WI Henry Ford killed in 1904 Car Crash?

[ae597]

12th January, 1904

Atop the frozen Lake St. Clair near Detroit, Michigan, USA, automobile
engineer Henry Ford died when his experimental Ford 999 broke through
a spot of unseasonably thin ice. The car flipped at speeds estimated
beyond ninety miles per hour, and Ford was instantly killed.

Article continues at
http://www.todayinah.co.uk/index.php?story=39459-Z1

[mike]

It goes off the rails fairly fast though.

One of the reasons the Dodge Brothers split from Ford, was they wanted
some improvements in the Model T, and Henry wanted no changes, and
cuts to Stock dividend payments(DB made more from that than
production contracts)

now in this TL, Henry's dead at the twin cylinder mid-engined
Model C, that sold for $850, and upscale 4 cly B for $1800?
and the Dodge Brothers at the time owned 10% of FMC stock,
and John Dodge Director at FMC and produced much of the running
gear, transmissions and engines for FMC . The other major
stockholders had been Henry Ford and Detroit Coal Magnate Alexander
Malcomson at 25%

Henry didn't like, and put little effort into the upscale line
that Malcomson wanted, the B and later K

The upscale edition of the C was being readied for production, the
Model F, not as large or powerful as the B, but still over $1000.

The replacement for all the entry level cars being sold by FMC in
1904, the A,AC,C and F, the Model N-- was still on the Drawing board

OTL, Henry hated Malcomson and did some backroom dealing to
get him out from FMC and get his shares, making Henry
majority owner in FMC.

ATL, Edsel Ford is 11 years old. I have no idea what Clara Ford
would do, except be very rich Widow. Malcomson doesn't need
to form Aerocar, but puts effort into the upscale line, and continues
to the Model N to compete with Olds Curved Dash and Maxwell
Runabouts. At the time it was common to have Entry level
and Luxury lines, like Rambler and Cadillac, with $700 common
for Entry and 1500+ for upscale.

Many histories say the Ford upscale lines was a flop, but still
sold thousands, ensuring Ford as a top ten manufacturer,
even if not a single Entry level car was sold.

So the major changes would be eventually Edsel Ford would
be in upper management at FMC around WWI, the Model T
would be incrementally improved thru the Teens and Twenties,
and Dodge Brothers wouldn't form a separate Auto line
after winning the lawsuit with Ford. GM won't gain as much
marketshare in the '20s, ALT FMC won't run into the late
'20s when Models Ts weren't selling at sub $300 pricing,
no multiyear shutdown while retooling

You might not see as much Vertical Integration at FMC, and
you can get your car in more than just Black, as it was before 1914

The Model T planetary transmission was two speed+reverse,
no reason without H Ford being there to prevent it being
expanded to a 3 speed, like Cadillac did, so its likely
that planetary transmissions may be more common
than OTL.

**
mike
**

[Derek Lyons]

mike <mara...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>On Nov 11, 6:21 pm, ae597 <althistor...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> 12th January, 1904
>>
>> Atop the frozen Lake St. Clair near Detroit, Michigan, USA, automobile
>> engineer Henry Ford died when his experimental Ford 999 broke through
>> a spot of unseasonably thin ice. The car flipped at speeds estimated
>> beyond ninety miles per hour, and Ford was instantly killed.
>>
>> Article continues athttp://www.todayinah.co.uk/index.php?story=39459-Z1
>
>It goes off the rails fairly fast though.

The scenarios in that column frequently do.

In addition to the problems you discuss, his scenario relies on it not
occuring to anyone that building a cheap car might be a good idea.
Something I have a very hard time accepting in the era when mass
marketing was being born.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

[aussieman]

When the Spanish Civil War started General Franco would either just NOT get free trucks or another US auto company might get the credit for General Francisco Franco getting free trucks, the auto company that supplied the free trucks just might not have been a US auto company!

[The Horny Goat]

On Tue, 19 Feb 2019 05:54:44 -0800 (PST), aussieman
<ozidu...@gmail.com> wrote:

>When the Spanish Civil War started General Franco would either just NOT get free trucks or another US auto company might get the credit for General Francisco Franco getting free trucks, the auto company that supplied the free trucks just might not have been a US auto company!

So Franco would have been driving Mercedes or Fiat. And so?

[Ed Stasiak]

> Derek Lyons

>
> In addition to the problems you discuss, his scenario relies on it not
> occuring to anyone that building a cheap car might be a good idea.
> Something I have a very hard time accepting in the era when mass
> marketing was being born.

Something to factor in; During WWI, the U.S. Army acquired trucks and other vehicles
in a whilly-nilly fashion, simply taking standard vehicles from whoever could make
them and thus their reliability was terrible and maintenance and parts supply was
chaotic.

This lead to a post-war policy by the U.S. military of issuing detailed specifications
to manufacturers and strict testing of the offered vehicles, something that would
play a very important in role in WWII.

[pyotr filipivich]

Ed Stasiak <esta...@att.net> on Tue, 19 Feb 2019 10:39:37 -0800 (PST)
typed in alt.history.what-if the following:

Germany had the same problem in WW2, compounded by not just German
manufacture, but also using Czech, Austrian as well as captured
French, British, and American (Lend Lease) equipment.
The US had the practice of "Truck, Standard, one each" being
manufactured by all suppliers. With reasonable interchangeability of
parts.
--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?