Edsel Ford Saved FoMo Co

Steve Ciccalone

Steve Ciccalone

Well-known member
I didn't want to hijack the previous thread about the Model 40 roadster. IMO, Edsel clearly saved his father's company. While Henry understood mass production, frankly he had no flair. Edsel was quite involved in the design of the Model A. This car clearly saved the company from being buried by GM and recaptured the public's eye. Edsel influenced the design of the early V8s and designed the first Continental, the only car I'm aware of that was ever displayed by the NY Museum of Fine Art.

Henry probably would have been content to let his company die when he did, after all he had made his legacy. Ignatz Schwinn did this with the Henderson and Excelsior motorcycle companies. Edsel kept Ford in the forefront but was never given the credit he deserved from his father.
 
As I understand it, Edsel died of a stomach ulcer, most likey brought on by his over-bearing father. Reputable sources indicate Henry, dear as he is to this crowd, was a tyrant.
History has graciously overlooked this, and I suppose that has some merrit. He was a brilliant man irregardless, and it isn't an overstatement to say he DID put America on wheels.
 
Edsel was named after a childhood friend of Henry's. He was raised along with the growth of the company and enjoyed the good life, the social scene, country clubs, a bit of drinking, in short, all the things Henry found repulsive, and Henry would be on Edsel constantly. Henry's goons around the plant would spy on Edsel. Read "The Last Tycoon". Henry definately had his ways about him and wanted everyone around him to like what he liked; social dancing and other ties to the past. Hence, Greenfield Village, his personal museum. If you didn't like what Henry liked, well, you were treated as such. Edsel's death was a great blow to Henry and he took over the reins once again. The rise of Edsel's son, Henry II, was backed by the entire family, including Clara, Henry's wife. She threatened to leave him if he didn't step down.
Henry was a tyrant. When he could no longer express his views in the newspapers, he bought his own paper and forced his dealers to distribute his viewpoints to all the Ford customers. He hated the Jews. He was honored by Hitler and went to Germany to receive it in person. He was anti-war, yet contridicted his own feelings by converting the plant to produce aircraft and tanks.
Henry's personal habits were a bit odd, never drinking iced liquids, drinking human mother's milk, soy beans and anything to do with them. His illigitimate son by Miss Dahlinger is another interesting story.

The model A was Edsel's idea and creation. Henry wanted to retain the planetary transmission, but lost out in the end. After seeing the media frenzy started by the "new Ford" Henry stepped to the front and took credit for it's creation, but it belongs to Edsel.
 
I think the purchase of Lincoln in 22 or 23?? brought a lot to Ford in terms of style and design and there is where Edsel got his ideas and brought out his flair in the Model A (remember they called it the baby Lincoln) so the designers from Lincoln must have helped Edsel altho I would give him all the credit to see to it that the Model A was designed so well. Do you think this might be accurate to say that??
Ken
 
He sure had an eye for style.
The Lincolns, then Zephyrs and even the ordinary Fords that were styled while he was around were beautiful looking cars.

Manuel in Oz
 
It has been hinted at,that Henry may have been a little senile,from the late 30's on. He was easily influenced by others. For example his anti Jewish tirade,was the idea of another Ford corporate executve. Also he let a common petty thug take over security,and almost the whole company.
 
I have studied a great deal about Henry Ford in addition to having a rather large library dedicated to Henry Ford & FoMoCo history and never heard of him drinking breast milk. That seems a bit odd IMO. Henry Ford most certainly did have some odd habits which would make for an interesting thread in & of itself.

Back on track Edsel Ford did a great deal for the betterment of Ford Motor Company. If Ray & Evangeline Dahlinger and Charles Sorensen got wind of one of Henry's cruel jokes that was to be played on Edsel, they would let Edsel know in advance so he could be prepared for it. However he didn't get the early warning all the time, esp in his early years as president of Ford Motor.

There is alot of things Edsel did as President of Ford Motor that did not garnish attention in the media as we all know Henry Ford was a "media hound" and would not share the spotlight with anyone-not even his own son. Most of the things Edsel done are not well publicized and lay hidden in the pages of thick books and dusty archives.

Hindsight being 20/20 if Edsel Ford had not been on the scene, there's a good chance FoMoCo would not have survived past the 1930s. With Henry's waning interest in the plant(he said the Rouge was too big and not fun anymore) and increasing amounts of time devoted to Greenfield Village/Henry Ford Museum and farming in addition to giving Harry Bennett more power would not have bode well if Edsel was not around.

As proof of this look what happened in 1943 when Edsel died and Henry I took over. The 2 years Henry returned as president were sheer mayhem with Harry Bennett running wild, Ed Martin having numerous heart attacks(likely from stress) and dying in 1944, Charles Sorensen retiring due to the clusterf*** and numerous other able executives either fired or forced out. Henry II certainly had his work cut out for him when he came in in 1945.

Here's a link to a thread on the MTFCA forum about Edsel Ford that is a most interesting read. It's a long thread so have a cold drink handy.
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/151103.html?1279691698
 
Luke, thank you for the link. The blog was an excellent exchange of viewpoints and very informative. I learned some things that I had not heard or read before. No cold drink but two large cups of coffee required.
 
Steve- Glad you enjoyed it. I posted alot of info in that thread that was pertinent to this one so instead of covering the same ground twice I just added the link for not only my info but others on the T forum who don't post here.

If you can find the book "Edsel Ford & E.T. Gregorie" by Henry Dominguez, it's well worth picking up. It was out of print for a while, but I think they did a second printing. My copy is pretty dog eared from reading it too much.
 
Luke, thanks for the info about the book, pretty pricey tho, they have a few on Barnes&Noble, used ones start at $136 so I'll keep looking. I have the book written by C. Sorenson and picked up the autobography by John Dahlinger, all good reading.
 
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