THE EXPLORERS NEWS UNIT 4

                                                    1st October of 1909

THE PERFECT COMBINATION

BETWEEN

MAN AND MACHINE 

One year after the revolutionary invention of the Ford T

Stop doing whatever you are doing right now and think for a moment how many times have you used your car this year. Five times per week? Maybe almost every day? Well, one of the people who have made this possible is Henry Ford, owner of the Ford Motor Company and the person who in the last year has sparked sales with his newest model, the Ford T, brought to sale just a year ago (on the 1st October of 1908).

Today, at the Explorer New's office, we are lucky enough to interview him so he can tell us more about his new success:

Henry Ford

How did everything started?

I was born in a farm in Detroit but being a Farmer was never my dream and I remember when on summer of 1873 I saw a self-propelled machine for the first time. It turned out to be nothing but a vapor machine placed on top of wheels and connected to a chain, but I was fascinated and that experience made me realized that I was going to be an engineer in the future.

What drove you to make this car?

In Ford, we have always focused on producing vehicles that were efficient and reliable, but we also wanted to create a new product which were affordable for all families; the result was our new Ford T.

Could you tell us a little bit about the new Ford T?

The new Ford T has a four-cylinder engine and it achieves a top speed of 71 km/h. Weighing 540 kg, it consumes just one litre of fuel every 5km. This is undoubtedly a major breakthrough for our company.

Perfect, and please, can you talk us a little bit about how it has been going during this year, following the release of this new model?

Well, our vehicle went on sale in October 1908, with a price of only $260 without extras. Although almost everyone prefers it with extras, and that costs about $140 more. People seem to have liked our new product and we have sold over 10,660 units in just one year. We are really proud because we have managed to break all industry records.

But, what records are you talking about?

Good question. As you know, my main goal was to be able to produce a product of low-cost manufacturing but that could be mass produced, and that´s why it´s so cheap. Related to that, the car was commercialized in October last year and, as every other product, it has a period of about 2 months of making itself known among the people, so just when it was starting to be popular, it was the time of Christmas, that added to its vey cheap prices, it started to be sold much more and it became an absolute success, making us the number 1 company in the US since then.

We´ve also known that you are the pathfinder of the chain production, could you explain it to us?

Before designing the car, I had been thinking about the factories around the world and I reached the conclusion that there are very good products but none of the can satisfy the demand that they have, so I looked for a way in which products could be made without time limits to please all of my clients. And, obviously, I think this is the best way to do it and I hope it gets established in society during a long period of time.

Are you planning to sell it internationally?

This is a thing we´ve been working on a lot. We are trying to make it happen but it is very difficult to distribute such a big product, so at the moment, unless foreign people come here to buy it, we won´t be able to sell it to them, but we hope that in a 2-3 years period it will become possible.

And finally, could you explain to us some important features of the car in case someone doesn´t know it (they probably live in a cave) and is interested in buying it?

Of course. At first, I obviously recommend it to everyone as I think it is probably the best option out there and I think that they´ll be satisfied with it. And in a more technical way, these some of the most important and interesting features: at first, it is a 2-door car at the moment, but we are working to be able to make a 3 and, eventually, a 4-door car, it is also a roadster automobile, which means that there is no upper part on it. The engine also has a removable cylinder head and a connecting rod made of vanadium steel, that makes it more resistant. Finally, the lighting works with a magnetic wheel and the transmission is on the left, as well as the steering wheel, that makes it much easier to drive, a thing that other companies are implementing at the moment, but remember that we were the pioneers.

And that´s all, thank you so much. I hope you´ve liked the things I have said about the Ford T and I encourage you to buy it.

From our offices we want to thank honestly Henry Ford for his kindness and we corroborate that his product has been a massive breakthrough in our society as you know, and we hope that this will be part of the history.