Hi Brad,
Knowing just enough about Henry Ford to be dangerous, he was a hero
of mine as a very young boy (as that type would at that age). I loved
cars as a child and having toured the River Rouge assembly plant at
around the age of 10 or 11, read a biography of him at that young
age. My father also worked for FoMoCo for a few years, and our first
automobiles were Fords (1950 and 1955 ) until my father later worked
at Chrysler Corp so we had Mopars after that.
I have no idea as to the veracity or reason why Ford would have tuned
down the VW factory, since he was a staunch supporter of Hitler
before the war. Ford was opposed US entry into WWII and was known for
his openly anti-semitic views as well. If I remember correctly, he
made a visit to Germany to visit Hitler and likely gave advice on
mass production techniques as well.
If I'd hazard a guess, I'd say he turned the factory down because it
likely would have cost him a great deal in public opinion, and
consequently sales, after the war.
I'm curious to know what the book offered a a reason.
Gerard
At 12:39 PM -0500 6/8/03, Brad Fornal wrote:
>"Wm. Severin Thompson" wrote:
>
>> As a many, many, many (think Imelda Marcos numbers) owner of air-cooled VW
>> stuff...
>
>For a better insight into the world of things VW, there was a book
>published in
>68 called "Small Wonder" all about the VW from conception, to 67. It was very
>interesting that after the war, Henry Ford was offered the factory
>for free, and
>he turned it down. The subsequent rebuilding of the plant and the
>development of
>their worldwide organization is a marvel on it's own. For those
>interested, it IS
>worth reading.
>
>Brad
--
One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.
~French Proverb
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