The Ford Century in Minnesota

The Ford Century in Minnesota
Author: Brian McMahon
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780816637195

In 1903, before the Ford Motor Company was even incorporated, Stephen Tenvoorde signed a contract to sell "Fordmobiles" at his bicycle shop in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Four generations later, the Tenvoorde family still operates what is now the oldest Ford dealership in the world. Brian McMahon chronicles how the fortunes of the company and the state became intertwined during that century. Ford assembled Model T cars in the world's tallest automobile plant in Minneapolis and a three-story structure in St. Paul--both still standing. These factories quickly became functionally obsolete after the development of the moveable assembly line. The hunt for a new site to build a modern, single-story plant stirred intense rivalry between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Henry Ford took a rare personal interest in the search and selected a 125-acre parcel in St. Paul overlooking the recently built High Dam on the Mississippi River, which allowed for navigation and hydroelectric power. The Twin Cities Assembly Plant would go on to manufacture millions of cars, trucks, tractors, and military vehicles until its closure in 2011. Henry Ford's large-scale experiments with every aspect of the industrial economy sent ripples and shockwaves through the lives of Minnesotans--management and assembly line workers, dealers and customers, families and communities. First-person accounts of more than forty retired auto workers share what it was like to work at Ford--from the early years of the Minneapolis plant to the final hours of the Twin Cities Assembly Plant in St. Paul. McMahon documents the company's transformation--through the Depression, the rise of the United Auto Workers Union, World War II, women joining the workforce, competition from imported cars, globalization, outsourcing, and the closing of the plant. This publication was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Any views, findings, opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, or the Minnesota Historic Resources Advisory Committee.

American Car Dealership

American Car Dealership
Author: Robert Genat
Publisher: MotorBooks International
Total Pages: 172
Release: 1999
Genre: Automobile dealers
ISBN: 1610608038

The Cars That Henry Ford Built

The Cars That Henry Ford Built
Author: Beverly Rae Kimes
Publisher: Automobile Heritage Publishing & Co
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2005-08-21
Genre: Ford automobile
ISBN: 159613013X

At the time, in 1978, when The Cars That Henry Ford Built was first published, sending a copy for Henry Ford II to review seemed a vain request·Automobile Quarterly founding editor and publisher L. Scott Bailey was told that Mr. Ford (never comments on a book written about Ford.÷ Two weeks later came an unexpected exhortation from Henry Ford II: (My grandfather would have loved this book.÷ Ford then specially ordered 20 copies bound in white leather·needed in two weeks. The rush order was necessitated by an upcoming trip to Japan. As is culturally customary to offer a gift that honors one's ancestors, Henry Ford II specifically chose The Cars That Henry Ford Built to give to his Japanese hosts. Such high-level praise is derived from the book's fresh approach to the subject of Henry Ford, both in its study of the man and his cars, as well as the exceptional pictorial presentation. Presented for the first time in full color, there is every model Henry Ford produced from the Quadricycle he put together as a young man in 1896 to the famous V8 Ford on the production lines four and a half decades later during his failing years. Probably no other individual in automobile history more accurately mirrored in his cars his view of himself and of America as he saw it. Join award-winning historian and author Beverly Rae Kimes as she presents lively historical text that captures Henry growing and aging as his cars grew and aged, each lock-stepped together through history. Over 100 full-color photographs further bring the man and his creations to life.