- Hello, I'm Dale Earnhardt Jr.
As many of you know, cars area huge part of my life,
as I'm sure they are for many of you.
This evening, along with History,
I'm proud to present to you part two of the epic story
of the most American of machines.
As the country's place in the world grows,
so does the role cars play in American culture,
infrastructure, and in the lives of everyday people.
This is the story of how the car made America.
- [Narrator] Previously on the cars that made America,
the modernization of the country is underway.
Railroads connect the nation and steel is helping to build
cities that touch the sky.
But it's a new industry that's truly changing America.
Cars have brought about a national road system,
created a middle class,
and paved the way for a new phenomenon, the suburbs.
From a group of hundreds of car makers,
Ford,
General Motors
and Chrysler have the urge to form,
what will be known as The Big Three.
No one has more to shake the industry and change
the American landscape than Henry Ford.
(glass shatters)
His Model T is the industry's first phenomenon.
By 1920, almost five million are driving America's roads.
The Model T spurs Ford's rivals to innovate.
Both William Durant at GM and Walter Chrysler
are driven, not only to compete with Ford,
but to beat him.
Over the next 50 years, cars would define American culture
in The Big Three will lead the way.
Ford
Chevrolet
Dodge
and Chrysler become household names
that will forever shape the country.
(dramatic music)
(chattering)
(engine rumbles)
Walter Chrysler decides that the company that bears
his name will be all about innovation.
He designs a new car that he hopes will finally unseat
the Model T as America's best selling automobile.
- Henry, there's something I want to show you.
- What is it Chrysler?
- This.
Take a look.
Impressed?
Six cylinder engine,
efficient and powerful.
Hydraulic brakes, top line features throughout.
You're looking at the future here.
- It won't sell.
(dramatic music)
Not even with all the gimmicks.
- This is forward thinking here Henry.
- How much did you waste on this contraption?
Whatever it was,
it's not gonna be enough to pull Chrysler out of the gutter.
- When the public sees this car,
they'll be ready for the future.
- Go ahead and build this
monstrosity and when it doesn't sell,
remember I told you so.
- The competition in the auto industry is not a fist fight
or a cage fight at all.
It's much bigger than that, much bigger than that.
It really is war.
They may not say it, but it is war.
- Ford wasn't buddy buddy with anybody
in the automobile industry.
He let business be pretty much strictly business.
- Always a pleasure Henry.
- One of the most important things to remember about
the 20th century is it's a century of technology.
It's a century of innovations.
No more pronounced innovation than the automobile.
- The reason why the auto industry really took off
in America is because there was more capital,
greater natural resources.
- If you're going to have lots of automobiles
you're going to need more steel.
You're gonna need more iron, you're gonna need more rubber
for tires, you're gonna need fuel.
- [Narrator] America is a global economic powerhouse,
and the time for innovation is now.
- The automobile comes at a period of time
when Americans are adapting to new technologies,
they're adapting to living in cities,
working in factories, et cetera.
The automobile is a technology that is available
to a large number of people.
- Most people you know, had never gone 10 miles beyond
where they were born.
Now people had freedom to go places
they had never gone before, travel outside of their city.
- [Narrator] By 1924, Henry Ford's Model T cost just $300,
giving the every man a chance to roam the country
like never before.
- Freedom you know, just the ability to go
and do what you want when you wanted
without having to ask for a ride
or depending on someone else to get you there.
- [Narrator] The T makes the Ford Motor Company
America's largest car maker.
But Ford's appointment of his only son Edsel
as his successor, leads many to question
the company's future.
- Even though Edsel was officially the president
of the company,
Henry didn't hesitate to countermand his orders.
He gave Edsel a lot of responsibility
and never gave him control of the company.
- He wants to cultivate Edsel,
to make him, often a mistake with many fathers,
like himself.
It almost never works, and it definitely didn't work
with Edsel.
- Edsel was a forward thinking man.
He was an intelligent man.
He was always looking to the future.
Everyday brought new change and he was happy with change.
He was comfortable with change.
- [Narrator] Seeing what competitors
like Chrysler are doing,
Edsel believes Ford must keep innovating to maintain
its dominance.
- There is a huge population of people that want more
out of the automobile.
They want to explore the outer capabilities
of what an automobile is able to do.
- And it became an arms race of technology.
So it used to just be a simple ride down the street
to maybe go to grandma's house for dinner,
and now it's this evolution of getting to point A
to point B and while you're doing it,
you want to be the best at it.
- [Narrator] Edsel Ford gambles on a major innovation.
One he feels can keep his company ahead of the market.
Like many cars of the '20s, the Ford Model T
relies on mechanical brakes, which transfer force
from brake lever to wheels using a simple cable pull.
But friction and stretching can distort the mechanism
and dangerously uneven pressures can cause the wheels
to skid or swerve.
Hydraulic brakes transfer force to the brake pads
via sealed tubes filled with fluid.
This innovation ensure braking pressure is applied
safely and equally to all four wheels
while multiplying the power a driver can apply
to stop the car.
(dramatic music)
- Edsel Ford was up to date
on all these technological advances.
When you talk about Edsel Ford running the company,
he knew how to run the company.
He knew about business, he knew what questions to ask,
he had no problem making a decision.
- [Narrator] Edsel's plan has one potential flaw.
(twangy country music)
- Henry Ford, for many years, was adulated by the public
but he had a large organization to run
and the only way that he knew how to run it
back in those days was through force.
And he used Harry Bennett to do that.
(chattering)
- Bennett was someone who had traits that Henry Ford admired
and identified with.
He was tough, he was single minded,
he was not deterred from tasks.
He was intensely loyal.
(thuds)
- Henry Ford seems to have thought Harry Bennett
was picturesque and a lot of fun.
- Let's see what you got.
(gun fires)
He would be in a meeting and jump up and say
hey this is boring, come on Harry, let's go out and shoot
and they'd go down to Harry Bennett's private shooting range
and squeeze off pistols.
(gun fires)
- [Henry] Ready?
(dramatic music)
(laughs)
- Dad?
Dad there's something we'd like to discuss.
(gun fires)
- [Narrator] To convince his father of his plan,
Edsel recruits Ford's top production engineer,
William Knudsen.
- William Knudsen was an engineer that was absolutely
superb at his job and
he was Henry Ford's invaluable chief of production.
- This new hydraulic design will modernize
our current braking system.
- Chrysler already gave up mechanical brakes.
Open your eyes.
Mechanical brakes are proven!
And practical!
- Edsel is right Mr. Ford.
We need to keep up with the competition.
- There's only one Ford in all of Michigan
who's ever right Knudsen.
I think you'd a known that by now.
(dramatic music)
- Let's go.
- You can't be serious!
- Come on, let's go!
- Knudsen knew Henry Ford by then
to know what this meant.
(gun hammer clicks)
That was the end of Knudsen at the Ford Motor Company.
(gunshot) - Go, come on.
- Henry Ford never did the firing.
He always had somebody else do it, namely, Henry Bennett.
- But when he gave an order he wanted people to act
and not question him and he thought his son was a weakling.
I think he was thinking when he died, that Edsel
would not be able to run the company
so he put obstacles in Edsel's way
to try to teach him to be tougher.
- [Narrator] Firing Knudsen sends Edsel a clear message.
He's president in name only
and his father's decision not to innovate
has unintended consequence.
It offers the competition a rare chance to surpass Ford
if they can take advantage.
After being fired from the company he founded,
William Durant has bought his way back
to the top at General Motors
but just six years into his second stint
as president, with sales dipping,
the car conglomerate is facing a challenge.
Durant tries to spend his way out of trouble,
a move that deeply concerns Vice President Alfred Sloan.
- Billy Durant could charm the birds out of the trees,
but he was hell on wheels to work with.
- Billy Durant was a gambler.
Like a lot of gamblers,
he could win big and he could lose big.
(telephone rings)
- It's getting bad.
The sales aren't picking up.
- That's how the market moves.
- [Sloan] All 12 divisions are overspending massively.
- [Narrator] Sloan is sharing his doubts
not only with Durant but also with GM's board.
- Sloan was a manager type.
He wasn't an engineer and he had gone from one business
to the next and people who worked with him
understand that he knew how to get people to work together.
-[Sloan] Did you read my report on centralizing management?
- I haven't had time.
- Alfred Sloan was an extremely intelligent guy
with surprisingly his thumb on the pulse of the market.
- [Durant] Is the board assembled?
- [Sloan] They already started.
And they've see the debt number.
(dramatic music)
- How bad is it?
- 30 million.
- The bankers were very concerned with the extent
of the debt that GM had incurred.
They weren't certain about where the industry was headed.
(door clicks)
(dramatic music)
- What's this?
- The board has voted to retire you.
- You can't do this!
I made GM what it is!
- It's already been done.
General Motors needs new leadership.
- [Man] Alfred Sloan is very careful with expenses,
very calculating, whereas Durant was the gambler.
- This is wrong Al.
You'll regret it.
- After Durant was kicked out of General Motors
the second time, he went into personal bankruptcy
following that and then died a short time later.
- [Narrator] As history repeats itself for William Durant,
Alfred Sloan will have just one chance to turn
General Motors around.
- Congratulations Mr. President.
- Gentlemen.
Let's discuss how to beat the Ford Motor Company.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] America's car industry is driving
an economic boom
and as innovation leaps forward in the 1920's
the competition is as aggressive as ever.
- The public sees this car.
- Just stay out of the low cost market.
- [Narrator] Henry Ford has built his business
into one of the largest companies in America.
- Nothing stands up to the Model T!
- [Narrator] His best selling Model T allows Ford
to double the size of its two biggest competitors,
GM and Chrysler
but Ford's refusal to innovate gives engineer
Walter Chrysler the opening he's been looking for.
- Top line features throughout.
You're looking at the future here.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] While GM's new president, Alfred Sloan,
is dealing with the massive debt left by his former boss.
- If you had a big organization
that had lots of moving parts,
and you wanted it to run efficiently make a profit,
Alfred Sloane was your guy.
(dramatic music)
(chattering)
- [Narrator] Sloane knows efficiency can help GM
get on the right path.
He sets his sights on GM's assembly line.
The goal, to get it running not just as fast and cheap
as Ford's, but to get it running better.
- Quite a view in this place.
- Times are changing, like it or not.
- Progress doesn't stop.
- William Knudsen worked for Henry Ford.
He was a strong man, he was a strong leader,
he was a gifted industrialist.
So much so that Henry pretty much fired him.
- Your work on Model T production
hasn't gone unnoticed.
- That's very kind.
But that place is a mess.
(dramatic music)
- Well how would you feel about working
in a less chaotic place?
- Is this an official job offer?
- Vice President of production,
at GM you'll have everything you could ever want.
- All I want to do
is crush Henry Ford.
(clinks)
- Alfred Sloan found him a place and put him in head
of General Motors
and that's when General Motors
began to Henry Ford's nemesis.
- Alfred Sloan is the quiet mob boss.
He pulls the levers behind the scenes,
not in the face of the public, not as the front man.
That's Alfred Sloan, he's the quiet don.
- He was knows as Mr. Sloane.
He was not called Alfred or Al.
He was Mr. Sloane to everybody.
He had the soft way about talking
but people could tell that he was extremely strong.
- He was really the person who gets credit
for creating, not just the modern General Motors,
but the modern corporation.
- [Narrator] Sloan realizes that even more than innovation,
efficiency is the key to profitability.
But to truly rise above his rivals,
he'll need to capture the imagination
of a country that's experiencing prosperity,
unlike anything the world has ever seen.
(dramatic music)
- The roaring '20s were roaring in large part
because the automobile industry was roaring at that time
and it made possible this independence,
this freedom that people hadn't had before.
- Young people, people of modest means,
anyone with a job could gain access to the automobile.
What this means is that the use of the car
then goes towards obvious pursuits of young people.
Going out and having fun with their friends.
- Far more than jazz or anything else,
it was the automobile who brought in modern times.
In freeing people from the farm,
it also freed them from ancient family and courting rituals.
The general loosening of morals from that being to get
away from your aunt and uncle.
Being able to have a little traveling private space,
that was brand new.
(dramatic music)
- There were plenty people thought this was the ruination
of American morals.
- Henry Ford never drank.
He didn't swear.
He didn't carouse.
He was virtuous in these ways beyond question.
- John Steinbeck, 10 years after the Model T was invented,
that half of the babies in America were conceived in one.
And that went against some deep Puritan grain
in Henry Ford.
Henry Ford a man who never truly embraced change,
orders the back seat of all Model Ts shrunken
to prevent inappropriate behavior
and begins enforcing his strict moral code on his employees.
- Something that seems like a prying
and busybodiness today,
but he formed something called the Sociological Department.
- He literally had Bennett's Ford Service,
which was in essence his secret police force
looking in the windows of workers.
If a worker was found philandering,
it was cause to get you fired.
- [Narrator] While Ford imposes his rigid moral code,
Alfred Sloan is embracing America's cultural change.
(dramatic music)
- General Motors is emblematic
of the great wheel of progress.
Spokes of this wheel
are our outstanding operations divisions,
design, engineering, research, sales.
At the hub of this wheel is the GM family.
Each person here contributes their own talents
and skills to one vital idea.
Innovation.
The new name for progress will be
(dramatic music)
General Motors!
(cheering and applause)
- The headline writers will love this Alfred.
- I just want to see the look on Henry Ford's face
when his Model Ts start piling up.
- [Narrator] To reinforce his progressive views,
Sloan launches a car that exudes luxury and prestige.
Chevrolet series K Superior
takes direct aim at the Ford Model T.
The 26 horse power four cylinder engine
is more powerful and with a top speed of nearly
60 miles per hour, it's also 33% faster.
It features smooth lines, and stylized trim accents,
giving it a sleek modern look
that outshines the Model T and gives Americans
the stylish design they now desire.
(applause)
But the car isn't the true innovation.
(dramatic music)
- With General Motors, the connection of this product,
a car, to a lifestyle,
and one's vision of oneself begins.
(dramatic music)
What Alfred P. Sloan, General Motors, realized was,
cars could be like clothes where every year you need
a new suit, you need a new wardrobe,
because you need to show that you have the latest fashion.
The emphasis shifted from production to marketing.
(dramatic music)
- He changed the way automobiles are designed.
He was the first to bring clay into the studios
and the clay allowed them to create more fluid,
more passionate shapes for a vehicle.
- Ford's cars were all black but Alfred P. Sloan
came up with a way to create desire for an automobile
by introducing color, choice, options.
(guitar music)
- [Narrator] Sloan's decision to focus on style is about
to send ripples through the entire industry.
- Nice work Bill.
Henry Ford won't know what hit him.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] America is fast becoming the most modern
country in the world.
Boasting the best transportation and the largest cities,
a new generation is embracing style like never before.
But some in the auto industry failed to take notice.
- Six cylinder engine, hydraulic brakes,
top line features throughout.
- It won't sell.
- Henry Ford fails to recognize the demand for innovation,
allowing his rivals to launch cars superior in both
style and engineering.
- The new name for progress will be General Motors!
(cheering and applause)
- [Narrator] By 1927, Alfred Sloan's GM overtakes Ford.
For the first time in two decades,
General Motors is America's number one car company.
(phone rings)
As his competitors focus on fighting each other,
Walter Chrysler sees a chance to lure some talent
from his competition.
(dramatic music)
KT Keller, a rising star engineer at GM.
- KT Keller met Walter Chrysler in 1911
when Chrysler was involved with Buick
and Chrysler liked him immediately.
Chrysler and Keller understood one another
when they talked anything to do with mechanics.
- [Narrator] Keller and Chrysler immediately being
work on a car they believe has the style of a Chevy
at a cost that rivals Ford.
- What do you think?
Chrysler Plymouth.
Too much?
- It's perfect.
The pilgrims were pathfinders just like this car.
- We on schedule?
- Absolutely, it's gonna be huge.
Are you sure about the pricing?
- Chrysler was very clever.
The Plymouth was basically out of the Chrysler parts bin
and that saved a lot of money.
- Don't worry, give the public something better to buy,
that's what they'll do.
- There's no incentive to get rid of your car
if you're just gonna buy something that is gonna be
just the same as the old one.
And that is why the other car manufacturers,
when they start innovating,
they leave the Model T behind and Henry Ford with it.
- A car definitely reflects the owner.
The owner looks for the vehicle
that kind of fits them, their style.
- Here's another one of these kind of Americanisms,
which have now become defining of the entire world.
The idea that you're defined by your car.
You're defined by the style of the car.
It tells the world your class.
It tells the world your hobbies.
- [Narrator] Ford doesn't understand the new generation.
Their desire for style doesn't mesh
with his focus on substance.
- Henry Ford had no fashion sense.
He was an engineer.
You couldn't tell a 1910 Model T from a 1918 Model T.
With GM, the idea is to
impress the folks
and there was the ladder of aspiration.
So GM had several models.
You'd start out with the low cost Chevy,
and you'd move from the Chevy to the Pontiac.
And then when you're making a little bit better,
you move up to the Oldsmobile, and finally,
when you struck it rich you get the big Cadillac.
And everybody would know,
when you got the Cadillac, you had it made.
(dramatic music)
- It was hard to talk about the Model T in the same breath
with a car like the Chevrolet.
You could see it was much more of a car.
It was vastly improved, more stylish,
more comfortable, more powerful than the Model T.
- [Narrator] Despite his father's rejection of his plan
to update the Model T,
Edsel continues trying to find ways to modernize
the Ford Motor Company.
- GM is pricing their cars at twice what we're selling
the Model T for.
- That's no surprise.
Sloan is wasting six million a year in advertising.
- It's not a waste, it's working.
The public looks at GM and they see style.
- The public doesn't care what cars look like,
they care what they do!
(dramatic music)
Nothing stands up to the Model T.
- Father we are resting on our laurels
while our competition is evolving.
We need to progress or we'll be left behind.
- If your goal is to convince me
it's been a pathetic attempt.
- The sales people are too afraid to tell you
what you need to know.
(dramatic music)
The Model T has run its course.
- We've cut production to bolster demand.
- This is not temporary.
Our sales have dropped every year.
We are going to fail if we don't act now.
- Henry, I think it's time.
(dramatic music)
(steps clattering)
- For Henry Ford, there was a piece of his soul
in that car.
He could hardly bear the thought of it going away.
- The Model T was more to him
than a fine utilitarian object that had put
all America on the road.
It was a moral force.
It was just as much car as people needed and no more.
Anyone who wanted to tamper with it
was personally assaulting Henry Ford.
- The Model T had not evolved as an automobile
over many years.
Henry Ford finally figured out he had a serious problem.
He didn't have anything to replace it with.
- [Narrator] As sales plummet,
Ford finally comes to terms with the painful truth.
America has moved on from the Model T.
With 15 million cars on the road,
it's made Ford's company among the biggest in the world.
But, his refusal to innovate has left him vulnerable.
- [Edsel] The Model T has run its course.
The public look at GM and they see style.
- [Knudsen] Edsel is right Mr. Ford.
- [Edsel] Our competition is evolving.
We're going to fail if we don't act now.
- [Chrysler] You're looking at the future.
- [Knudsen] Edsel is right Mr. Ford.
-[Edsel] Chrysler already gave up...
-[Knudsen] It's forward thinking here Henry...
- [Clara Ford] Henry, I think it's time.
(crashes)
(gasps)
(clanking)
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] The 1920's bring one of the greatest
economic booms America has ever seen.
Fueled by modern technology, and mass production
this prosperity creates a new culture.
America is now a nation of consumers
hungry for more of everything.
Cars are no exception
and America's car makers fight for the public's attention
and buying power.
- The new name for progress will be General Motors!
(cheering and applause)
- [Narrator] General Motors, led by Alfred Sloan,
gets that style will be what Americans want.
At Chrysler, the Plymouth captures the imagination
of a public that's tired of the Model T.
- Are you sure about the pricing?
- Don't worry, give the public something better to buy
that's what they'll do.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Henry Ford must face the fact.
The country has moved on from the Model T.
- If Henry had had his way,
he would have stuck with the Model T
until he had driven the company down too.
- Henry Ford is the man who
most influenced the changing American culture
and economic scene.
It allowed America to change
and it became a car culture because of Henry Ford,
more than any other man.
(dramatic music)
- When you look at the automobile and its influence
on American society,
it's almost beyond measure in the sense that
people now have access to a technology
that's going to allow them to travel vast distances
but what comes with that
is the need for roads that are going to be able to
safely and conveniently get people from point A to point B.
- The modern tourist industry comes out of this.
There had been a tourist industry before,
but it was a fixed point kind of thing,
because it had to be closely connected to the railways.
(dramatic music)
- We got roads going to the National Parks.
We got roads through the National Parks.
This means you got the great American road trip.
This is a family destination.
An affordable vacation.
- I love a great road trip.
To be able to have the opportunity to hit the road.
It's special.
I always longed for that one on one time with my dad
and in the car, you can't go anywhere. (laughs)
I mean, sometimes that wasn't always great,
but it was the perfect situation
because you had his attention and had some great
conversations just riding down the road.
- [Narrator] With the Model Ts legacy firmly established,
it's up to Henry Ford's long maligned son Edsel
to help define the future of the company.
- Thank God that Henry Ford had a son named Edsel
who was really into style.
Cause it was Edsel that really pushed his dad
to start creating some really stylish automobiles.
(dramatic music)
- Edsel had a good sense of how to change
and where the car market was going.
- Now Edsel thought that the Model T not only needed
to be updated, it needed to be abolished and replaced
by something far more modern and snappier looking.
- [Narrator] Edsel makes designing
Ford's next generation car his personal mission.
But his father's outsized expectations
aren't his only challenge.
- Not bad kid.
But the production line would have to stay down
for six months to make this change over.
That's not gonna happen.
- You don't scare me Bennett.
- Oh yeah?
Don't be so sure of that.
(dramatic music)
- Bennett obviously saw that Edsel Ford was a threat
and so he began to undermine Edsel.
(dramatic music)
- Harry Bennett was born just a year before Edsel Ford
and in many ways, was like a brother.
But like the evil brother, the dark side.
- Edsel and Bennett could not even stand
to be in the same room together
because Henry Ford liked Bennett so much more.
- Edsel is the heir apparent,
but Bennett starts to get ideas,
well he could take over and Henry Ford is actually
feeding this notion
that Edsel isn't gonna be the one who's gonna inherit
this company, it's gonna be Bennett.
Edsel is left in the dark here
and it's a very problematic situation for the entire family.
- [Narrator] Despite Bennett's attempts to sideline him,
Edsel convinces Henry the time has come for a new Ford.
- If Ford was going to continue they needed a new product
and everything for the future hinged on that.
- Edsel, he worked on him and he worked on him
and he worked on him
and it was only the bottom line that finally convinced
Henry that okay, we have to retool the whole concept
of a car for America.
- The Model T was such a successful car,
like any inventor, like any good business man,
it becomes difficult to move on from success.
- Edsel's greatest triumph was to convince his father
to change.
- [Film Narrator] The times have changed and the car
that have changed them was no longer needed.
Henry Ford decided to stop producing it.
In May, 1927, the 15th millionth Model T
came out of the plant.
And the assembly line closed down forever
on the world's most famous car.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Working together for the first time,
father and son begin to develop a new Ford model.
- Henry Ford gave Edsel the responsibility of the design
and Henry would take over the mechanical part
of the vehicle.
Edsel was taking care of the things that he liked to do
and then Henry was taking care of the things
that he wanted to do.
- It took a long time for them to figure out
all the components of the new model.
- Henry Ford wanted that vehicle to have 40 horse power.
The Model T had 20 horses.
Henry Ford was having a hard time getting 40 horse power
out of the car.
Well Edsel walked in and was looking at the blue prints
and he goes, "It looks like to me the valves
that you have here are too small to give you the
horse power you need."
This is Edsel Ford telling Henry Ford
and his engineers that.
Well, they change the valves,
and they got the 40 horse power.
- [Narrator] While GM and Chrysler have gained traction
in the market place, for many Americans,
the car and the Model T are the same thing.
A buzz starts to build around Ford's new design
and ever the showman, Henry aims to take advantage.
- My friends, there are 15 million Ford Model Ts
scattered around the globe.
This car blazed a trail for the entire automobile industry.
It's phenomenal success
literally paved the entire country.
It will never be replaced.
Only succeeded.
Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you the Ford Model A.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] The Model A was the most technology advanced
car of its time.
It features a water cooled 40 horse power
four cylinder engine capable of 65 miles per hour,
20 miles per hour faster than the Model T.
It has hydraulic shock absorbers,
four wheel brakes, and its stylish body exemplifies
Edsel's vision for the future of Ford design.
It seems to the be right car for America at the right time.
- When he introduced the Model A in 1927,
this is the same year that Babe Ruth
60 home runs for the Yankees,
it's the same year that Lindbergh flew
from New York to Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis,
it was the introduction of the Model A.
That was the biggest news story of 1927.
It was huge.
When finally the new Model A came out in 1927,
when Ford had finally given in,
it was much better than looking than the Model T.
It was in every way a better car.
- Isn't she a beauty?
(clacking)
[Narrator] The first 25 years of the 20th century
see unparalleled growth in America.
The economic boom is driven by three massive car makers.
Ford,
Chrysler,
and GM.
Long the industry leader, Ford is facing new competition.
- Nice work Bill, Henry Ford won't know what hit him.
- [Narrator] As GM stylish Chevrolet Series K,
and Chrysler's high value Plymouth begin to take
market share from the Model T.
- Father we are resting on our laurels while our competition
is evolving.
- [Narrator] As profits decline,
Henry Ford enlists and unlikely ally to help him
keep up with the competition, his son, Edsel,
who now has the opportunity to define the car
of the next generation, the Ford Model A.
- Old Henry, he worked with his son,
and everything for the future hinged on that.
As you look at Ford leadership,
it's not as much company as it is a royal court
and Harry Bennett was clearly jealous of Edsel.
It came to a point where Harry Bennett thought
he could actually take over Ford Motor Company,
that he could become it's president.
- [Narrator] The Model A, name to show the world
that Ford is making a fresh start marks the high point
of Henry and Edsel's relationship.
As the '20's draw to a close,
the Model A is a huge success with a million sales
in its first year, returning Ford to the number one spot.
But in October 1929,
one fateful day will halt Ford's turn around.
(chattering)
- The Great Depression hit in 1929
and that really changed the face of not only
the automobile industry
but life in the United States in general.
All of the automobile manufacturers
were suddenly finding that
their sales volumes couldn't be sustained
because people didn't have the money
to buy their automobiles.
- [Narrator] As the country's economy slows to a crawl,
sales of Ford's Model A decline by a massive 50%.
But Henry Ford doesn't see the depression as the cause.
- It was all that crap we added.
If it wasn't for your design enhancements,
the Model A would have been just as profitable
as the Model T.
- The design is not the problem.
- The lower the pricing gets the more people can afford it.
The more people can afford it.
- You have never been willing to innovate.
On how many we sell, it will not make a profit.
- Because you had to mess with a good thing.
- No because you priced it too low!
What worked for the Model T will not work forever.
It's a new age.
It's time you stopped living in the past.
(steps clattering)
- The Model A sold pretty well,
but it could have been much better had Henry Ford
followed Edsel's advice completely.
But he never forgave his son for forcing him
to get rid of the Model T.
From that point on, he did not believe that Edsel
was on his side.
- [Narrator] The Great Depression spares no one.
- The Great Depression hits, all of a sudden now,
it doesn't matter how hard you work
it doesn't matter how much you want to support your family
the jobs aren't there.
That sense of powerlessness, that there's no hope.
This is something new.
- It was ugly.
People selling apples on street corner,
bread lines, and soup lines.
That's not an exaggeration.
The last thing in the world most people were thinking about
as hey, I need to by myself a car.
- The Depression hit workers because they found
that there was downward pressure in the wages
and they didn't want to lose their job
they didn't want to lose wages.
And so workers began to mount strikes against the
automobile industry.
- They are the most strike-ridden years
in American history.
These are locally started, for the most part,
not general calls by large national unions.
They are driven by work force that is looking to secure
new advantages as American laborers.
The Depression is an accelerator
for a new American institution,
unions.
The Big Three all resist their growing power.
- We're entering a new era Harry.
(gun fires)
- [Narrator] But Ford, as usual, is the most aggressive.
- Bolsheviks, communists!
We need to protect what's ours.
- Ford wasn't just paranoid about his competitors.
He was paranoid about his financiers.
He was paranoid about the unions.
He did not want unions getting involved in his business
and was convinced they were trying to take over
the auto industry.
(gun fires)
- [Henry] I don't think I can count on my son.
- With all do respect sir, I'm nothing like your son.
(gun fires)
All you gotta do is say the word.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] The Great Depression is slowing
the American economy like never before.
The Big Three are feeling the pinch
as the country they've helped to create
is struggling to hold itself together.
While the Model A puts Ford back in the number one spot,
sales slow dramatically after the stock market crashes.
Henry Ford blames the newly designed Model A
for the company's problems.
While they're also struggling,
GM's Alfred Sloan focuses on efficiency
and Chrysler emphasizes affordability,
helping both to stabilize losses.
The poor economy results in the creation of unions,
something Henry Ford immediately sees as a threat
to his business.
- I assume you have the list.
That's everybody?
- Harry Bennett was the rough and ready tough guy
to kind of enforce Ford's desire
to keep everything under control
to keep a tight lid on everything.
No matter what it took to do it.
- He kind of developed this network.
His spies would find out if people were talking to
union organizers.
You might get beat up.
You've gone to the secret union meeting,
well the car follows you down the street,
two guys get out and beat the hell out of you.
- Harry Bennett installed more goons
with more intimidation within the plant to keep
the union out.
- [Narrator] Bennett knows that dealing with the unions
is the boss's number one priority.
(gun fires)
- Henry Ford clearly is a control freak.
He's someone who wants to be able to have his hand in,
and more importantly,
his control over manufacturing processes,
how his employees work, how they live,
and certainly anyone who was strong as a union advocate
was going to be weeded out of the Ford Motor Company.
- Management could fire a person for any reason
or no reason.
There was no recourse.
If you were fired you were gone.
You walked out the door, that was the end.
- People on the Ford line were fired
if they worked too slow.
They were also fired if they worked too fast.
By making these products available to everyone,
he brought it in a manner of work which left people
totally broken after a few years of doing it.
- [Narrator] Slow sales of the Model A
means Ford's profits continue to take a hit.
In response, Henry cuts wages and slashes his work force.
With Ford preoccupied,
Walter Chrysler sees an opening in the market place,
one he hopes his newly released Plymouth will fill.
- The first Plymouth was brought out just at the same time
that Ford was producing the first Model A's.
So it was meant to rival Ford from the beginning.
The Plymouth was the life boat of the Chrysler Corporation
because it helped the corporation get through
the worse times of the Depression.
Chrysler Corporation became the second largest
manufacturer because it outpaced Ford.
- [Narrator] In 1932, the Ford Motor Company slips
to the number two spot,
returning GM to number one once again.
Ford blames the fall on Edsel and the unions.
- Ford was the most begrudging.
Henry Ford still had this idea,
this is my company I'm gonna do it my way.
- Ford certainly didn't want a bunch of outside agitators
telling him how he should treat his workers
and saw them as an enemy.
(muffled screams)
- [Narrator] Ford's push for efficiency,
the lay offs, and the wage cuts leaves his workers
at the breaking point.
On one of the coldest days of the year,
3,000 protestors take to the streets
ready to descend on the Ford factory.
- We have to stop this.
The police are using tear gas at city hall!
- Filthy communists.
What?
- [Bennett] My men are already down there Mr. Ford.
- Then you should be too.
- [Bennett] Let's go, come on, go!
- Put a stop to this madness now.
- Dad, he is going to kill someone.
(dramatic music)
(yells)
(machinegun firing)
(gun fires)
- It was a different world.
People wound up in the hospital.
A young boy got shot.
That splashed all over the newspapers.
This was how the Ford Company was treating its employees,
its people.
- [Narrator] Four men die and dozens are injured.
The newspapers call the incident the Ford Massacre.
- Henry Ford became a sort of working man's hero
for a while when the Depression hit down
and the union movement started.
That element of his character was long since gone.
- Suddenly, the friend of the working man
seemed like the enemy of the working man.
- [Narrator] The newspapers point to Harry Bennett
as the shooter and blame Ford for the deaths.
But despite the dead workers,
Ford and Bennett are never charged.
- That gave Harry Bennett more power.
That convinced Henry that Harry was right.
Organized labor was bad.
That it was violence, the violence was being propagated
by the union.
And so Harry Bennett, with Henry Ford's blessing,
clamped down further on the unions.
- [Narrator] For 30 years, the car has shaped America,
creating roads, suburbs, and the middle class.
But the Great Depression sees America's biggest car makers
facing an uprising.
Workers rebelling against oppressive conditions,
(machinegun fire)
but Henry Ford is pushing back hard,
forcing a show down that ends in death,
proving to Ford that rule by fear is good for business.
Poverty reigns in America.
There is little hope and the nation's desperate.
- There is a sense that there is nothing
we can do about this.
There's nothing the politicians can do.
This is what creates a sense of despair
because there's no way of getting out of it.
- [Narrator] Then in 1932, Franklin Roosevelt
is elected president.
- I, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
do solemnly swear
that I will faithfully execute
the office of President of the United States.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his inaugural address,
says the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
He's speaking to an economic reality.
- As a test of our courage.
- And the only way to combat it with hope
and that is what FDR brings in.
- [Narrator] During his first 100 days in office,
FDR initiates the New Deal,
a series of federal programs
to bring back American jobs.
Among them, landmark laws,
giving workers the right to form unions.
- When the Wagner Act is passed,
for the first time it legalizes the right of auto workers
to form collectively a body that will speak for them
in legal terms, in terms of wages, working conditions,
benefits, et cetera.
- [Narrator] Some industrialists, like Henry Ford,
oppose FDR's plan calling it a socialist threat.
Others, like GM's Alfred Sloan, see an opportunity.
FDR's New Deal also contains the public works act,
aimed at putting Americans back to work.
So Sloan lobbies Congress to build more roads and bridges
to complete the national road system.
- Alfred Sloan says, wait a second,
if we can't beat em let's join em.
Let's lobby them to direct their funds into building roads.
- Sloan was a very capable manager.
He could see things in the future.
His management style was entirely different
from everybody else.
He was not one of these authoritarian type of leaders,
he was an intellectual leader
and his style was extremely effective.
- [Narrator] The decision is huge for the car industry.
More highways mean more cars.
And Americans will need a new kind of car,
with a smoother ride, faster, and with better gas mileage.
The company that builds them first will have a big lead
over their competitors.
Sloan makes designing a new car for the open road
GM's number one priority,
starting a top secret project to get it done.
Walter Chrysler also seizes on the opportunity.
- How the hell's you come up with this? (laughs)
- I wish I could take the credit.
It was the engineers.
They asked a good question.
Why aren't our cars aerodynamic like planes?
We need to build some sort of air tunnel to test it.
- Chrysler was the very first company to actually use
the wind tunnel for production vehicles.
The wind tunnel was gonna give him that competitive edge
on the competition from GM.
We're talking about aerodynamics technology innovation
in a way that we hadn't seen at the time
in the automobile industry.
- Until that time, the speeds were so relatively low,
aerodynamics were not that important.
-[Film Narrator] Rounded edges offer less resistence
to the wind...
- Before wind tunnels, everything was just a theory.
You know, it was put your hand out the window
and that tells you what's going on with aerodynamics.
- [Man] They blew smoke into the tunnel
and watched its performance.
- One of the odd things they found was,
the typical car of the late 1920's
had less wind resistance going backwards (laughs)
than forward.
- [Narrator] Chrysler's gamble on the wind tunnel
produces a bold new design style.
- Streamlining was an idea that represented modernity.
Industrial designers latched on to this.
- [Narrator] Chrysler engineers streamlined the body
of their new model into an aerodynamic tear drop shape
and moved the front wheels and passenger seats forward
on the chassis.
These advances reduced wind resistance
and improved weight distribution.
The eight cylinder engine, it enables the car to handle
comfortably while hitting speeds over 90 miles an hour.
Chrysler also makes state of the art safety enhancements
using reinforced glass and a full steel body,
while other cars still rely on wooden frames.
With all its innovation,
Chrysler stakes the future of his company on the new model.
The Chrysler Airflow.
- Chrysler was developing its products to compete
with General Motors.
They both worked assiduously to get to that top spot.
- Detroit at the time, was full of engineers,
information was shared.
Corporate espionage was alive.
- Guys were moving from company to company to company
in this big swimming pool of innovation.
It must have made your head spin to try to keep up with
who had the best make and model at the time.
- [Narrator] Refusing to allow Chrysler
to beat him to market, GM's Alfred Sloan,
rushes to put his car in show rooms first.
- Sloan also brought designers in who emulated
the way airplanes looked,
that they had a lot of stream lined design.
- They immediately went to the drawing board
to start crafting a response to that.
So they brought in the Albonita.
- [Narrator] GM's big advantage over Chrysler is financial,
so Sloan knows he can out spend them.
- Alfred Sloan jumped on the opportunity
in a way that only a large company could,
which was to use their ability,
the amount of money they had to actually launch a campaign
like the Albonita and the marketing behind it.
When this amount of competition came to light,
Chrysler started to move faster.
- [Narrator] But in the race to be first,
one auto giant will make a costly mistake
that changes its course forever.
The Great Depression is putting the brakes
on a period of unprecedented growth in America.
Attempting to spur the economy,
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
passes landmark legislation to improve
the country's infrastructure.
- I pledge myself
to a New Deal for the American people.
- [Narrator] America's Big Three car makers
react in different ways.
While Ford is preoccupied with keeping the unions out.
- Filthy communists.
- [Narrator] GM's Alfred Sloan and Walter Chrysler
are battling to bring a modern car to market.
Chrysler's Airflow is among the most innovative
cars to ever hit the market
and they spare no expense on advertising.
- These were very streamlined automobiles.
They actually moved the engine forward
so that the passengers sat between the wheels,
which made for a smoother ride.
- [Man] Two plate safety glass turns back
even the pitchers full delivery.
- It was a very modern, very rugged kind of car.
The sheet metal was welded onto the frame.
- [Man] There it goes!
Wow a complete double somersault and lands on its feet,
nimble as a cat!
I'll say that car deserves a cheer!
- [Narrator] Determined to beat GM's Albonita to market,
Chrysler moves the Airflow into production.
- Walter Chrysler was bound and determined
that it should appear at the auto show in 1934.
- [Man] Here it comes on its death drop,
leaping clear of the ledge and landing with crushing impact
in the rocky shales beneath.
Will the car run?
I'll say it will!
- When you make a change that's as drastic
as the Airflow was, you often run into problems
and they ran into problems.
- They hadn't really figured it out
in terms of manufacturing it.
The first 3,000 or so Airflow cars,
the dealers were getting a lot of complaints about them
and they had to be fixed.
- [Narrator] The Airflow's biggest problem
was that when the vehicle hit 80 miles per hour
the engine would often come lose.
- Chrysler forgot the most important thing,
do not bring out a new product before it is ready.
- [Narrator] Seeing Chrysler's problems,
Sloan seizes his opportunity.
- Gentlemen.
- GM had a very deliberate and carefully thought out
smear campaign.
It's not a safe car, it's not a good design.
- Through advertising and dealers,
the word got out that thing was maybe too far ahead.
- It was a great idea, it was poorly executed.
They put the aerodynamics so in front
of creating a beautiful car,
that it ended up to be a disaster.
- [Narrator] Alfred Sloan's smear campaign is the last nail
in the coffin for the Airflow.
- What drove Chrysler and what drove Sloan,
was they wanted to be the best and the most powerful
in their industries.
These were titans, and these titans had no limits
as far as they were concerned.
- [Narrator] Sloan steers GM through the Depression
by closing factories and laying off workers.
While the move cuts expenses,
they also make GM a target for the unions.
(clanking)
(dramatic music)
- Unions had been trying to organize
the automobile industry for a long time
and the breakthrough of unions occurred in the 1930's
when workers staged a sit down strike
against General Motors.
And so to remove them would have required physical force.
- What do you mean they've taken over the factory?
The governor needs to call the National Guard.
- People don't realize sitting down
and taking private property in 1936 '37,
that was huge.
I mean, what right do workers have to take over property
and not allow the owners in?
- The sit down strike was created because
when they were striking before,
the employers would just bring in scabs to take the
positions behind the machines and then continue
on with production.
Now we just say no.
When we go on strike, we're just gonna strike here.
Everybody was camped out for weeks
and the employer is gonna lose their profits
and not gonna be able to get the factories going
and yeah, we're gonna get hurt,
but so is he.
And this is the way of getting leverage.
- By this time, democrats were in control in Michigan
and in the country as a whole.
So they were not inclined to send in the sheriffs,
to send in the National Guard, to send in the Army
to displace the workers
because the workers were an important constituency
for the democratic party.
And so, the sit down strike forced General Motors
to recognize the United Auto Workers
as the bargaining agent for workers.
- [Narrator] After a 44 day stand off,
Sloan signs a deal with the UAW.
The shut down costs GM $175 million dollars,
almost three billion today.
- There are issues of human resources that are easier
to deal with when you deal with the union,
and they have a contract.
The contract's gonna last for five years
or whatever length the contract is.
You don't have to worry about it anymore.
So, it was crucial to this model
that GM was really profitable
and eventually, the other big automobile manufacturers
had to come on board.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] A month later,
Chrysler signs an agreement with the union.
But Ford, dead set against it,
lashes out and triggers a bloody chain of events.
America's industry is in turmoil
as Roosevelt signs new laws that empower labor unions,
American car workers rise up against an industry
that pushed them to their limits.
- [Edsel] The police are beating the protesters!
- What do you mean they've taken over the factory?
- [Narrator] Both GM and Chrysler caved to pressure
from the newly formed United Auto Workers.
But Henry Ford refuses to recognize the union.
The United Auto Workers refused to give Ford a pass.
A small group of organizers march on the River Rouge complex
demanding a $2 a day raise for workers.
They quickly realize.
- Yes sir, Mr. Ford, yes?
- [Narrator] That no one tells Henry Ford
how to run his business.
(dramatic music)
- Let's go.
- Bennett set some of his goons loose
and beat them almost senseless.
Threw them down a flight of stairs,
they were all bloodied.
They did it in front of a group of photographers.
Now you have this national scandal
against the Ford Company, against Henry Ford.
That was just a public relations fiasco.
They called it the Battle of the Overpass.
The law gave them the right to hand out those leaflets.
That was a huge black eye for Ford
but in Henry's eyes, it just proved again,
that he was right about the unions.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Despite public support for the unions,
Ford continues to stonewall the UAW.
(birds chirping)
It also hurts Henry's relationship with his son.
- We need to make a deal with the union now
before it's too late.
We're losing millions a week!
I warned you it would come to this.
You never listened.
(glass shattering)
- You never learned!
- Henry.
- [Narrator] Clara Ford said to Henry Ford,
that she would leave him if he didn't give in
to the workers and allow them to unionize.
- If you don't end this I will.
(steps clattering)
- To strike an agreement with the auto workers
so that there was uninterrupted production,
more sales, everybody wins.
Edsel was a forward looking person.
Henry didn't see it that way.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Alfred Sloan's deal
with the United Auto Workers keeps GM in production.
- By allowing workers to unionize,
that then forces across the entire industry
all of the companies to raise wages,
which in turn means that those workers will have
the ability to buys cars.
The ability to buy houses.
The ability to feed the engine of consumerism
and the American economy.
That is good for everybody.
- [Narrator] But in the summer of 1940,
America loses one of its great titans.
Walter Chrysler succumbs to a stroke.
- Walter Chrysler had the world's third largest
auto company by 1928 and by 1933
the second largest in the world.
He was a man of vision who attracted like minded people
to himself.
Chrysler groomed Keller for a number of years
to take over the company,
giving him more and more important responsibilities.
So KT Keller and his associates were on their own
and he succeeded very well in running the company.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Chrysler and GM know their deals with the
UAW are meaningless unless Ford agrees as well.
- Only way in which we're gonna get out
of the Great Depression is getting money into the pockets
of the majority, of the workers.
So that they in turn will go out and buy products
which will create profits for other owners.
So all boats are gonna have to rise together.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] While Ford continues to ignore them,
the UAW calls a massive strike,
ordering its 60,000 workers to picket.
Henry Ford finally realizes that while he may have won
some battles, he's lost the war.
- Why are we giving in to these bastards?
- Just sign the damn contract.
- Did Mrs. Ford have something to do with this?
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] The car industry has shaped America for decades
creating the middle class, the suburbs,
the highway system, and the unions,
but now, a much bigger problem is rising
across the Atlantic.
- [Radio Announcer] Germany has invaded Poland
and has bombed many towns.
General mobilization has been ordered
in Britain and France.
(speaking German)
- [Narrator] The Germans have secretly spent years
building a massive arsenal of weapons
and have a clear advantage over the Allies
as the war begins.
They quickly move east, taking Poland,
then west to France.
And President Roosevelt believes that America
will inevitably be drawn into the conflict.
- In 1940, the vast majority of Americans do not
want to get into the second World War.
The problem is, we do have major national security threats.
For FDR, the solution is to give the Brits
and then Soviets the weapons to fight the war
so that America doesn't have to.
- Henry Ford was very much against the United States
involvement in World War II as it was being fought
by Britain against Germany.
- Henry Ford looked at the onset of the second World War
as the end of capitalism.
That this thing is going to blow the entire economic system
that we have built upon.
It's now gonna be the communists are gonna take over.
- [Narrator] But not everyone at Ford agrees.
(dramatic music)
- [Knudsen] Edsel, it's been quite some time.
It's good to see you.
- You too Bill,
though I suppose I should address you as General.
- [Knudsen] As you like.
But I haven't been a General for long.
- [Narrator] Former Ford and GM executive, William Knudsen,
is appointed head of the Army's wartime production,
charged with catching up to the German war machine.
- I have a request of you.
Ford wants to do its part for the war efforts.
- Your father does not make that very easy.
Doesn't he claim to be some kind of pacifist?
- Let him claim whatever he wants.
You an I know the truth.
(dramatic music)
- For the sake of the country,
I'll do what I can.
- [Narrator] Edsel Ford signs a deal to build airplane
engines for the war effort
and while it's good for the bottom line,
it deepens the divide between Henry Ford and his son.
- Edsel's deal to provide weapons
to the Brits right, is totally inline with US policy
towards the war.
But Henry Ford hates this idea that government's
telling me what to do, I can't produce more cars,
I gotta start producing B24 bombers.
- [Narrator] At GM,
the focus turns to capitalizing on war preparation
while continuing to produce cars for the American consumer.
- And our assembly line upgrades should be proceeding
according to schedule for our Ohio plant,
which is good but--
- Mr. Sloan!
- [Narrator] When tragedy strikes.
- What son?
- A surprise attack.
The Japanese on Hawaii.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] On December 7, 1941
(engine rumbles)
the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
For America, World War II is starting.
- By the time Pearl Harbor comes,
we knew we were gonna be involved in a World War,
and the important thing at that point for the government
was to quickly build a lot of tanks,
a lot of planes, to manufacture lots of rifles,
lots of artillery pieces.
- [Narrator] The German's head start in war production
means the entire might of the US economy
will be needed for an Allied chance at victory.
Perhaps most important, the Big Three car makers.
(dramatic music)
- Bill, what brings you?
- Actually, it's General Knudsen now.
- [Narrator] Sloan, the man who hired Knudsen at GM,
is hoping to keep profiting from cars,
even as the country prepares for war.
- I came myself because I want to be sure you understand.
- [Narrator] But, as head of the Army's wartime supply,
Knudsen is now the one calling the shots.
- All civilian auto manufacturing stops now.
For every US car maker.
You're working for Uncle Sam and you should get used to it
because this war is going to go on for a while.
- Of course, we wouldn't expect any special treatment.
- Good.
- You can count on GM.
(steps clattering)
(dramatic music)
- [Radio Announcer] An appeal to help has been made
as Allied troops are moving to their support.
- [Narrator] Now, all of the Big Three are using their
work forces to propel the Allies to victory.
- There was a big chill on the automobile production
in this country.
- [Reporter] A year ago, these girls made automobile tires.
- All of these plants were turned to war production.
- [Reporter] Today they inspect some of the 15 hundred
precision parts that go into the making of bull fours
anti-aircraft guns.
- There's a transformation and a retooling in Detroit
for the automobile industry.
It takes time and effort to reconstruct
the manufacturing process.
Now gonna be manufacturing trucks, tanks,
artillery pieces, bombers.
They were building, at one point, one bomber an hour.
- The notion of an unbridled automobile culture
certainly takes a back seat to winning the war
and providing the materials to fight the war.
- The outcome of the war without the effort of Detroit
and everything that was happening in Detroit,
could have been much different.
(thunder claps)
- [Narrator] Edsel steers Ford's vast resources
behind the US war effort.
But his biggest concern is his son Hank Ford,
known affectionately to the family as The Deuce.
- Is it that time already?
- Duty calls, I'm afraid.
Where's mom?
- She wanted you to remember her smiling.
- I understand.
- Take good care of yourself son.
I'll see you when you get back.
- Don't worry dad.
(solemn instrumental music)
(thunder claps)
- [Narrator] Henry Ford, who put all America on the move
with his Model T,
is the figure head of a company that's falling apart,
one that's no longer even making cars.
For two decades, the automobile has led the nation
into the future.
But now,
as America's auto makers watch their country go to war,
for the fist time, the America of tomorrow
is beyond their sight.
On the next episode of The Cars that Made America.
(Hitler speaking German)
With World War grinding car making to a halt
- The country's in good hands.
- [Narrator] Detroit shifts gears to defeat evil.
In victory comes unparalleled prosperity
as the Big Three race to innovate.
- This car is the future of Ford.
- [Narrator] And deliver Americans the speed,
power,
(laughing)
and style they crave,
leading to the golden age of American cars.
(tires squealing)
(engine rumbles)