hey all, was just reading the thread on great qoutes and realised that most of my favourites are by Henry himself..the man certainly knew how to cut through ********! i.e. 'If you think you can ,or think you cant, youre usually right." or "if you need a tool and dont buy it, pretty soon you will find you have paid for it, and dont have it." Im sure there have been loads of biographies written about him over the years, and I would love to find a really good one to read..anyone on here got any recommendations of bio's on Henry Ford?
I just moved a 1929 first edition copy of And Then Came Ford by Charles Merz, that has to be an early Ford biography.
I just came across a quote by Henry himself today. You've all seen mission statements of corporations but I'll bet not as simple and straight forward as this. "I will build a motor car for the great mul***ude. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men and women to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. Any person making a good salary will be able to own one, and enjoy with his family the blessings of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces."
Robert Lacey's book called, " Ford, the men and the machine" is the best I have read about Henry Ford.
It all comes down to respecting a car person, or a ty****. Edsel would understand the 50's car scene, if he'd have lived, and Henry didn't kill him.
Wheels of the World by Douglas Brinkley is very detailed, well researched, and sheds some light on the inner workings of the motor company while looking at ford's life, in short it is a book on henry and how he worked, much more interesting to the car nut!!! It was published in 2003... plus, brinkley got a never before total access granted by the ford motor company to write this book, so it's sanctioned by them.. good excellent reading... 768 pages long!!!! read it if youlove henry! it will not be the same info rehashed in all the other biographys!
Another good book is "The Fords" by Peter Collier and David Horowitz. HotRod1940 is right, Robert Laceys is probably the best. I have both of them. Stu
http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/business/henry-ford/ Cut the hollywood ********, the man was a worthless bitter old ******* who owned a company that made a few half way decent cars in the 20s and 30s.
They didn't make a decent car until 1949 (Henry and Edsel were both long dead). Good body style in the Edsel era, but **** for suspension, steering, and brakes. Henry was a ty**** who created jobs. No matter what else the scoundrel, people ate dinner every night if they worked for him. People ate a better dinner every night after the UAW took over, but by 1972 the Japanese and Germans wiped-out the American car, and the UAW was now the ty****s.
Hey, An interesting book, although not about Henry directly, is the Dominguez book "Edsel Ford and E.T. Gregorie The Remarkable Design Team and Their Cl***ic Fords of the 1930s and 1940s" The book shows Ol' Henry in a light the ******** biographys perhaps do not! It covers Henry's involvement with the Ford Motor Company, and his son Edsel, towards the end of both of their lives. S****ey Devils C.C.
so what youre saying is that you wished henry got his way and kept building 4 cyl flathead cars, and damn the v-8? there were a lot of accomplishments that were brought in his resarch labs that were killed by him personally, just because they werent his ideas. he like so many other people of the age could do or "see" anything mechanically, but had absolutely no reason to be running a company because of their rigid, inflexible utopian ideals. and as far as him being anti-semite it served his purposes well when building components for the german and russian war machines the **** and germans killing the american car is about as ridiculous a statement as ive ever heard. fact is in this day there is no us or them car, its all global. the ford taurus is a volvo is a merkur is a jaguar, the UAW had nothing to do with that as it was all a corporate decision.
whoa, this is all getting a bit heavy for a simple book recommendation... thanks for the response though.
Ben I went mad for a couple of weeks reading my 1924 copy of his autobiography, "My Life and Work" by Henry Ford. I'm about 1/2 way and I got TRJ #32 so the Ford book is on hold. Really good book about his early engineering and his philosophy about business. I must admit it has started to get a bit repe***ive at the halfway mark. It's amazing how relevant his thoughts are today. A true visionary. Pete
Nope, I was saying it didn't matter anymore what they were building. How many of us go out to find 70's American cars to hot rod? The 4-cyl in my Ford Ranger probably gets less gas mileage than Henry's. They closed the local GM plant earlier this year. You should have seen the lots full of ugly looking SUV's. You could tell they wouldn't be around long. They would have been better off selling frames.
On the mantel piece above Henry's fireplace in the family room at his "Fairlane" estate in Dearborn it reads...."if you chop your own firewood it will warm you twice". I believe this quote is by one of Henry's close friends Thoreau maybe? Anyway I love that message and it sums up Henry's undeniable rugged individualism. I gotta tell you, some of the derogetory posts in this thread are a bit off mark and unfair. I'll elaborate later when I have more time. Now I must go and work on one of those ****py 65 year old Fords that is still on the road today and I would trust to take me anywhere so long as I have a few simple tools in the trunk. Take care boys.
I often wonder what Henry would think if he saw all the Hot Rods today and what his opinion would be. prolly rolling in his grave, lol
I too wonder. One would hope he would see the upside and understand how loved his cars still even 50 or more years later. I am sure he would have a lot to say politically, but politics are not for the HAMB. I read Wheels of the World, but I wouldn't recommend it as a Ford biography at all. It is really about Ford Motor Co and not old man Henry. I'd say his autobiography would be a good start. regards, DJ
Just wait for the day the Ford family buys out company stock, turns the company private again and gets rid of the UAW. -Jason
Another really good book is,"Ford:The Dust and the Glory" by Leo Levine.The original edition was about 700 pages long and was recently re-published as a two volume set.A little pricey but every once in awhile a 1st edition pops up on the 'bay.I bought one last year for about $35. Lots of good info on Ford's racing program.
Yes your leaky 350/350 with the cheap chrome kit is overrated. Don't know how you guys get the early Ford experience with all the off make stuff you hang all over 'em. Grow some balls and build a real Ford.
I've read more than a dozen biographies of Henry Ford, and the one that stands out was written back in 1951 by Ford's right-hand man, Harry Bennett, ***led We Never Called Him Henry. http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&num=10&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=we+never+called+him+henry Dave http://www.roadsters.com/
Ya know recardo you're so cool. Twice you barbed me and you really have no idea what you're talking about. What gives?
I agree with striper. I bought my 1923 edition at a swap meet a few years ago, mainly because in the front of it reads To T.W.A. Hood In memory 17/12/23 from W.J. ? I bought it as much for this as what i hoped to be able to find out about the man himself. I also recently bought from a trash & treasure market Lacey's Ford, The Men and the Machine, but it will have to wait. Too busy at work to scratch myself, let alone read books! Michael
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