Archive Watch

Ford Motor Co. (1920)

1920 · Silent film · 7 min

Watch now On the Internet Archive

Synopsis

This black and white, silent film is a collection of footage related to the Ford Motor Company from the early 1920’s through the early 1940’s (though not in chronological order: Footage from 00:06 to 01:56 is from the 1920’s, 01:56 to 03:25 appears to be early 1940’s, and the remaining segments are from the early 1930’s.) You’ll see Ford’s River Rouge factory, acres of newly built cars, Model T’s, Model A’s, workers, trains, planes, a fire, and the twenty-millionth car Ford built! The Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 by Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford built his first experimental car in a workshop behind his home in Detroit in 1896. The first Ford car was assembled at the Mack Avenue plant in July, 1903. Five years later, in 1908, the highly successful Model T was introduced. Demand for this car was so great that Ford developed the world’s first moving assembly line for cars; and in 1914, to further improve labour productivity, he introduced the $5 daily wage for an eight-hour day (replacing $2.34 for a nine-hour day). Weathering wars and recessions, the Ford Motor Company continues to be a leader in the automotive industry today. 00:06 Squadron of U.S. Army Air Service Curtiss JN-4 Jenny aircraft land, taxi, and take off from a grass airstrip 00:55 Long room filled with men working at drafting tables 01:03 Long room filled with men working at lathes 01:10 Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad Rogers 2-8-0 steam locomotive pulls Ford-marked gondolas 01:18…

Uploader's description on archive.org

Details

Running time
7 minutes
Collection
Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

More like this