OLD TIMES, AGAIN Every time I see stock car racers slide through a window opening on their backsides to gain access to the interior of their controls, I think of two things: one of the "Dukes" of Hazard who made such action acceptable, and it takes me back to the days of our 1924 Model Ford. It had no door on the divers side, front. What appeared to be a door just like the others, was really a swollen noodle of metal; a rounded-over line extruded out of the metal surface. There was no door there. You had to up-a-leg to enter.
It was not, as I recall, a line cut into the surface. From a distance it appeared to be a door not unlike the others. I have heard various explanations as to the need for such and purists like to say it was a "safety" feature placed there to keep a stray or clumsy foot from kicking the rig over the hillside. There were three pedals, some levers, handles and a steering column and wheel at that area. Those who know Henry a bit better know he was less concerned with safety that he was saving. If a "safety feature" printed-on front-left doors might cut costs - why not? Another "reason - the one we were given was that when you used the expandable luggage carrier which came as free extra with our car, covered the door anyway when mounted on the left side the accordion-like metal sections holding our suitcases and boxes covered the left, rear door as well. By that time he had
the company which manufactured batteries for his cars systematically delivered all batteries to his plants crated in wooden boxes, with several large slots cut at spots he specified. When unpacked, the crates were carefully taken apart and I doubt if the battery company ever knew they were making the floor boards - complete with holes for pedals - for Henry Ford;s new cars.
Henry Ford didn't worry too much about safety. In fact, he and other early innovators, never seemed to think of "motoring" as being as dangerous as some people liked to think it had to be.
His assembly line production methods was a real money-saver. In September of 1924, my Father bought Henry's newest Model T - with an expandable, all-metal luggage rack, a free a tire-repair kit and hand pump plus one "spare" tire... all for just a bit over $300.00! It even had a hand- powered windshield wiper, and if the driver wanted to know much gas he had in the gas tan k all he had o do was clear the front seat, pick it; insert the measuring wand - a calibrated stick - to determine, approximately, how much gas remained in the tank under the front seat.
I've often wondered if Henry Ford ever made any real money on his car sales. He refused to put in any system of cost controls whatsoever until his son Edsel sided with the Defense Department of the United States at war. If he wanted to manufacture B-24 bombers at his new Willow Run plant, built for that purpose, he had to start some way of knowing how much it cost him to build the them.
He did all right with the 1924 Model T for my Dad; and the B-24's I fly in during World War II were satisfactory. Thank you, Henry, wherever you may be.
A.L.M. March 18, 2005 [c590wds]
