This Sport Coupe Sure Gets Around!

This could be the most photographed 1928 Model A Sport Coupe ever! Not really, but it sure did have it's picture taken quite a bit.......

Different Car! But it's still a '28 Sport Coupe so I threw it in the mix.

I assume some sort of promotional/advertising gig.

Model T Ford Accessories

Random sampler of Model T's with various accessories.........

Model T Touring with an Izett Sleeper conversion

Looks like this sailor is damn proud of his T Roadster!

Sometimes Even the Model T Gets Stuck!

The Model T was known as a go anywhere car, but it did have it's limitations....well sometimes.

Henry Ford and the National Recovery Act

"He can take that Blue Eagle and stick it up his ass" - Henry Ford to Ernest Liebold in a conversation about Roosevelt's NIRA Program.

Henry Ford was opposed to charity, yet he ran what was possibly the biggest charity in the State of Michigan, maybe the country- the Henry Ford Hospital on Grand Blvd. in Detroit. This is yet another contradiction of the great mind of Henry Ford. He followed no rhyme or reason and certainly no pattern. He carried the banner of nobody. As you'll read below he certainly didn't carry the NRA banner!

As the Depression worsened in 1933, US President Franklin Roosevelt with his New Deal(IE Liberal Democrat) policies created the National Industrial Recovery Act in June of that year.

Brigadier General Hugh "Old Ironpants" Johnson was put in charge of the program and set about to pitch the program to the public and show it in a favorable light.

The same day that the NIRA act was signed into effect- June 16, 1933; Henry Ford made a statement to the press about it and he said "We know that the President wants to do the right and helpful thing" but was highly critical of people "whose particular genius is to try and run other people's businesses. The government has not any too rosy a record in running itself so far. I was always under the impression that to manage a business properly you ought to know something about it."

Needless to say this didn't sit too well with Old Ironpants Johnson, who had spent considerable times hyping up the NIRA and the liberal policies and tax breaks it would extend to manufacturing firms, Ford Motor Company included.

Ironpants Johnson tried in vain to get Ford to sign on, hoping by his signing on other automobile manufacturers would do likewise, however this was not to be. Arthur Brisbane, the famed Hearst columnist and Ford confidant agreed with Henry Ford that he had nothing to lose by not signing on with the NIRA.

Ford still held out and even Charles Edison, the son of inventor Thomas Edison tried to talk Ford into signing but he too was met with a firm "NO" after receiving Charles Edison's letter.

Henry Ford sent a letter to Edison, rumored to be composed & typed by Ford's mouthpiece, William Cameron and the language of the letter still showed a staunch disapproval of the act. "I have never bargained with my men, I have always bargained for them" and "the nation has never seen a stranger spectacle" and closing with " There is nothing in the law requiring a man to sign, only requirement is to obey"

Edison showed the letter to President Roosevelt who sharply criticized Ford as "being a damn fool and to call me on the phone as I'd be glad to talk to him"

The press ate this stuff up, and so did John Q. Public. Letters flooded into Ford's Dearborn office praising the actions of Henry Ford. "Henry Ford should be commended for his great Americanism he is displaying right now" wrote one. Another wrote "I hope you lick the hell out of the NRA" and yet another "Permit me to congratulate you upon your stand with the present damned  rotten administration"

While all this was going on, Pierre DuPont  was throwing a party in New York and Ford was invited. Why Ford even went to the party is beyond me, as if there was ANYONE in the world Ford hated- it was the DuPonts. I can't express the hatred Ford had for the DuPonts, it was that great.

At any rate Dupont got Ford over to the side at this party and told Henry Ford- "I want you to go along with us on the NRA, that Blue Eagle is my baby" Ford looked at DuPont for a second and said "that's all the more reason I don't want to have anything to do with it, like I told Roosevelt you can stick it your ass and I'll help you if need be"

This is but one example of the continued hatred Henry Ford had towards the US Government. In future posts we will dive into other examples of this, because here at Vintage Ford Facts we  may not give a popular view, but we give the facts.

If you'd like to read more about the National Industrial Recovery Act here are a couple of links:
Wikipedia Page on the NIRA
More information here...

I hope you enjoyed reading this. It's a condensed version of the events, but the purpose of Ford Facts is not to lay all the cards on the table, but rather to give you enough to get an idea if you want to know more about the topic at hand, while pertaining only to Ford material.

US Forest Service Model A & AA Ford Trucks

A nice selection of A & AA Ford Trucks being used by the Forest Service....

Thomas Edison and a 1928 Model A

Henry Ford gave Thomas Edison Model A #1 in 1928. The car was a Tudor Sedan rebodied with a Phaeton body before Ford gave it to Edison.

In this photo is Thomas Edison at the wheel of a new '28 Tudor Sedan. Edison preferred open cars as his conveyance of choice, but it looks like he had no problems with this Sedan!

Henry Ford's Airport & The First Ford Motor Company Proving Grounds.

This is a great link over on Casts from the Pasts on the History of the Ford Proving Grounds and Ford Airport.
Link here to Casts from the Past

I won't get into the history of the Airport here as the link above does a most excellent job of covering it.
 However as you should expect here at Vintage Ford Facts- We dig a little deeper and present the seldom seen side of Ford History. The source of the information presented on Casts from the Past came from Paul Freeman's excellent Abandoned Airfield site which you can read here.

Here is rare 1928 Footage showing the new Model A Fords going thru their paces at the Ford Airport/Test track.

Here's a photo of Edsel and Henry Ford with the "Maiden Dearborn II" Ford Tri-Motor at the Ford Airport in Dearborn around 1930.

Lastly, if you'd like to see a Ford Tri-Motor doing aerobatics- check out this prior entry on Vintage Ford Facts at the link here. It's well worth watching!