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Ford Automobile Co. Film Model a Rouge Plant Assembly Line (1929)

1929 · Short film · 14 min

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Synopsis

This silent film -- probably made by Eastman Kodak as part of the company's educational film library -- shows a Ford Model A assembly plant, probably the famed Rouge Ford Plant, and the manufacturing of these vehicles of the late 1920’s. According to a Ford expert, the closed bodies cars are Model As with all steel doors, and the crankshafts depicted are also Model A. Introduced in 1927, the Model A was Ford's second market success after the Model T which had been in production for 18 years. By late 1929, two million Model A's were sold. The range of body styles ran from the Tudor at US$500 to the town car with a dual cowl at US$1,200 ($20,862 in 2021 dollars ). Model A production ceased in 1932, after 4,858,644 had been made. Its successor was the Model B. The film opens with a map pointing to Michigan. Henry Ford’s first Model T was crafted in 1908 at Ford’s Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit, Michigan (:38). The 1928 Model A was the first automobile completely built at the Rouge, Ford Motor Company's massive factory complex in Dearborn, Michigan, and this is likely what is shown in the film. The plant's first products were WWI anti-submarine boats produced in Building B, part of the Dearborn Assembly Plant, which started producing Model A's in the late 1920s and continued production through 2004. In the 1920’s, half of the world’s automobiles were coming from Ford in Michigan (:45). Description of the materials which go into the manufacturing of these vehicles flow on…

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Details

Running time
14 minutes
Collection
Ephemeral Films

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