Model T

[GB]

This is not fitness related so my apologies for that.

A friend, fellow Ford retiree, just sent this to me and I thought some here might find it entertaining. It’s a u-tube video clip of the Model T production line. Neat to see those guys making the old wooden wheels, mostly by hand, the places that car had to (and could) go!
Enjoy the film.

YouTube - Ford Model T - 100 Years Later

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4KrIMZpwCY



GB

[Aaron Hoot]

Hey GB, thanks for the video! I really enjoyed it and once the kids are done with their school I want them to watch it. Once again, thanks!

Aaron

[GB]

Aaron,


Hope all is well with you and yours. Glad you enjoyed it, hope others did also. It’s interesting to me because I have a close relationship with Ford. Did you notice how many of the line workers wore ties? Almost all the factory workers wore hats. How come no one back then complained of respective motion injuries like Carpel Tunnel Syndrome?


One thing many people don’t know is how much influence the assembly line has on vehicle design. Next time you are trying to repair something on your car and you say to yourself “what was that design engineer thinking of when he put that there – there’s no way I can reach it without taking all this stuff off first”. Well he was thinking of the assembly line and what’s the best, fastest, easiest way to get that part on without holding up the line. 10 seconds times a million cars is a lot of time and in manufacturing time is money.


It was also very interesting to see how well the T did off road on some very rough terrine.


GB

[Aaron Hoot]

Hey GB,

I noticed that also. You might or might not know that my family and I are missionaries in the Dominican Republic. Before I surrendered to the ministry I was a ASE Certified Master mechanic. I worked in a very nice garage and specialized in high end German automobiles- Mercedes, BMW and Porsche. The shop that I worked in also brought in a lot of work from classic car collectors. You would have been surprised at the quality of the old classic cars as opposed to the quality of today's cars. There wasn't a lot under there but they were made to run and to work on. A lot of the stuff on the German autos were copied from the old American cars and if not it sure did look like it. What you say is true. It is how fast they can get it done not how practical it is for the consumer. You could tell the quality of work done back then was done with pride. A lot of the missionaries down here when they have a vehicle problem they call me to work on them. The amount of plastic and just junk parts is amazing! Again great post GB!

Aaron

[Andy62]

That is very interesting,but what a contrast to today. Some of the recent pictures that I have seen of assembly lines don't have a person in view. They are all robotics.

[Aaron Hoot]

Hey Andy,

The robot part is true. One thing cool about living down here is that we get a lot of Korean vehicles down here that you don't get in the states. There is one company and I cannot remember the name right off but they make an SUV called the Rexton. I really want one bad but it is out of my price range. It is a Toyota Landcruiser body with the old Mercedes diesel engine in it. No joking, when I was doing mechanics I have seen some with over 300,000 miles still running strong! I have heard of others with more than that. What the Koreans are doing is buying the old robots, dies and other machinery when they start wearing out from the bigger companies. To get a vehicle in the states they have to be so precise that they do not leave much tolerance for a machines to wear out. They buy these old machines, fix them up and put out a fantastic vehicle!

Aaron

[Andy62]

Aaron, that is very interesting. It is also one of the reasons why we have such over capacity for auto production worldwide. The advances in technology and robotics means that an automobile production facility can be set up almost anywhere worldwide and the automation means that production workers can be trained quickly from almost any population group. Also national pride motivates nations to enter the auto production club. These are really interesting times. Gordon