Business: Ford Precedents

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Early next month when all automobile makers begin exhibiting their new cars in 1934's motor shows, Henry Ford will not be among them. He does not exhibit at such shows. But last week he invited a bevy of newshawks to his engineering laboratory at Dearborn, to the Dearborn Inn, served them lunch with beer, showed them his 1934 model.

Thus did Henry Ford break precedents. He and Edsel Ford do not drink beer and he has never permitted his employes to drink or smoke. Second innovation was to show his new model ahead of other automakers instead of several weeks after. Next day he broke a third precedent. He talked to all his 7,000 dealers and their salesmen simultaneously by long distance telephone.

"Hello, everybody," said he. "You know I don't make speeches; I make cars. . . . I think 1934 will be a very good year for everybody that works. . . . We have all got to pitch in and do all the business we can to help the President pull the country out of the hole."

That night he and his son entrained for Manhattan to make an advance inspection of the "Ford Exposition of Progress" in the new Port Authority Commerce Building on Manhattan's lower west side. There were exhibits brought from Dearborn: Ford's original machine shop, an 1863 Austin steamer, a one-cylinder Cadillac of 1902, the first Ford Model A of 1903, Ford's "999" racer with which he broke the world's speed record in 1902, the first Model T, the 15-millionth and 20-millionth Ford. Against this background, the Ford 1934 models were unveiled to the public simultaneously with countrywide unveilings in every Ford dealer's showrooms.

The 1934 Fords were not wholly new models, but the 1933 model with improvements. Chief changes: 1) a new dual intake manifold to the carburetor to increase mileage 2½ mi. to the gallon, increase speed from 82 to 87 m.p.h., increase power 12%, improve pickup; 2) automatic thermostat that prevents warm water from the motor circulating through the radiator until the engine has warmed up, thereby improving cold weather starting; 3) windows that move not only up and down, but also slightly sideways to provide a slit for draftless ventilation; 4) a more stylish radiator grill; 5) increases of $5 to $35 in the prices of passenger models, decreases of $20 to $30 in the prices of commercial models.