Ford Upholstery Production in the 1920's; Model T and Model A
Автокөліктер мен көлік құралдары
We've been wanting to do a video in our Model A production series that focused on the creation of upholstery. Unfortunately there just isn't a lot of film available for the Model A interiors. We put together this compilation of 3 different films from 1926 and 1927 showing how Ford made cloth for interior components. Ford's vertical integration, that is to try and control supply from the source all the way to a completed car, is shown in this video. While this video does not show Model A production the methods are similar to those utilized to make Model A interiors.
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Library of Congress Ford Motion Pictures Archives
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Пікірлер: 100
the complexity of the technology in the 1920's decades before the first computer is truly remarkable.
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
That is something that we always are amazed by too. The foresight to plan where to put each machine and worker took some very careful consideration. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@gaborgredely1848
5 ай бұрын
Yes. Ceruza, papir, logarléc, és a tehetség, nincs számitògép. Csak a tehetség. A Golde gate hidat sem géppel tervezték, Hoover dam. Mekkora mérnökök voltak!!!!
My hat is off to all the amazing mechanical engineers that design and make such machines.
Unbelievable. Talk about keeping everything in house. I'm a man who's spent his life in trade work and I'm so impressed with these workers. Jumping in and out of a car to install a seat looks easy until you've done it every day for 30-40 years. Thank you for preserving the history. Thank you to all the people who are certainly gone now for modeling work ethic.
@AModelA
11 ай бұрын
And the guy installing car seats had it easy when compared to some of the guys in the foundry! Thanks for watching and commenting.
@Pamudder
10 ай бұрын
The Ford River Rouge Plant took in iron ore, coal, limestone, and glassmaking sand and produced cars out the other end. The way the factory processed wool into upholstery was typical of the whole plant.
@missyd0g2
10 ай бұрын
My grandfather worked in the foundry casting engine blocks at the Ford Rouge plant in the 1920 to 1940’s. Dad also worked at Ford building factories around the world.
Absolutely stunning, the machinery developed to process the wool, the 18 hrs to totally process, and the final product…amazing for the era, the testing to ensure uniformity, durability and overall quality… I’m in awe!
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
It took a lot of work and money to produce a cheap car!
@thomastereszkiewicz2241
7 ай бұрын
shock and awe as one of our fearless leaders once said??
Ah sweet! The first ever How it’s Made. Season 1 episode 1
You could say that it gets even crazier. I would point to Kingsford charcoal as Henry’s way of getting rid of leftover wood cuttings, and his fascination with plastic-like materials made from soybeans. One enormous flop, however, was Fordlandia, his rubber plantation in the Brazilian rain forest.
It really was lovely quality...the tough little Ford T was still a common sight on Australian roads into the early 1950s.
@AModelA
11 ай бұрын
Henry sure did build them to last. Thanks for watching!
Just look at the workforce attire! Factory work .. and they still wear a tie!!.. This was what AMERICA was built upon.. People took pride in the job .. their appearance.. Henry Ford ran a tight ship! Just check any documentary out about the River Rouge Ford plant.. from iron ore to finished product.. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING
Fascinating look back at early weaving technology.
@AModelA
11 ай бұрын
It is amazing to see all the steps that were taken to get to a completed seat. Thanks for watching!
Such amazing technology back then.
Wow that’s a lot of work for a seat 😮😮
@AModelA
11 ай бұрын
Exactly! But then multiple that by a few million!
I worked in this same factory for 22 years. I don't miss it.
@matrox
10 ай бұрын
Yeh...but did you build good cars? Yes or No?😏
As a schoolboy I toured the Rouge River plant in the '60s. I saw how every part of a Ford was made on site from raw materials, excepting those from Henry's friend, Harvey Firestone.
@AModelA
11 ай бұрын
When he couldn't get wood; he bought his own forest. When the price of glass skyrocketed he built his own glass plants. When shipping was unreliable he bought the Detroit Toledo Railroad. The man wouldn't let anything get in his way. Thanks for watching!
@tedlahm5740
11 ай бұрын
Don’t forget Edison. One of the big three.
Amazing! I am shocked how easily we toss things aside that took so much effort and ingenuity while searching for the "easy life".
@AModelA
11 ай бұрын
Its all relative. A lot of people in 1926 thought that they were living the easy life. Thanks for watching!
@ovalwingnut
10 ай бұрын
Yes. I think the guys (and gals) watching this really know something specials when they see it... daZzling.
Rumors are Henry Ford knew the ins and outs of each operation of his business.
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
Henry spent more time walking the assembly line floor than he did in his office. That's how much he wanted to monitor production.
And they still need to build the automobile? O.M.G. I'll never take a old, stinky seat for granted again (unless it's attached to someone I know:) Amazing! Just amazing! Thank U
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
Thanks for watching!
Very impressive quality and technology for the time. All durable products made with great effort and care.
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
Absolutely! Those early Fords all have the reputation of being cheap but these videos help show the quality that a buyer was getting. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Absolutely amazing considering 1920s. Brilliant minds, those machines are so high tech .
@AModelA
3 ай бұрын
Yes they are! Thanks for watching.
I've been told that the stuffing in Ford seats from that era was "Spanish moss" from Florida. Actually a bromeliad, the moss had its husk removed to reveal a durable dark brown plastic-like fiber, this process was done at "moss gins" where the hardy pre-air conditioning Floridian sold moss gathered from the oak trees. "Pulling moss" was considered similar to "scrapping" today, a way to make a small supplemental income.
@AModelA
11 ай бұрын
That's interesting, and hadn't heard it before. That may have been something done on the Model T's but wasn't used on the Model A's. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this great history video!
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fascinating stuff! Interesting all stages are done only by men, even the sewing!
@AModelA
5 ай бұрын
Ford had plenty of women who worked for him including assembly line workers but for some reason none of these videos ever show them. Thanks for watching!
@DanTheManIOM
4 ай бұрын
I noticed that too, and he had a tie on !!
Avery nice quality made seat for any car. And they're comfortable. I've sat on these before. Todays cars leave a lot to be desired when it comes to seat comfort. Outstanding machinery to get the job done right. Thanks for posting. Very cool stuff.
@AModelA
9 ай бұрын
Glad you liked it!
Some of these processes left me wondering how many apendages were lost in some of those machines.
True craftsmanship at work.of yester year.
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
Agreed!
Thank you for the video!
@AModelA
11 ай бұрын
Thanks for watching!
This is fairly mind-boggling
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
Agreed! Especially when you consider that the interior was only a small part of a complete car. Thanks for watching!
During the 1990"s I had a very expensive apartment in Atlanta, Ford Factory Square. Where Model A's and Model T's were built for the south East Overlooking the famous "murder Kroger ". Looking at the interior scenes of this building. Same design.
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
That's cool! thanks for watching.
An entire car built with no plastic. Can you imagine that?
@MrSloika
10 ай бұрын
The cars from that era used bakelite for certain components.
@jayp3564
10 ай бұрын
no women either. look at those men sewing. oh how times have changed.
At this time, every man had a job ... the women stayed at home caring for the numerous children and the household. It is impressive how the job was done without breathing masks nor other sort of protection.
@MrSloika
10 ай бұрын
Go have a look at life expectancy statistics from that era. YIKES!
Fascinating video! However, I am one of the few people who are extremely allergic to wool, I wonder if there were alternatives back then.
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
Thanks for watching! You probably would have to custom make a seat cover out of leather or artificial leather.
That must have been the cushiest job in Detroit!
@RaysLaughsAndLyrics
11 ай бұрын
@kevinsnell1622. Apart from the damage to their respiratory system from long hours of exposure to wool dust and other airborne impurities from the wool processing.. No respirators were worn. .. Yeah, pretty cushy.
Kick ass video.
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
Glad you liked it!
Oh what it must have been like to sit on one of these seats for the first time.
@AModelA
11 ай бұрын
Agreed!
very interesting video.
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
No wonder wool is so expensive. Unbelievable amount of processing.
If didn't want a job making wool, you could always get a job repairing and maintaining the machines.
The only thing that not changed is the "pimp slapp" techniqe at 17:15 It's still used today.
When shirt and tie ruled.
The seats were the most structurally sound part of the whole car outside of the engine block itself.. lol
If Du Pont had their way the seats would be spun polymirs in the future.
'Vertical integration' was discarded for 'just in time'. Well, the recent pandemic demonstrated just how fragile global supply chains really are. It's looking like crazy ol' Henry wasn't so crazy after all.
Who designs and makes all of the machinery to make the cloth?
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
and who finds out that machine #467 needs 85 sq feet of floor space and that machine #468 needs 110 sq feet of floor space and how do they fit that into an existing building. Some guy with a slide rule and a lot of paper. Just mind boggling.
@MrSloika
10 ай бұрын
Mass produced textiles were a thing long before the automobile.
@DanTheManIOM
4 ай бұрын
It's a niche market of suppliers, but to see a place that supplies people like Underarmor, the mill was running and there is NO one around, I mean no one you can even see, but the machines are running, it was impressive. This was like 2008 somewhere in the middle of PA.
with polymer & metal 3d printing technology parts for these really old autos won't be rare anymore.
I have an unseen Ford film and I wonder if it's in the Ford archives. It's produced by Ford but it isn't about Ford products. It doesn't exist anywhere on the web.
@AModelA
10 ай бұрын
What topic is it? All Ford archive film was donated to the Library of Congress in 1953 and there are thousands of Ford films there. Many of the films are compilations of different topics and clips from different years. I'd suggest going there to see if it exists but the search function won't necessarily show you everything a video contains.
The film appears to be made using supervisors and straw bosses. Times haven't changed.
1:46 😏
Even the titles are carefully stitched. Note the total absence of any women workers at that time.
we have sure gotten away from being an industrious nation building quality products that will last.
Lots of absorbency after you are chopped up when you go through the steering wheel.....
Rather have a narrator read audio instead of me having to read a bad scrip I can hardly see
@AModelA
11 ай бұрын
We appreciate the feedback. Its funny; we get a lot of criticism for our narrations in other videos. Thanks for watching!
@Kevin-go2dw
11 ай бұрын
@@AModelA The last script is not up long enough to read. 18:35. Don't know if that is part of the original film or crept in editing. Background music is suitable.
@AModelA
11 ай бұрын
At that point the original film started to wander so it was edited out. It says "You have the opportunity now of seeing the quality and workmanship used at all times in Ford upholstery construction." Thanks for pointing it out!
@pawleymediaconsultantsllc5
11 ай бұрын
@@AModelA Love the Script. Can't please everybody !! 🤣🤣
This is what made AMERICA..... HARD work and quality...wHERE DID IT GO?
@patrickharper9297
10 ай бұрын
It went bye den
@Christoph-sd3zi
10 ай бұрын
@patrickharper9297 Prez Ronnie Raygun - the Darling of Conservatives - set us down the de-industrialization path in the 80s and don't forget his blanket amnesty of 3M illegals
@MrSloika
10 ай бұрын
@@Christoph-sd3zi Offshoring started in a big way in the late 1950s. I'm old enough to remember when 'Made in Japan' meant 'Cheap Junk". Then it was "Made in Taiwan, now it's "Made in China" Capitalism always chases the maximum profit.
What keeps the wool cloth from just pulling apart?🤔🫤