Hi,

In the march 1928 issue of Popular Science there'san article on page 32 that discusses Henry Ford and the Model A. He was apparently pretty obsessed with developing the car, and they had to develop a lot of new tech along the way.

At the end of the story, Henry is quoted as saying that Ford had $100,000,000 less in the bank now than they had when they started the project. I don't know that the development cost was actually that much, but it was probably pretty high.

Here's the link
Popular Science - Google Books

hj

 

Very interesting article----do we have such men in any business today or has it all gone the quick buck way, make it over seas, take the money and run?

Henry showed me the idea of anything committee run has too many cooks in the kitchen!

Thanks for posting this---reminds me of a book report I did on Henry's early life.

 

While that number seems real high when adjusted for inflation, it does take billions today in development and tooling costs for a brand new car model. Alan is running Ford, and he is that type of guy. He was the "father" of the 777 at Boeing. There is no quick buck in these types of businesses. Being global enterprises, everyone builds overseas, nothing new in the auto industry. Ford has been in Europe, Australia, Brazil, etc. for how many decades?

 

Ford's cash reserves dropped dramatically during the development of the Model A for two reasons. One, it costs a lot of money to develop and tool a new car. Second, when Edsel Ford (Henry's only child) finally convinced his father to develop a car to replace the Model T, Henry shut down all the Model T production, then started on developing the A. Ford didn't produce a single vehicle for over 6 months. Dealers and employees were starving.

 

My first thought, when I read that was that he put a lot into a car that wasn't in production that long vs the famous T.

But, I do think that a lot of the retooling and technology lasted for quite a while.

BTW, we had an A model until I was 7. Great car, although it topped out at around 30 mph by that time. Pop used to crank it in the winter to save the battery. Don't remember it having any kind of heater, and this was Minnesota

hj

 

The A was essentially a "modern" car, with the basic technology carried forward well into the WWII era. The V-8 was a new engine, not a complete new car. Stubborn Henry had to be dragged into retiring the T. If he hadn't, Chevy and Plymouth would have buried Ford. Even so, Ford was last with hydraulic brakes and hypoid gears. A V-8 was the only real selling point.

 

Ummm, actually the V8 which came along in '32 was attached to a completely new car. Not one piece of a 1932 Ford interchanges with a '28-'31`Ford of any kind. And the Ford's progressed rapidly, even through the depression era, Ford cars were always leaders in sales. Just ask anyone trying to build a '30's Dodge or Chevy how easy it is to find original (not repo) parts when compared to fairly plentiful Fords. Anyway, I'm not sure why you even bring up the V8, since the OP was talking about Model A's, all of which were powered by four bangers.

 

I was afraid someone would point out the minutia of the '32, saying it was "all new". I didnt mean that any parts interchanged, but the basic design was the same, suspension, brakes, driveline, etc. If Ford had stayed with a three pedal planetary gearset, crank start, dash-mounted fuel tank, etc. into the 1930's, then would Ford have been the sales leader?

Automotive engineering progressed rapidly for all during that period, not just Ford in particular. The T was way behind the competition by the late 1920's, so Henry had to be pushed into doing something.

 

Still not following your thinking. First you say the V8 was the only selling point of the Model A (100% wrong) then you want to know if Ford hadn't updated their cars if they'd still be the sales leader. Please feel free to believe whatever makes you happy, but stop trying to rewrite history to make it true. By the way, if you don't believe the 1932 Ford was 100% new, then what would it have taken to make it new? Not one nut, bolt or piece of sheetmetal was left untouched from the Model A's. Nothing. That's like saying the Ford truck of 2012 is the same as the Ford truck from 1969 because they both use solid axles and a front engine. It all depends on how you skew the truth I guess.

 

All the A's were 4 cylinder and enjoyed a 4 year run from 28-31. Almost 5 million were produced. V8 came along in 32 hence the Early Ford V8 club range of 1932-1953.

 

Im not a fanboi of "insert favorite brand here". I just like industrial history, with the marketing being part of the picture for a consumer good like a car.

The specific article that started this thread talked about how the whole factory was down for six months to completely retool. Did the same thing happen when the V-8 replaced the A? Probably not because changing stamping dies and casting molds for individual parts is not the same thing as a revolutionary change to the basic car layout. Evolutionary instead of revolutionary.

A more modern example is the Taurus, which was a revolutionary change when first introduced that required gutting the Atlanta and Chicago plants to the bare walls.

 

I wonder if a major factor of the shut down may have been the fact that technology (such that it was) in late 1931, when the '32's were put online may well have been enough to minimize downtime between changeovers. Also, Ford had many suppliers producing body parts and such, so likely only assembly lines were down for any length of time sine the parts were likely made well ahead of time. That is also why quite often original body parts from another Model A will not fit right on a different car. I've owned a few A's and you'd be shocked at the generous tolerances between cars.