FORD – AN ORIGINAL

GOOD MORNING WORLD

A little while ago I was reading my cheap women’s rags from the checkout line and hit a tidbit that caught my eye.  It was in a column entitled ‘It Happened This Week”.  Granted the magazine was at least 3 weeks old so it really happened the first week of January!

The item mentioned that that week in 1914 Henry Ford stunned America when he started and 8 hour workday for his employees.  He also, at the same time, enacted a $5/hour minimum wage for his employees.  The dollar amount more than doubled most of his worker’s salaries.  His employee turnover decreased and profits shot up over the next 2 years to $30 million dollars.  I found this astonishing.  I had no idea. Had to research it.

Seems that Unions did not get a foothold into Ford until 1941 after a hard fought battle.  In 1935 FDR enacted the Wagner Act which gave workers the right to collective bargaining and unfair practices by employers.  Henry Ford resisted for as long as he could having Harry Bennett, head of the Service Dept. take care of keeping the Unions out.  There was a real battle called ‘The Battle of the Overpass’ in 1937 that left Union organizers including Walter Reuther beaten and bloodied after they tried to hand out leaflets.  Ford Motor Company was found guilty and in violation of the Wagner Act in 1941 and ordered to stop interfering with the Unions efforts.

April 1, 1941 there was a walkout  at that same RougeRiver plant that experienced the battle.  The strike was held to protest the firing of some union members.  The strike inflamed racial tensions as black workers went back to work rather than strike.  Henry Ford threatened to close the plants rather than sign a contract with the UAW-CLO.  The story tells that he ultimately did sign after his wife threatened to leave him as she did not want more riots and violence.  Henry Ford was to have said that this was one of his greatest disappointments.

I was sad when I read all of this as I believe Henry Ford had a great vision to work with his people in private industry.  I believe that unions have outlived their usefulness in this country.  That is a whole other subject. It is just where the comment led me when I researched.

I like Ford.  As a kid we had Fords.  There were anachronisms for them – ‘Found on Russian Dump’ and ‘Fix or Repair Daily’.  In those days of the 50s and 60s there were Ford people and there were Chevy people and rarely did they agree.  I grew up in a Ford family and married a Chevy!!!  That could have created much angst had we not had the Catholic Democrat/Republican issue already.  Go back to Nov and read that post!

I learned to drive on a Ford Fairlane.  It was two tone with a white top and a red bottom.  It was a standard on the column shift.  I learned the classic “H”.  It was a fun car to drive – when I got the chance. We were a one car family and I rarely had the opportunity or need really to drive the car.   As I grew and my dad moved on to become a traveling salesman he was known for his big LTD wagons.  Now they were fun to drive!

Cute/horrid car story with one of the ‘company cars’.  This one was an early model, owned by the company and a green sedan.  We now had two cars and could not drive the company car ever.  My folks had gone on a vacation trip my dad won and I was home alone.  The other kids ere farmed out.  I was told NOT to drive the car.  Right!

I drove it to a friends for the evening, came back and all was well until I went to put it in the garage.  The new newly painted garage.  I cut it a little close and when I got out there was a white thin stripe all the way down the side.  Cry!  Tears!  Screams! Got to get it off! Brillo pad! Thank goodness I rethought that one in the panic!  I brought out a wet paper towel.  It cleaned right up and no one would have known it was there.  When they returned I ‘fessed’ up and am sure I was punished somehow which I do not remember.  Oh youth I am glad you are behind me!

Funny where a mention in a magazine takes you.  I also have to share a bit of financial wizardry on my part.  When the bailouts were happening for the automobile industry I was so very proud of Ford.  I wanted to do something about that.  Years ago I belonged to an investment club.  It had been mentioned that Ford stock was falling to all time lows.  Aha!  I have it!  I will buy Ford stock.  I called a stockbroker.

At this point I was feeling much like Miss Davis, the little lady,  from the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” as she asked George Bailey for $2.92, only a few dollars and cents.  I was not able to invest millions.  I asked to invest and buy 100 shares.  The broker would not let me do it until I signed a paper that said I was doing this all on my own without his advice in case it went further downhill!  The cost of the stock at that point was $1.82/share.  I invested $189.00 in Ford to honor their lack of taking federal monies.  Today it opened at$14.05!  Am I rich – of course not.  I do have a real sense of satisfaction however and an apology from the stockbroker when his company changed their rating of Ford!

Point of all of this – nothing really it caught my eye.  The Fords had a summer home on Mount Desert Island where I grew up as well.  Different financial circumstances and sides of the Island!!! The last Thunderbird ever made was delivered there in 2005.  From the Bangor Daily news:

Saturday, September 03, 2005 – Bangor Daily News

ELLSWORTH – It’s a sleek, silver convertible with leather seats, the last Ford Thunderbird ever built.

It was delivered Friday afternoon to a Ford family estate on Mount Desert Island.

The two-seater was a special collectors edition, one of only 1,500 made by Ford Motor Co. in 2005, the year the company is retiring the nearly 50-year-old model.

“People are saying, ‘I can’t believe it’s the last one,'” said Dave Gould of Dave Gould Ford, which took receipt of the fancy ride early Friday morning. “Everyone knows it will be worth a ton of money someday.”

The car’s intended owner was Josephine Ford, the only granddaughter of company founder Henry Ford. But the 81-year-old heiress, who owned a summer home in Seal Harbor, died June 1, 2005, at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

Before her death, Ford owned 18 percent of the family stock. Known as “Dody” to her friends, she was a philanthropist to many art and education organizations and was a supporter of Acadia National Park, according to information on the Ford Web site.

The Ford name and their cars have been a part of my life peripherally and personally.  The point of all of this was to quench my interest and then to honor Henry Ford’s original action to do good for his workers in 1914 which of course did good for his company!  Somehow I think that is how America could, and does in some corporations, still work at its best.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

CARS

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I saw a bright yellow Thunderbird sitting in a used car lot on the way home today.  Oh where the mind wanders when spurred by just one thing.  All of a sudden I was transported back to High School and Bud’s yellow mustang with the black top.  Now this was a sweet car.  In my hometown new cars were not the norm.  David had an old red Dodge I think and my girlfriend Frankie drove this blue truck.  Most of us used our parents cars like Judy’s folks Cadillac and Liz’s Corvair.  New cars were rare.  Now whether Bud bought his or it was given to him as a graduation gift did not matter.  He certainly deserved it as a Merit Scholar and plans to go on to be a doctor.  Ultimately, he is now running a major medical center.  In the spring of 1965 he was the coolest guy on the block.  That car was sweet and no one really cared if he bought it or it was a gift.  We were all just be happy for him.

The second place my mind went with this car was to my youth and “Uncle Mert”.  He worked with my Dad at the marine hardware store.  He was absolutely no relation.  The ‘Uncle’ came about as my Dad’s brother in law worked there as well.  I remember one day saying that I thought I would make them all uncles and it stuck on ‘Uncle Mert’.  He was married to his high school sweetheart until the horrible happened and they divorced.  That in itself was also a rarity.  The new ‘girlfriend’ was enjoyed the 57 Black Thunderbird that ‘Uncle Mert’ drove.  Sandra was a cute petite woman.  She was my height and that was fun.  We became friends and I went a bunch of places with them.  Not sure why – I enjoyed it and they seemed to as well.  The reason for all this thought was she fit and sat on the console of the Thunderbird as it had those ‘new’ bucket seats.

Then there were the cars that came with the summer people.  These were people who lived elsewhere in the USA and moved to their ‘summer homes’ in my hometown beginning in June each year.  Some of them had these cars that had windshield wipers in the back.  They were kind of a round car.  I was fascinated with the windshield wipers.  Why – I have no idea.  I just said someday I want one of those cars!  They were unique and looked like fun.  In 1982 we got our first used Volvo which was what I discovered those summer cars were.  My brother-in-law worked for Volvo Marine and had to sell his company car!!!  It had the windshield wiper in the back!  Now most every car you see has windshield wipers in the back.  I was at least ahead of the curve in wishes.

The most unique thing about this whole story is it brings me to Facebook.  Can I make a short story long or what??  On Facebook a young cousin of mine posted a question that sounded a bit depressed such as ‘do somedays really come’ or some such.  I was able to post right back that indeed they do.  I shared the story above about the windshield wiper car.  I am still driving since 1982 that same brand – my someday car – only a newer model that is now 10 yrs old!

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…