiracy theory 308 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: that you know, it was sunk on purpose and that's 309 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: what started this whole thing. Um. But these these were 310 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: just filled with anti Semitic views, viewpoints that this is 311 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: should we get into, like the European part of this 312 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 1: r I don't think we can go without mention. Okay, 313 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 1: here's this is so bad for Henry at this time. 314 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: I mean, but you know, he's the one putting this 315 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:08,399 Speaker 1: out there, so we have to report on it. I guess, um. 316 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 1: You know, all these these anti Semitic viewpoints made their 317 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: way over to Germany and to a certain individual named 318 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:18,159 Speaker 1: Adolf Hitler pre World War two Germany. Yeah, this is 319 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,960 Speaker 1: this is prior to Hitler being a chancellor. Um. But 320 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:26,120 Speaker 1: unfortunately Hitler kind of gravitated towards his views and said, 321 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: you know, I like the way this guy thinks. Yeah, 322 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:34,280 Speaker 1: a successful American industrialist with views that seemed similar. Yeah, exactly. 323 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: And so this is bad news for Henry because he's 324 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: doing so well here in the States. You know, everything's 325 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:43,440 Speaker 1: going going just fine. More or less. Um, Hitler picks 326 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 1: up on these things, actually has the stuff translated into 327 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:49,439 Speaker 1: German and distributes it. Yeah, this series of articles on 328 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:53,439 Speaker 1: the quote International Jew, and they're quite popular in Germany too. 329 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 1: There's a book called the International Jew and it's it's 330 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:58,800 Speaker 1: really just the clippings from the deer was it? Dearborn? 331 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,960 Speaker 1: Deerborn independent, dearborn Independent? And this is so unfortunate for 332 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,880 Speaker 1: Henry because, um, there's a lot of there's a lot 333 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:11,119 Speaker 1: of parallels badly and terrible enough that you know, the 334 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:16,200 Speaker 1: parallels between Hitler and I'm sorry Henry Ford. And I'm 335 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:19,280 Speaker 1: not saying Henry Ford is a Nazi in any way. 336 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:21,959 Speaker 1: I'm saying that he had these anti Semitic views. Hitler 337 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:25,159 Speaker 1: like these views. And then if you recall, remember we 338 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: said that, um, well you know what happens with the 339 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 1: whole anti semitism in Germany. But um, going back to 340 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 1: the Everyman's Car, that was also something that Hitler kind 341 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 1: of patterned after Henry I'm sorry, after Henry Ford and 342 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 1: said I want to make an everyman's car for Germany 343 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:44,760 Speaker 1: the way that Ford made one for the United States. 344 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:46,840 Speaker 1: And it's going to be the book's wagon Beetle, and 345 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:48,720 Speaker 1: you know, there's a whole story about that too. But 346 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: so here in the States, you can imagine what this 347 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,439 Speaker 1: is doing to Henry Ford's reputation. It's just it's getting 348 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: worse and worse and worse every day. It was more 349 00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:01,840 Speaker 1: comes out about Hitler and what kind of policies he's 350 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,320 Speaker 1: instituting in pre war Germany, and with the onset of 351 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:07,720 Speaker 1: the war, oh my gosh, it just it pushed it 352 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: over the edge and made him a very unpopular character. 353 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: And Ford kind of tried to back out of things. 354 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:16,479 Speaker 1: You know, he you you had mentioned that. Eventually he said, oh, 355 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: I wasn't that involved in the paper. He did retract 356 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,520 Speaker 1: some of his statements, but according to Biography magazine, he 357 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:26,719 Speaker 1: also didn't try to stop the publication of the International 358 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:29,879 Speaker 1: JO until the middle of World War Two, until things 359 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:34,959 Speaker 1: were clearly beyond bad. Um that you know that says something, 360 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 1: These are outrageous, outrageous views. I mean, the stuff that 361 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,720 Speaker 1: you'll read or you'll hear about this is amazing. I mean. 362 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: And his hatred for this group, I mean it goes back. 363 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:48,120 Speaker 1: He he blamed everything on them, He blamed music on them. 364 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,800 Speaker 1: He thought movies were were sinful that. You know, he 365 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:55,879 Speaker 1: was very very puritan, very puritan aspect about him. He 366 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 1: didn't he didn't like dancing. He didn't like music. He 367 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,960 Speaker 1: thought it was old fashioned dan thing. He would stage 368 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,679 Speaker 1: dances where, you know, and think about this is like 369 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,159 Speaker 1: the twenties or something, so people are doing dances like 370 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:09,080 Speaker 1: the Charleston. He would stage dances where you could do 371 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: the Polka or the Virginia reel. But to hate films, 372 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 1: I mean, he hated films because they were filled filled 373 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,560 Speaker 1: with sex and sin. And but here's the interesting thing, 374 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: like he would also in the newsreels, wouldn't have a 375 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:23,200 Speaker 1: problem with Ford Motor Company being you know, prominently displayed 376 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: in the in the newsreels to promote the vehicles. Yeah, 377 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 1: he clearly couldn't reconcile his business sense with his personal beliefs. Yes, 378 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: it was very conflicted, very conflicted. But you know, it's 379 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:38,639 Speaker 1: just really terribly unfortunate timing for him. And not only that, 380 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:40,639 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, these outrages views. What what was 381 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 1: the guy in this position doing releasing this type of material. 382 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: I don't, I just can't. Why didn't somebody tell him okay, 383 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: no entry forward, back off, back down, I don't understand. 384 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,680 Speaker 1: What's really strange though, is is this kind of undoes 385 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,880 Speaker 1: some of his personal reputation, but it also helps make 386 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 1: his company, or at least the war does not these views, 387 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 1: but the the existence of World War Two helped save 388 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: his company in a way because he is so old fashioned, 389 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:13,480 Speaker 1: he is so resistant to change that by the by 390 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: the thirties, his company is falling into lower places. You know, 391 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: they're they're not the top car company anymore. Yea. So he's, uh, 392 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: you know, he's realizing that by you know, by World 393 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,720 Speaker 1: War two, we're talking um, oh my gosh, we're talking 394 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: almost forty years or thirty five years after the beginning 395 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:34,359 Speaker 1: of his company, or the Model T rather anyways, not 396 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,239 Speaker 1: the company. Um, they realized that they got to kind 397 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 1: of move in a new direction. So they're, you know, 398 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:41,240 Speaker 1: they're they're coming out with new models, which I'm surprised 399 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 1: ever happened. But you know, they had the Model A, 400 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,040 Speaker 1: which they renamed A because it was like a complete 401 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:47,920 Speaker 1: start over with what he said, you know, it couldn't 402 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,879 Speaker 1: he couldn't go on from the Model T too, you know, 403 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:53,440 Speaker 1: the Model you Um, he went he went right back 404 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,959 Speaker 1: to A. Said, now it's a totally different vehicle, even 405 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: though there's a lot of similarities. But um, he was 406 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:01,359 Speaker 1: just he was quirky in that way. And you said, 407 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: you know, world War One, he was kind of a 408 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:08,160 Speaker 1: he took the pacifist role, was more for peace and exactly. Well, 409 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,359 Speaker 1: in World War Two, then you know, things changed and 410 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:13,000 Speaker 1: everybody was kind of on board with with war production. 411 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 1: So we've we've talked about, you know, some of the plants, 412 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:17,639 Speaker 1: you know, off air, we've talked about the way the 413 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:20,919 Speaker 1: plants could adapt to war production. And you know, instead 414 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:23,320 Speaker 1: of making engines, we're gonna make bombers, and instead of trucks, 415 00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:25,800 Speaker 1: we're gonna make tanks. And you were telling me that 416 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,159 Speaker 1: plants can they still have that capability to make a 417 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:33,159 Speaker 1: few changes on the line and dramatically change what they're producing, 418 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:37,879 Speaker 1: going from producing buses to producing tanks. Thanks exactly. There, 419 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:40,080 Speaker 1: it's very modular, and then they could they could shift 420 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:42,080 Speaker 1: over within a matter of hours. I mean, I think 421 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:45,560 Speaker 1: that's a great example of how the how the moving 422 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,919 Speaker 1: assembly line works, why it works. Yeah, I mean to 423 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:50,680 Speaker 1: this day. I mean, it's a great idea. It's one 424 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,199 Speaker 1: that you know has never really gone away. Um he 425 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:55,800 Speaker 1: just took what was already there and perfected it. So 426 00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:00,080 Speaker 1: while we're on that subject of Ford really working on 427 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 1: something until he has a great product, we've got to 428 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,719 Speaker 1: talk about some of his weirder experiments and and some 429 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: of this is really cool. Some of it is unexpected, 430 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:12,000 Speaker 1: some of it is way before his time. I think 431 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:15,640 Speaker 1: this is very unexpected for it. I just would never 432 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:17,760 Speaker 1: see a guy that you know, wouldn't even consider moving 433 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:20,280 Speaker 1: on to a different model of vehicle for nineteen years, 434 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:22,679 Speaker 1: that he would do something like this. But he was. 435 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:26,600 Speaker 1: He was heavy, heavy into soybean research. And it doesn't 436 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: sound like that's automotive related, but it, but it very 437 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,080 Speaker 1: much is. And this is this is one of those 438 00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:34,119 Speaker 1: just crazy things. I mean, he he was so into it. 439 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:36,639 Speaker 1: He made food with this, He made fibers with this, 440 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 1: He made plastics with us. And the plastic thing is 441 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,240 Speaker 1: where it came into play with the automobile. He actually 442 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:46,439 Speaker 1: created a plastic automobile in n one that made you know, 443 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:48,760 Speaker 1: the circuit it would write, would grab around with reporters 444 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:51,080 Speaker 1: and you know, people could feel and touch. This was 445 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: a full sized vehicle out of plastic that was made 446 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:58,200 Speaker 1: from soybeans and just this had never been done before. 447 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:00,600 Speaker 1: And he also had this vehicle. Now that wasn't his 448 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,199 Speaker 1: personal vehicle. There's a white vehicle that you'll see in 449 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 1: press photos, and that was the all plastic vehicle. He 450 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: himself had a black vehicle that he fitted with a 451 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:13,680 Speaker 1: plastic trunk and you know, the soybean material that he 452 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:16,840 Speaker 1: made plastics out of. He would for reporters, he would 453 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:20,919 Speaker 1: demonstrate the the resilience of this material by striking it 454 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:22,600 Speaker 1: with an ax. It. You know, he would hit it 455 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: himself with an ax his own personal vehicle on the 456 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,520 Speaker 1: trunk because it had this one panel public display of 457 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:31,080 Speaker 1: what had happened a few years earlier. This is so crazy. 458 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 1: He would he would put like a like a rubber 459 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:35,119 Speaker 1: sleeve on the sharp end of it, so wouldn't you know, 460 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,160 Speaker 1: puncture it, but he would. He would swing as hard 461 00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: as he could at the trunk of this thing with 462 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,120 Speaker 1: the ax and it wouldn't dent, but the ax would 463 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,160 Speaker 1: fly out of his hands, you know, fifteen twenty ft 464 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:45,960 Speaker 1: in the air, and you know, everybody would take photos 465 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,440 Speaker 1: and would be a great photo opportunity with Henry Ford. 466 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 1: And you can see a lot of photos of him 467 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: doing this. Um really really fascinating. But you know it 468 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:56,119 Speaker 1: didn't just end there. He went into you know, he 469 00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: would have reporters to the Ford mansion and host luncheons 470 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:03,720 Speaker 1: where every course of the meal would be soybean based 471 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:07,440 Speaker 1: because he was very interested in diet. I hadn't known 472 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,480 Speaker 1: that about him. Again, it kind of does make sense. 473 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:14,399 Speaker 1: It's some some intense control over his life. Again, but 474 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:17,600 Speaker 1: he loved vegetables. He loved to eat soybeans. You were 475 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:21,159 Speaker 1: talking about meals that were entirely soy based. Yeah, he 476 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,680 Speaker 1: made He would make um. The meat would be soy, 477 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,720 Speaker 1: soybean based exactly. It was something like you know what 478 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,159 Speaker 1: I thought it would taste like like pork chop or whatever. 479 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 1: He would he would develop these things so that they 480 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: tasted that way. It's very advanced. He should have lived 481 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 1: in the seventies. And you know he had an entire 482 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 1: you know, part of it. There was a there's a 483 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: whole compound of of um labs on his facility that 484 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,639 Speaker 1: were just strictly devoted to soybean science and they would 485 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,560 Speaker 1: create you know, soy milk and um ice creams and 486 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,199 Speaker 1: candies and and even get this this is this is 487 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: maybe even the strangest part. He would wear a suit 488 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 1: that was made of soybean fire bird, So he had 489 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:02,919 Speaker 1: a soybean fiber suit that was you know, I think 490 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 1: there's some wool in there too, but um, so he's 491 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:11,640 Speaker 1: wearing the soybean suit to this soybean luncheon, Henry Ford 492 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,639 Speaker 1: as Willy Wonka. But it looks it just looked like 493 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 1: a normal suit, you know. And there they're photos of 494 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 1: him in the You can go to the fair Land 495 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: mansion and you can look. You know, there's a a 496 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 1: restaurant there and there's photos on the wall and you know, 497 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:26,680 Speaker 1: there's him wearing a soybean suit. All right, So before 498 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:29,399 Speaker 1: you guys go out in google pictures of Henry Ford 499 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 1: in that bean suit, we've got to switch gears for 500 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:33,880 Speaker 1: a minute, all right, Sarah, let's get back to talking 501 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: about Henry Ford. Yeah, let's do that. And let's go 502 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:41,120 Speaker 1: back to plastic development. Why why didn't that take off? 503 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:44,199 Speaker 1: What happened? I think I personally believe this is just 504 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 1: poor timing because it was one when he made the 505 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:51,119 Speaker 1: when he made the entirely plastic vehicle, and he was 506 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: demonstrating all this, and then the war hit and things 507 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,520 Speaker 1: really regressed at that point. You know, we were just 508 00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:59,160 Speaker 1: strictly trying to find as much metal as we could 509 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 1: and build a much you know, war machinery as we could. 510 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:03,960 Speaker 1: And then after that, you know, the soldiers come back 511 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:06,480 Speaker 1: and they want something different, and it just kind of 512 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: things had passed by, and you know, he's not in 513 00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:11,800 Speaker 1: control anymore at that and he's well, actually he's dead. 514 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,720 Speaker 1: Um he died, what was it, nineteen seven? Um, So 515 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 1: you know, things things changed dramatically after that point. It's 516 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:20,880 Speaker 1: just kind of an idea that went away. And then 517 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:23,240 Speaker 1: you know, the next thing, you know, it's nineteen eighties 518 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,959 Speaker 1: and we're hearing about Saturn with this new plastic automobile. 519 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,679 Speaker 1: Well it's not really so new, not that new, And 520 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,119 Speaker 1: I think, I think, Um, what's interesting about this is 521 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,480 Speaker 1: if maybe that idea had been just a few years earlier, 522 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,240 Speaker 1: the war might have actually given it a push instead 523 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 1: of holding it back. Since wartime metal rationing a plastic 524 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 1: car starts to sound like pretty good idea, it's just 525 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: right on the cusps. They're too late to really make 526 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:50,560 Speaker 1: it a reality. It had. He had a lot of 527 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:52,679 Speaker 1: great ideas, I mean, he really did. He really had 528 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:54,280 Speaker 1: a lot of great ideas, but he was he was 529 00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:59,119 Speaker 1: big into perfecting things. Um. He's a fascinating, fascinating character. 530 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 1: And I mean one quick little anecdote here that I mean, 531 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:04,919 Speaker 1: this is from a piece of listener mail that actually 532 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:06,879 Speaker 1: came into car stuff, and we read this on on 533 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,280 Speaker 1: our show. But someone was taking an airboat ride in 534 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:12,840 Speaker 1: the Everglades and the guide pointed out the Spanish moss 535 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 1: hanging from the trees and he said, you know that 536 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: Ford used to come would send people down here to 537 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:21,280 Speaker 1: harvest the Spanish moss and bring it back to Detroit 538 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,239 Speaker 1: and pack it into the seat the seats of the 539 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: Model T early on. This is this is like the 540 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,720 Speaker 1: early early Model T s. And then the people that 541 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:31,560 Speaker 1: would buy the Model T S would realize like, well, 542 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:33,440 Speaker 1: I'm getting this kind of funny rash on my legs. 543 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: And the gross thing is mites, yea Spanish moss, mites. 544 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: And they would they would burrow through the material into 545 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,120 Speaker 1: the skin and they would lay eggs in the people's skin. 546 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 1: It's still gross. So you know, it wasn't long after 547 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:47,800 Speaker 1: that that they decided, well we're gonna do with cotton. 548 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,760 Speaker 1: But um, again, just an interesting idea that you know, 549 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 1: and who knows, maybe he would I think this is 550 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 1: a great idea and buy a bunch of everglades, you know, 551 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,480 Speaker 1: property for the moss exactly. I know. I feel like 552 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 1: that would COMPETI the moss. That's something you learn, like 553 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 1: first time you go to the beach, I don't take 554 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: the Spanish moss home with you. To be competing for 555 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:10,080 Speaker 1: land with Disney at the time. That's a pretty fascinating story. 556 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: But um, we've got to talk a little bit about 557 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:17,240 Speaker 1: his nostalgia too. So we've talked about all these innovations, 558 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:21,240 Speaker 1: all these innovative ideas, but he certainly realizes late in 559 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:24,480 Speaker 1: life how much he's changed the world, how much he 560 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 1: is directly responsible for changing the United States and probably 561 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:35,920 Speaker 1: influencing worldwide ideas. Um. And he's a little bit nostalgic 562 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 1: for his old country farm life that he wanted to 563 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: to leave. And we've already talked about the dances. You know, 564 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 1: he's like young kids today do the polka. But it 565 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: really extends to an interest in preserving history too, which 566 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,600 Speaker 1: is so ironic because one of Ford's most famous quotes 567 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 1: is history is more or less bunk for ago. You 568 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 1: said that he becomes so interested in preserving the history 569 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 1: of his boyhood world, his boyhood heroes, guys like Edison, 570 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: guys like the Wright brothers. And I think you can 571 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:12,600 Speaker 1: talk about this a little bit because you've been to 572 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:16,040 Speaker 1: the place that is the shrine to this preservation. I've 573 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: been to the Henry Ford Museum, which is an incredible, 574 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,240 Speaker 1: incredible museum. I don't think I've ever been to a 575 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:24,720 Speaker 1: better museum from my point of view. I loved that place. 576 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:28,840 Speaker 1: I can spend days or weeks there. Um. The other 577 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,840 Speaker 1: part of that that complex, I guess you know it's built. 578 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:33,880 Speaker 1: There's a test track right there. It's right in Dearborn. 579 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,000 Speaker 1: H is Greenfield Village. And if you remember, well I 580 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:38,440 Speaker 1: don't know if we even mentioned or not, but he 581 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,560 Speaker 1: was born in Greenfield Township and he built, you know, 582 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: he went to move to Dearborn and he built this 583 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: little this little land for himself called Greenfield Village. So 584 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 1: you know, obviously he's trying to even replicate the name 585 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 1: of the place. But what he does with this place, 586 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,200 Speaker 1: this is so this is so neat. He he brings 587 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 1: parts of what he remembers as being his America uh 588 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,320 Speaker 1: to Greenfield Village. And you know that may be. I 589 00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:05,840 Speaker 1: mean it's it's pretty expansive. I mean, this is a 590 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: ninety acre property. It's got something like eighty three buildings 591 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:13,040 Speaker 1: on the property. And these are all historic, historically significant buildings. 592 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 1: It's uh, it's Henry fire and I'm sorry, Harvey Firestone's 593 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:22,280 Speaker 1: entire farm from from Ohio is brought there Edison's lab 594 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:24,400 Speaker 1: with some of the original you know, the original light 595 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:26,760 Speaker 1: bulbs and you know, all the original furniture and everything. 596 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:28,680 Speaker 1: Some of that stuff was nailed down so it was 597 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 1: never moved on the way, you know, just brought the 598 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: entire building. Um, the you know Orville and Wilbur right 599 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:36,720 Speaker 1: their their bicycle shop that they owned in Dayton, Ohio. 600 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,760 Speaker 1: That's he's got. He's got a he's got a courthouse 601 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:45,400 Speaker 1: that Lincoln actually practiced lawn, which is incredible. Um, every 602 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:50,680 Speaker 1: every single thing has some historical significance. And again it's 603 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:54,440 Speaker 1: it's taking he's trying to build that eighteen eighties lifestyle 604 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,400 Speaker 1: in you know, nineteen the nineteen thirties in you know 605 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:01,400 Speaker 1: the place that he Now, this is this an enormous 606 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:05,360 Speaker 1: piece of property, and dearborn and like setting that off 607 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 1: against what's happening in the rest of the country, you know, 608 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:12,200 Speaker 1: the interstate system, going through old landmarks, things like that, 609 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,440 Speaker 1: actively trying to preserve something, realizing what is happening and 610 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: what he wants to keep from from how he remembers 611 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:22,960 Speaker 1: the country exactly. There's even like a steam engine and 612 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:24,800 Speaker 1: now this is a recent edition, but you can have 613 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 1: you can take a ride on a model teeth through 614 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:29,200 Speaker 1: the property, which you know you couldn't have done at 615 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:32,479 Speaker 1: that time, but now you can. Um you'll see if 616 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:34,959 Speaker 1: you go there ever, and I really, I mean I 617 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,120 Speaker 1: encourage people to go there. It's beautiful. Um, but you'll 618 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: see kids like rolling hoops with sticks and things like that. 619 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:42,640 Speaker 1: They have all kinds of fun things. I mean, you 620 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:44,920 Speaker 1: can even watch like what baseball was like back then, 621 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:47,080 Speaker 1: the people playing with the old mits and old balls 622 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:50,040 Speaker 1: and bats, and it's in the old uniforms. It's really 623 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,440 Speaker 1: it's really a fascinating place. It sounds very step back 624 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,680 Speaker 1: in history. So I mean, I guess that about wraps 625 00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: it up then. For for Henry Ford, he died one 626 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:03,680 Speaker 1: years to the day after his father had immigrated from 627 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:09,320 Speaker 1: Ireland to Michigan. Um. Just tying up this bridging two 628 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: different worlds, tying up this this amazing life with extreme 629 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,720 Speaker 1: highs and extreme lows. Really yeah, yeah, And you know what, 630 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:20,960 Speaker 1: even to this day, the Ford Motor Company remains a 631 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,800 Speaker 1: family business. It does what's what's I mean? I won't 632 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,120 Speaker 1: go into all the detail here, but um, there's a 633 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:28,600 Speaker 1: Ford at the head of Ford Motor Company right now. 634 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,040 Speaker 1: Um William Clay Jr. Is the is the head of it. 635 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: And you know, his father is still in Tony's father 636 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:35,920 Speaker 1: is still a life which was one of his The 637 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: only living grandchild of Henry Ford is still is. He's 638 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:42,840 Speaker 1: still around. He's like he's his upper eighties and he 639 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,560 Speaker 1: owns the Detroit Lions at this point. But you know 640 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: he's All through history there's been a Ford somewhere involved 641 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,040 Speaker 1: with the company. So we had said we'd mentioned Henry 642 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:54,920 Speaker 1: Ford the second to his his grandson who took over 643 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:58,640 Speaker 1: the company at the very end of his life. Um, 644 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:01,200 Speaker 1: he had this strange relay sationship with his son ed 645 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:03,720 Speaker 1: Soel his grandson. I think he might have seen him 646 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,360 Speaker 1: as kind of a threat to that power. But finally 647 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:10,040 Speaker 1: with his wife strongly urging him on, and he did 648 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:12,879 Speaker 1: relinquish a lot of his control to his grandson late 649 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,040 Speaker 1: in life. And um, you know so much about this, 650 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:18,440 Speaker 1: I guess because it gets into the modern history of Ford. 651 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:21,560 Speaker 1: But Henry for the second really changes the kind of 652 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:23,839 Speaker 1: company it is. Yeah, exactly, And you know, from that 653 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:28,279 Speaker 1: point forward, it's it's very it's been very successful ever since. Um, 654 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:29,840 Speaker 1: and it was it was up to that point, but 655 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: there were some real shaky parts in there. Um, you know, 656 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,879 Speaker 1: around the wartime. But you know now now that we've 657 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:38,880 Speaker 1: got William Clayford Junior in in an office he's his 658 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:42,479 Speaker 1: actually official title as the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company. UM. 659 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:45,440 Speaker 1: And his father, William Clayford is is still sitting on 660 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:48,960 Speaker 1: the board. So you know, Ford, it's it's far reaching. 661 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:51,920 Speaker 1: I wonder who's gonna be next, because you know, William 662 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:54,719 Speaker 1: Playford Jr. He's he's only fifty five, that's kind of 663 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:57,360 Speaker 1: nearing retirement age. Who's up next? I don't know. I 664 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: don't I just don't know who's who's gonna be next 665 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:04,680 Speaker 1: in power? I guess we'll find out eventually. But interesting family. 666 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,759 Speaker 1: And this guy he's he's just he's brilliant. I mean, 667 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 1: he's probably he's borderline genius. He's an innovator. UM, I 668 00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:14,480 Speaker 1: don't know he you know, he had a temporary he 669 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:16,359 Speaker 1: had these bad sides to him. He's a he's got 670 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:20,960 Speaker 1: a tyrannical side, very very eccentric, you know. But but overall, 671 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:23,080 Speaker 1: I mean, this guy, when you start reading about him, 672 00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:26,239 Speaker 1: it doesn't sound like you know, before you even listen 673 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,000 Speaker 1: to podcast, you may not have thought much about the guy. 674 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:31,560 Speaker 1: I think this will encourage people to read about him. 675 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,200 Speaker 1: I think so. I definitely want to learn more about him. 676 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,600 Speaker 1: And uh, I'd love to visit the museum you're talking 677 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:41,839 Speaker 1: about too and see see some of this legacy. And 678 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:45,000 Speaker 1: and I know you could probably speak more about this too, 679 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:49,040 Speaker 1: But for it seems like they have accepted for the company. 680 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,799 Speaker 1: Seems like they have accepted and um, well, I don't 681 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:56,800 Speaker 1: want to say embrace, but accepted their founder's entire history. 682 00:35:56,960 --> 00:36:01,040 Speaker 1: Nobody's trying to sugarcoat sugarcoat thing, and you don't have to. 683 00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:05,880 Speaker 1: You know, there's enough that makes the man undeniably impressive 684 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 1: to talk about the less impressive things too. Um. So, 685 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:15,160 Speaker 1: very interesting guy. Thank you so much for suggesting him 686 00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:18,719 Speaker 1: so wholeheartedly. He's been really fun to learn about. Good 687 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,360 Speaker 1: I'm glad I felt the same way. I um, I 688 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:23,120 Speaker 1: knew he was an interesting cat to begin with, but 689 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:25,080 Speaker 1: then you start digging into, you know, some of the 690 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 1: biography material, it's like you just want more and more 691 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:30,919 Speaker 1: and more. Yeah, you start learning things like just one 692 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 1: last weird fact, the Ford mansion which he said you 693 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:39,799 Speaker 1: had visited. He had hot and cold running rainwater in 694 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,319 Speaker 1: every bathroom, plus half water, just you know, in case 695 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:46,400 Speaker 1: you wanted a refreshing rainwater. I'm going to add to 696 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:49,000 Speaker 1: this too, because it was It's a fifty six room mansion, 697 00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:51,200 Speaker 1: I think. And they said that they built, you know, 698 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,120 Speaker 1: all these extravagant things like a pool and a bird 699 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:57,040 Speaker 1: baths were heated. Yeah, bird baths were heated, but that 700 00:36:57,120 --> 00:36:58,719 Speaker 1: they had all these you know, like they had like 701 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:01,279 Speaker 1: a bowling alley or whatever. They had all these activities, 702 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:04,200 Speaker 1: and it was all to keep edsel Ford from you know, 703 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:07,440 Speaker 1: wanting to date girls and to uh, you know, wanting 704 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:11,239 Speaker 1: to drink or smoke or whatever. The model out person exactly. Yeah. 705 00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:13,239 Speaker 1: They they felt that this was a way to distract him, 706 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:15,160 Speaker 1: was to have this grand home and he'd have lots 707 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:18,359 Speaker 1: of things to do. I think my favorite home amenity, though, 708 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,120 Speaker 1: I kind of wish I had this an underground pipe 709 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:24,120 Speaker 1: that would suck dust out of the house. I don't 710 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:26,839 Speaker 1: know how well that worked. It seems like if that 711 00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:29,319 Speaker 1: was a possibility, everybody would have that we wouldn't have 712 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:32,000 Speaker 1: to worry about act got to get that. It sounds 713 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:34,560 Speaker 1: like a good idea. So, um, I guess that's it 714 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,840 Speaker 1: for Ford for now. Um, Katie and I, as I mentioned, 715 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:41,040 Speaker 1: did an episode on Ford Landia. What kind of episodes 716 00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,160 Speaker 1: have you all done on on Ford. I'm sure we've 717 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:46,520 Speaker 1: got well, you know, other aspects of Ford. We might 718 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:48,279 Speaker 1: have covered the Model A or the Model T, and 719 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:50,720 Speaker 1: we've we've talked about even starting a Model T because 720 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,200 Speaker 1: that's quite a chore. Um, just in general, we've done it. 721 00:37:54,239 --> 00:37:56,120 Speaker 1: We've done a piece on him. You have to crank 722 00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:59,279 Speaker 1: up the Model Tea. Yeah, yeah, And it was an 723 00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:01,640 Speaker 1: arm breaker, tell you that it really was. Unless you're 724 00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:04,279 Speaker 1: forward and you can rip upot, it would snap your arm. 725 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:07,440 Speaker 1: That's how dangerous it was. And it's it's nothing was standard. 726 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:09,520 Speaker 1: It's a really a unique car. But there's there's a 727 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:11,600 Speaker 1: lot of history there. So you all should go listen 728 00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:14,560 Speaker 1: to some of those episodes on Scott's podcast, which is 729 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:18,200 Speaker 1: called Car Stuff. If you want to share any more 730 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:22,399 Speaker 1: ideas about Ford any other auto grats you'd like us 731 00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:25,120 Speaker 1: to discuss at some point. We are at History Podcast 732 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:28,840 Speaker 1: at Discovery dot com. We're also on Twitter at Miston History, 733 00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:32,000 Speaker 1: and we are on Facebook. And what kind of Ford 734 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:35,319 Speaker 1: related articles? I mean, the classic how stuff works article 735 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:38,760 Speaker 1: is how engines work? But what what have you edited 736 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,360 Speaker 1: recently that you think is really Ford related? You know, 737 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:43,560 Speaker 1: we've got some Model T information, you know, kind of 738 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:46,880 Speaker 1: product overview type stuff, um, specifically for the Model T. 739 00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 1: And I know there's some stuff out there. I've got 740 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:52,600 Speaker 1: a blog that's about h starting the Model T, which 741 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:55,000 Speaker 1: is really interesting. I mean that we've mentioned that the 742 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:58,560 Speaker 1: thing is difficult to get going, and um, you know, 743 00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:00,480 Speaker 1: there's just a lot of forder for me. If you can, 744 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,759 Speaker 1: you can search forward and get information about the entire 745 00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:07,960 Speaker 1: company just in or to. But anything and everything automotive 746 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,600 Speaker 1: is on our site all right, and Scott has edited 747 00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:13,080 Speaker 1: most of it. You know. One fun fact about Scott. 748 00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:16,640 Speaker 1: If you see a strange prototype car and give him 749 00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:20,080 Speaker 1: a description of it, he can probably identify it for you. 750 00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:23,200 Speaker 1: Maybe may I hope I don't get you inundated with 751 00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:25,480 Speaker 1: emails now, but yeah, if you want to check out 752 00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:28,200 Speaker 1: some of that information about Ford, about the Model C, 753 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:31,120 Speaker 1: about cars in general. It is all on our website 754 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:38,560 Speaker 1: at www. Dot how stuff works dot com. For more 755 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:40,880 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, is it how 756 00:39:40,960 --> 00:40:05,839 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com.