carguy writes:
"Detroit. The passing of William Clay Ford marks the end of an era here in the Motor City. Mr. Ford, 88, who passed away on Sunday, served as Director Emeritus for the Ford Motor Company and was the last surviving grandchild of the company's founder, Henry Ford.
Mr. Ford loved the car business, serving the company for 57 years as an employee and board member, more than half of the company's 110-year history. He particularly loved the design aspect of this business, with the Lincoln Continental Mark II his lasting contribution to the stable of significant cars in the company's history.
Full editorial here, http://www.autoextremist.com/current/2014/3/10/a-m ost-remarkable-legacy.html with many other interesting comments.
If you are part of the middle class, particularly in the USA, you probably owe something to Henry Ford for raising assembly line pay to $5/day. This meant that his employees could afford to buy a Ford car. Pretty much unheard of at any of the other car companies of that era--and certainly a game changer socially and economically. How many centuries of bosses (kings, nobles, priests) and peons did it take before someone funded a middle ground?"
(Score: 4, Informative) by GungnirSniper on Tuesday March 11 2014, @02:00AM
Though he'll probably be known for his ownership of the Detroit Lions, according to Ford he was "instrumental in setting the company's design direction and served as chairman of the Design Committee for 32 years. He led the team that developed the 1956 Continental Mark II, regarded as one of the classic automobiles of all time." [ford.com]
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [dev.soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Taco Cowboy on Tuesday March 11 2014, @03:31AM
Do not ever forget, the forming of Ford Mustang was never under any of Henry Ford's grandchildren.
In fact, other than the old man Henry Ford himself, all other "Fords" are nothing but idiots who think they were genius just because they were born with silver spoons in their mouth.
(Score: 3, Funny) by GungnirSniper on Tuesday March 11 2014, @04:07AM
Is the second-longest NFL championship drought making you an unhappy fan?
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(Score: 2, Informative) by big_e on Tuesday March 11 2014, @04:18AM
In Michigan William Clay Ford is definitely remembered more for being the owner of the Detroit Lions than for being an executive of an automaker. His legacy is that his lack of leadership resulted in a team being the one of the four that has never played in the Superbowl(tm), and only very rarely win a playoff game. Most Detroit Lions fans would see his death as an opportunity for a new owner to come in and rebuild the team.
(Now were doing sports talk on Soylent?)
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @02:01AM
Ford didn't declare bankruptcy or get bailed out like GM and Chrysler in the crash of 2008. They did take 5+Billion in loans for Electric Vehicle Development, and are paying that back. Their creditors never got stiffed either.
(Score: 4, Informative) by John Yossarian on Tuesday March 11 2014, @02:56AM
Ford had basically gone bankrupt several years before the crash (see 2007 - 9.3 billion line of credit). GM and Chrysler didn't need to take loans since they were solvent leading into the crash of 2008. Timing is everything.
(Score: 2) by jt on Tuesday March 11 2014, @03:12AM
More luck than judgement. A few years before the 2008 crash everyone thought Ford was going to go bankrupt, and it's mostly luck that this put them ahead of the competition when everything else started falling down.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @02:02AM
How ironic that the middle class is in the process of disappearing again. There are no jobs in America, not even if you're willing to work for peanuts. Corporate fat cats are wishing really hard that the unemployed former workforce would just die off already.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @08:43AM
> How ironic that the middle class is in the process of disappearing again.
Exactly. William Clay Ford isn't really the point here except the fact that he's the last grandchild of Henry. While the rise of the middle class depended on many things, the original Ford Motor Company and the Model T played a pivotal role. Two long generations later the middle class is under attack. Where is the next Henry Ford? I don't see many parallels in the tech sector (Jobs, Ellison, Gates, etc). Or in medicine either.
Do we need another Henry? Would he even be interested in the middle class today? He turned into a crazed union buster in his later years.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @03:22AM
Never owned a ford product in my entire life. Can't say the same for my relatives, though.
(Score: 4, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday March 11 2014, @04:21AM
Wow. That's... not interesting in the slightest.
I've never owned a sandwich toaster but I don't go banging on about it whenever the opportunity presents.
(Score: 1) by fadrian on Tuesday March 11 2014, @10:51AM
You know, I've never owned a sandwich toaster, either. Nor a snow blower. Interesting, that, though it may just be I live in the Willamette Valley and have little need for a snow blower, given that it snows may be once or twice a year with the snowfall usually less than three inches. The sandwich toaster, on the other hand, is more of a personal preference thing - if I want tasty carmelization on my sandwich, I'd rather have it grilled than toasted and I have a nice griddle to do that. I've always considered sandwich toasters difficult to clean as well. However, I'm sure many of you have sandwich toasters (and snowblowers) and enjoy them immensely. Just not me.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday March 11 2014, @10:04AM
Lots of whitewashing of old Henry Ford, he was in summary a rich jackass who thought he could get away with anything if he paid enough money, and he was correct, with fairly predictable results.
The social department, the service department, pretty messed up feudalistic outlook about his slaves, err, employes.
Also he caught a lot of flack over antisemitism, and behaving basically as a nazi toady, for lack of a better description. Lots of love letters back and forth and famously he got a medal of service from the nazis.
Part of the focus on his high salaries is because there's really not much else about him that is nice to discuss in public.
I suppose the occasion of his last grand-kids death is not the most tasteful time to discuss his grandpa being, very literally, a nazi sympathizer or agent, but at least some balance is reasonable rather than implementing "brave new world" Ford-ism worship.
(Score: 1) by fadrian on Tuesday March 11 2014, @10:55AM
Henry was a bit of a nut and got worse over time. If I were Edsel, I would have shot the old man for what he did to me. That being said, the T was a great car for its day. A great book on Ford through the 1970's? The Reckoning [amazon.com] by David Halberstam.