Hot Rods What would Henry Ford think!!!

I've always wondered what Henry Ford would have thought of our hot rods and what we have done with his orginal designs etc.

How well we have improved them...


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=833238

 

My guess is he wouldn't recognize a lot of them.

 

Maybe nothing as he started by building a race car himself. Beat the main man of the day (Winton), got noticed and went from there.

 

Remember Old Henry was a land speed record holder or should that be ice speed record holder he made his name with fast cars and racing Barney Oldfield made his name as Henrys race car driver. Dont think he was too keen on young Edsels speedsters though.

 

history is bunk

 

Going o/t a little. Did Henry's race car mentioned above use some kind of studded tires? Might have been pretty exciting on ice.

 

It would be interesting to see what he would think about the evolution of just production stuff, much less the modified cars.

 

He would wonder when chevy merged with his company to provide power plants.

 

I think he'd be amazed at the lack of common sense engineering. Probably wonder who needs all the insanely complicated electronic gizmos on modern cars. We need a Henry Ford today to lead a back-to-simplicity movement. And not just in cars.

 

Good one

 

I figure old Henry was some kind of hot rodder himself not to mention somebody who was willing to buck the trends and not follow.



http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=833238

 

I always enjoy your posts, and this is great.
Im thinking the Chevy part would certainly piss ol Henry off.

 

He was a git her done man. A perfect match for his time in history.

 

heres the car in question.

1901-Ford-Sweepstakes-Race-Car by andrew snyder, on Flickr

 

He probably rolled over in his grave when the Pinto came out....

 

Henry was a practical man, he was more of a " if it is not broke , don't fix it, the guy that like design was his son Edsel, he was the one behind the 32 ford, and the zepher, and had serious arguments with his dad, Henry wanted to keep producing the model A for many years like he did the T, exanple; henry bought a forest so he could have wood for the wooden body T's, when they switched to the all medal bodies, he created the woody station wagon so he could use up the wood from his forest, he was a practical man that wasted nothing, wether it was labor , time, or raw materiales.

 

Didn't Chevrolet brothers develop parts for his racer?

I would think that he'd be wondering what happened to "Oldsmobile, Nash, DeSoto, Pontiac, Plymouth, and all the others that disappeared since his death...

 

No the Chevrolet brothers raced Model T based cars and came up with parts for those.

 

He strikes me as a down to earth guy..
but his comment at the gas station might go something like this..

Boy.. you really fucked up a good thing with all your hot rodding., It looks fast.. can I take it for a spin?

 

Henry Ford was a fiercely proud individual and would hate the extensive cross pollinization of the cars that bear his name. Take for example his reaction to the competition going to six cylinders when Ford had only four. Hey decided he would not follow GM and build an inline six, rather he would offer a mass produced eight cylinder car in the low priced range and leap frog the competition. I doubt that with the ongoing trend of "improving" Ford cars by installing engines from his arch rivals would sit very well with that kind of a man. Got a feeling he'd have an answer for it....

 

Henry did put into mass production the V8 engine in 1932,,he was somewhat of a hot rod kinda guy and if he was around today I think he would consider himself a traditionalist. HRP

 

After reading the book "'40 Ford", he is probably still giving Edsel a hard time for putting juice brakes on his cars. So I doubt he would have much use for Hot Rods.

With that said, I still have a picture of him hanging up in the garage.

 

Man someone else that gets it!!! Truer words were never spoken.

 

he would have kicked himself for not having his production and labor in china

 

I think Mr Ford would be amazed the company with name is still around.Ford as a car manufacturer was in deep shit by 1949.

 

How did his flathead stuff end up in France and Russia???



http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=833238

 

Henry knew early on he had to work with other companies as long as he kept control look at many model tee parts and see they are stamped DB Dodge Bros they made parts for him the first ford company Henry pulled out of because he was not in control and did not get his own way it went on and became Cadillac

 

I think this nails it. But not just the modern gizmos, but getting back to the point of the original post, he would be amazed at the inability of many of us here to understand and master such simple engineering principles as the unsplit wishbone, the torque tube and leaf springs.

In our attempts at "improvement" of the basics we have thrown out, in many cases, the very thing that made it work in the first place. I second the need for a back to simplicity movement. It'll never happen because that intrinsic, basic understanding of mechanics is disppearing from society.

 

Well said.



http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=833238

 

Found this pic the other day of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Warren G. Harding, and Harvey Firestone, 1921
Common theme seems to be bowties!!!


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