Page 12 - the story of motoring
P. 12

Henry Ford





     Henry  Ford  rade  two  important  changes  in the  story  of  motoring.      He  produced  the
     first cheap  family  car,  the  Model  T.    He  also  mass  produced  his cars  on  a  mbving
     assembly  line.
     Henry  was  the  son  of  a  farmer  and  his father  expected  him  to  stay  on  the  farm.  They
     lived near  Chicago  in the  U.S.A.     Henry  was  very  interested  in anything  mechanical.
     He  built  his first  car  out  of  odds  and  ends.   It was  no  more  than  a  wooden  box  on
     four  wheels  and  a  little engine.    He  continued  to  improve  each  car  he  built.  Soon
     he  had  a  car  that  was  good  enoqgh  for  racing.   After  winning  a  few  races  the  orders
     for  cars  flooded  in.   So  Henry  started  his  own  company  -  the  Ford  Motor  Company.

     In the  pioneer  days.cars  were  hand  built.     The  car  would  be  assembled  in the  middle
     of  a  workshop  and  the  mechanics  would  do  the  moving  about.    Cars  therefore  took  a
     long  time  to  make  and  were  expensive.   Ford  decided  this was  not  the  way  to make  a
     car  for  the  world  at  a  price they  could  afford.
     Mass  production  in industry  had  existed  long  before  Ford.      However  he  used  these
     ideas  in car  making.    A  huge  factory  was  built  at  Detroit  and  the  production  of  the
     Model  T  began  there  in 1908.    At  first  only  the  components  were  assembled  on  a  moving
     conveyor  line.    The  line was  speeded  up  to  see  how  fast  people  could  work  and  what
     height  was  best.   By  1913  a  whole  car  could  be  built on  the  assembly  line.

                                Ford   In 1914  Ford  shook  America  by  offering  wages  of  five
                                      dollars  a  day.   This  was  twice  as  much  as  other  car
                                      workers  got.    Ford  also  shortened  the  working  day  from
                                      nine  hours  to  eight.    The  crowds  that  turned  up  at  the
                                      factory  finally  had  to  be  dispersed  by  waterhoses.

                                      The  Ford  Company  was  soon  making  and  selling millions
                                      of  cars.   A  second  factory  was  built.    It was  enormous,
                                      the  biggest  in the  world.     There  were  docks,  steel works
                                      and  assembly  plant.    Iron was  delivered  at  one  end  of
                                      the  site,  melted  down,  moulded  and  converted  into a  fin-
                                      ished  car  in 28  hours.







































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