The history that Ford built
By Royal Ford
c.2003 The Boston Globe
DETROIT - Forget for a moment that Ford Motor Co. lost $5 billion last year, that its car lineup needs fresh blood, that it will rely heavily in coming months on its mainstay F-Series pickup line to lead its planned resurgence.
Instead, walk with me through a small brick factory at Piquette and Beaubien streets. Hear the wooden plank floorboards creak as we cross them. See the gouges in those floors from incredible industry. Touch the wide wooden posts that support the ceiling and know that workers, nearly 100 years ago, probably leaned against them. Watch the dim winter light seep through the tall windows.
But notice, most of all, how small, how narrow, how compact a space this is, and consider then what enormous and great history was made here.
This is the Piquette plant, Henry Ford's first purpose-built auto factory. In this, the 100th anniversary of Ford Motor Co., it is fortuitous that the facility, which could long ago have fallen to the wrecking ball, still stands. It was here that, in 1907, Ford and a tight team known as the ''skunk works'' separated themselves from prying eyes in a secret 3d floor office and, on a chalkboard, designed the Model T.
They built 10,660 Model T's at the plant in 1908, the first year of production, though Ford would soon outgrow the space. For a car buff to stand in that streaming light, walk among those pillars and on those creaking floors, considering what emanated from this space is like gazing at the arches of a great cathedral.
By 1910, 40,000 Model T's were being sold each year and by 1913, bigger, newer plants were needed - and so was Ford's greatest invention, the modern, moving assembly line.
And down the years Ford rolled.
Among my favorite moments:
--The 1917 introduction of the one-ton truck, Ford's first pickup.
--The 1928 unveiling of the Model A, capable of an astonishing 65 miles per hour.
--The 1932 introduction of the V-8 flathead engine. This would become a favorite of hot rodders in the '50s, and just last month, Ford produced its 100 millionth V-8. Now there's an idea that worked.
--The 1948 introduction of the F-Series pickup - another idea that worked since it became the best-selling badge in the world.
--The 1955 introduction of the Thunderbird.
--The 1959 introduction of four-wheel-drive to the F-Series lineup.
--The 1964 introduction of the Mustang.
--The 1966 introduction of the Bronco (which in 1978, placed atop an F-series chassis, would become the first modern SUV).
--The 1999 introduction of the Ford Focus, Ford's first ''world car.''
And this year's introduction of the Mustang GT concept, my favorite Ford in years.
Other personal favorites from Ford:
The 1928 Model A.
The 1938 Mercury 8.
The 1948 F-1 pickup.
The 1949 Ford coupe.
The 1955 Thunderbird.
The 1967 Shelby GT500.
And on this pewter evening, in the year of Ford's 100th anniversary, it was a spiritual moment to stand in the Piquette plant and ponder what great history flowed from such small quarters. Royal Ford can be reached at ford(at)globe.com.
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