Stories about Henry Ford

[Bill Goddard]

A former employee of Ford told me the story of the origin of the expression "he got the axe". If Henry was dissatified with someone's performance he would go to work early and chop his desk up with an axe. When the employee came to work, he would find he had "got the axe."

[Special Coupe Frank]

Hmmm... that smacks a little more of "corporate legend" to me...

I wouldn't have put it past Old Henry though, at least once.

Supposedly after Henry & Clara Ford had returned from a European vacation in the mid-Twenties, Edsel showed his father an "improved Ford car" that he'd had his team working on while the old man was abroad. As the story goes, Old Henry walked around it, saying nothing, then took an axe (or sledgehammer, depending on the version of this story), and proceeded to destroy the prototype right then and there...

Then there's the story about Old Henry walking through the plant one day, and coming across some block castings for V-8 engines; again (supposedly) Old Henry grabbed the nearest swinging-type tool and reduced those castings to smithereens.

I'd bet a pint of room-temp ale and some plum-pudding that the expression " he got the axe " might also have its origins in Merrie Olde England, when beheading was a common and frequent punishment for certain criminal behavior... ( I heard British friends speak of getting fired as "getting the chop"...)

As I'm writing about it, I think I have heard the about "desk story" before... I don't think it was regular company policy, but certainly, if true, Mr. Ford no doubt showed everyone "who was boss"....

Somewhat sad too; up until his libel suit against the Chicago Tribune ( for printing that Henry Ford was "an ignorant idealist", pertaining to his involvement with the Pacifist crowd that created the "Peace Ship" effort during WW I), Old Henry was fairly progressively-minded with regard to his interest in his employees, their working and living conditions, education, etc. That trial and his public embarassment on the witness stand changed him, and left him quite bitter towards many, many people.

My greatest admiration for Ford the Man, is pre-1919 Henry.

[bobbycoke]

I do not know if this is history or hearsay but I was told that one day Henry ford was out and about in his model T and came across a disabled model t owner stuck on the side of the road.. Henry stopped and looked under the hood, tinkered a bit and got the car running. The thankful man thaked him and offered him some money as a reward for his help. Henry said that there was no need for that as "I have all the money I could ever need or spend" The gentleman looked at him and said "sir you are a liar!If you had all that money why would you be driving a FORD!"

[roccaas]

"Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice"

[MCHinson]

The story about Henry fixing someone's car and the man attempting to pay Henry is told slightly differently in a book that I have but I won't spoil the story by repeating it here. I would, however, highly recommend that anyone who is interested in Henry's story read "The People's Tycoon, Henry Ford and the American Century" By Steven Watts. It is a great book!

['29wagon]

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this thread brought me to look into some published info, I found "The Fords: An American Epic" interesting, family strife, origins and controversies within the family and the industry , the beating down of iacocca . these bail outs are nothing new, governments intentions to push industrial capitalists further for drafting new technology, they did it in the 20's, 40's 60's 80's here we are again. crazy ford's still in front. with individualists building vehicles too big to fit through the doors.

[Ice man]

I Just read Ford, the men and the machine. Lots of good stories in that one. Iceman

[LukeDahlinger]

Sorry for bringing this back from the dead, but I've been reading old threads tonight

The Ax wielder in this story was not Henry Ford, it was Charles Sorensen- Ford's production boss.

Sorensen was known to smash people's desk with an ax as a little notice that your services were no longer required. If the person whose desk was smashed got to talk to Henry Ford, Ford would say "Go smash Sorensen's desk if he did it to yours. It's OK by me."

Another story along the same line is Sorensen was at the Rouge one day and spotted a guy sitting on a crate working on the phone lines. Sorensen kicks the crate out from under the phone man and in turn the phone man lays a good solid hit on Sorensen's jaw. The phone man worked for the phone company-not Ford Motor.

There are a couple stories of Henry Ford (and Henry II) wielding an axe, but the known stories are as follows:

Scott McIntyre was the powerhouse superintendent at Ford's Fair Lane estate. One morning he sees Henry walking in with an axe over his shoulder. Ford tells McIntyre, "How do you like my key Scotty? Seems as if people want to lock the privies up around here, but I got in with my key!"

Another story is the time Ford chopped up some piece of furniture that his extended family kept bugging him about. He broke it down with an ax and gave them the pieces in a cardboard box.

The story the Frank posted about Ford destroying the prototype car after his Europea vacation can be found in the book "Tin Lizzie" by Stern. Only difference is he used his hands and feet- no tools required!

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Bill Goddard

A former employee of Ford told me the story of the origin of the expression "he got the axe". If Henry was dissatified with someone's performance he would go to work early and chop his desk up with an axe. When the employee came to work, he would find he had "got the axe."

Yes, but did Henry chop the pieces to a size that he could use them for floorboards?

[Growley bear]

I related this to some club members while we were working on a model a head light switch. They seemed to enjoy it so I will tell it here also. In the 32 years that I knew my father, we probably had only about 10 conversations so when he took the time to tell me something of his youth I listened and had no reason to doubt that I had heard the truth in just a few words.

My father as a young man was a mechanic working at a Ford dealership (no mention of his age or the location of the dealership and I knew better than to ask) when one day a guy who looked like he rode the underside of a train car into town just appeared in the shop and was snooping into everything including mechanics tool boxes never looking at or speaking to anyone and nobody said anything to him either. He disappeared as quickly and stealthily as he appeared. By now my father being very curious asked the shop foreman who the heck was that old bum and what was he up to.
The foreman replied, "that was just Henry Ford".

[Terry, NJ]

When I was working in the machine shops, and old guy told me that story about Henry Ford specifying the exact size of the wood used in some part that he was producing for Ford. Exactly Z" x Y" ! The pieces were then placed into one of the early Fords (?) as floor boards.
Terry

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Yes, but did Henry chop the pieces to a size that he could use them for floorboards?

[matt92vr4]

My Great Grandfather started working for Ford in 1910 in Detroit and two of his sons (my grandfather and great uncle) all worked there for most of their lives. They all met Henry on a few occasions and attended his funeral. They are both still alive and live near me. Next time we are all together I will get some Henry stories to share.

[Joe K]

We are all not perfect certainly...

http://listverse.com/2010/02/12/10-t...odern-history/

The founder of the modern American automotive industry was also the 1920s king of American anti-Semitism. Henry Ford is best known for being the inventor of the assembly line method of manufacturing automobiles, but he was also an avid fan of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, the famous Russian anti-Semitic forgery. He was so convinced of its authenticity that he published it in serial form in his newspaper, The Dearborn Independent. He later took the Independent’s Articles and published them as a book, “The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem”. In it, Ford blamed the Jews for everything from pornography to alcoholism to communism and beyond. The book proved to be rather popular, and was especially so in 1930s Germany; so much that Adolf Hitler himself awarded Ford a medal, and Ford is the only American mentioned in “Mein Kampf”. The book has recently proved to be popular with Islamic radicals, who use it in their preaching against Israel by portraying the country as part of a Jewish plot to destroy Islam.

Joe K

[matt92vr4]

lol, my grandmother always tells people he was an evil man.

[Joe K]

Originally Posted by matt92vr4

lol, my grandmother always tells people he was an evil man.

Probably no different than any of us. Well, maybe a little different.

Wasn't it Truman Capote when asked if the rich were truly different? He sniffed and replied "Yes, the rich are truly different - they have more money."

We've all heard the stories of Ford's mistress.

http://wikimapia.org/17430903/Dahlinger-Farm

Originally on 150-acres. Ray Dahlinger was Henry Ford's chauffeur, confidante, auto tester, and mechanic. Evangeline Cote was Henry's mistress, and to keep her close by, Henry had her marry Ray and then proceeded to buy them an estate adjacent to his property. Ford's generosity culminated in a gift of 150 acres situated just downriver from his own home on the River Rouge. This became the site for the Dahlinger estate in the late 1920s, a palatial property whose worth obviously surpassed the financial resources of its occupants. The Tudor-style main house had nine fireplaces, eight bathrooms, servants' quarters, and a refrigerated fur-storage vault. It was surrounded by a gatehouse, several barns, a blacksmith shop, a lake and skating house, quarter-mile and half-mile racetracks, a gardeners' house, a greenhouse, a boathouse, and a large garage. Henry had a hidden passageway built into its staircase that went directly into Evangeline's bedroom. Henry would ride his bike down the road to the Dahlinger Estate to visit often or take his electric boat down the Rouge River that ran along the estate. They had a love child named John Dahlinger who later wrote a book about his father Henry Ford and ran a nightclub in Detroit up to the time of his death in the 70's. The Ford family denies that John was Henry's illegitimate son. There also once was a harness horse racing track on the property as Evangeline was a first rate harness racer and was said to carry a gun and first rate target shooter.

Attribution for above at the page.

But Ford also did a lot of good things. Ford Trade Schools for one. Another the $5 a day wage (when everyone else was paying half of that.) Another being his preservation of the Edison Legacy, and the creation of Greenfield Village. Also involved with preservation of Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA (Built the Martha-Mary Chapel there named to honor both his own and his wife's mother.)



Ford is reported to have gone frequently to Greenfield Village to his boyhood home, slept in his boyhood bed, tinkered with his boyhood tools and toys. Perhaps this in atonement somehow for his trangressions?

I'm not aware that Ford was religious in any way. The Martha-Mary Chapel is non-denominational.

Joe K

[Growley bear]

Originally Posted by Joe K

We are all not perfect certainly...

http://listverse.com/2010/02/12/10-t...odern-history/



Joe K

The Ford trimotor (tin goose) is directly connected to Germany and German aircraft. A very interesting story in and of itself.

[Lawrie]

How many of us could say we would not change,if we came from a working class family and then ended up so wealthy .
Having the manufacturing facility to make any thing you wanted.
Man would I have some stuff.
Lawrie

[Bill in Al]

My Dad, in about nineteen thirty or so,was a student at Martha Berry School in Rome Ga. He used to tell me of Fords visits and him giving out dimes to students. Dad often said that he wished he had kept his. Back then a dime bought a lot more than now!

[matt92vr4]

OK so I spent an evening with my great uncle who went to Ford trade school in 1937 and worked for Ford until 1982. His dad, my great grandfather, worked for Ford from 1910 to 1958.

I asked him to tell me some good old stories about his time at Ford. He came up with two stories and they both involved a guy named Harry Bennett. According to him, Harry Bennett, ex con, was Henry's henchman. Harry was in charge of the dirty work.

Story #1:
One day Henry Ford looked out into the parking lot and saw a number of employee owned non-Ford products. This upset Henry and he ordered Harry to oversee towing all of the non-Ford products out of the lot, as far away as possible, and don't tell anyone where you put them. Both my uncle and grandfather drove ONLY Fords their entire life so this did not directly affect them. Sometime later Ford instated the A plan which gave employees a discount on Ford products.

Story#2:
Henry and Edsel apparently did not get along very well. Henry did not approve of the way Edsel was living. One day, Henry sent Harry Bennett to Edsel's house to smash and destroy an entire cellar of wine.

He was also able to describe the first time he met Henry Ford. It was during his time as a student at Ford Trade School. Henry would come into the classrooms to listen and observe. Then he described the old Ford Rotunda and how Henry bought it from the worlds fair in Chicago (I think), had it dismantled and reassembled across from the plant. Last he spoke about attending Henry Ford's funeral (viewing) at the Rotunda and then the funeral outside of the church.

He finished with a joke regarding how you know when someone has completely failed at life. The punchline was racist so I will not repeat it but it had to do with driving a Ford Edsel.

[Joe K]

Harry Bennett has more than a few interesting stories. Interesting at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Bennett

Since Bennett was always paranoid of being under attack, he included many security features in the lodge. The lodge was surrounded by a moat full of pointed posts. The bridge over the moat was kept loaded with dynamite. The lodge itself has many fascinating custom features. Hidden behind a hinged bookcase in the study is a secret passageway which leads to the dock. Every step of the staircase in the passageway is a different height from the others to make tripping more likely. Bennett would practice running down the steps so that he memorized their spacing to give him a head start if pursued. There is also a hidden room which was home to a central point in the ventilation system, where conversations from multiple rooms could be clearly overheard. The roof of the building featured a guard station parapet at one end, complete with a fireplace to keep Bennett's men warm while on 24-hour armed watch when Bennett was at the lodge in colder months. Bennett also had a private airfield with an airplane at the other end of Lost Lake. In the event of an attack, Bennett could take the secret passageway, emerge by the dock, take a boat across the lake, and escape by airplane. The attack never came.