Ford Motor Company Books

My father 'Donnell A. Sullivan', is written up many times in this history of fords racing. He wasone of the five engineers hired by Mr. Henry Fordto design the first V8 Engine in l932. He worked on MANY FORD Motor racing projects up until his death in l994 at age 89, he is a legend thru out the world and is a member of the hall of fame. I need a copy as soon as possible, it would mean needless to say a lot to me. Patty Sullivan (daughter)

This book was a terrific detailed history of Ford Motor Company racing through 1967. For anybody who loves fast cars, Fords and lived through the debut of the Mustang, the Cobra, and the GT40 that won at Le Mans this is a terrific read. A friend who is a car buff recommended it and while it took a while to get through (640+ pages) it was worth the effort. It also makes you appreciate the advance in publishing that have taken place since 1968 when this book first appeared. The pictures are grainy and don't do justice to the drivers, the cars or the author's fine writing.

My father 'Donnell A. Sullivan', is written up many times in this history of fords racing. He wasone of the five engineers hired by Mr. Henry Fordto design the first V8 Engine in l932. He worked on MANY FORD Motor racing projects up until his death in l994 at age 89, he is a legend thru out the world and is a member of the hall of fame. I need a copy as soon as possible, it would mean needless to say a lot to me. Patty Sullivan (daughter)

Wow. This is a fabulous story told by a skillful writer. The people and the technology support each other, and "Ford" as a theme takes the story through early racing, hot rodding, Indy, NASCAR, and Europe. The research that Levine put into the book shows, and he (or his editor) is skilled enough to know exactly when to step aside and let the source material tell the story.

And what a value! 640 pages for $..., compared to <200 pages for a typical auto racing book.

This is a wonderful book, essential for any true racing enthusiast. The author weaves the various threads of racing development -- worldwide in scope -- form Dearborn to Oregon to Argentina to California to Europe. The only disapointment in this edition is the rather poor reproduction of the photographs...

I've been fascinated by Edsels since childhood, and while I've never been able to own one, I've collected lots of literature about the most famous flop in automotive history. Although there was familiar material in Mr. Bonsall's work, (the arrival of a new full-sized car just as the first import craze was beginning was the product of a decade-long lead time to launch the new make), there was also much I've never seen in print anywhere before--such as Robert McNamara's statement that the decision to discontinue the Edsel had been made even before its formal introduction! From the company's internal politics, to the design process, to the challenges of setting up the dealer network, no aspect of the Edsel's history is omitted. This profousely illustrated work is an absolute must for Edsel lovers, and should be worthwhile to anyone interested in the Ford Motor Company or automotive history in general.--William C. Hall

Unlike many current automotive books with some nice photos and tired, re-released copy, this one is fresh and fascinating. The photos are good but few, the story is the key and it is a great work. If you are like me and are interested in fresh, serious coverage by experienced automotive authors then this will not disappoint. Five stars from a tough critic.

The 1958 Edsel has received a lot of lampooning from the time it was introduced because of its front design ("a fish sucking a lemon") and this has generally been attributed as the reason it was regarded as a flop. Certainly Ford lost $100 million on it at the time (and its advertising agency and most of the dealers also took baths) but here it is revealed that in reality the car achieved the market penetration in relative terms that was expected of it. The reason for the losses were due to organisational mistakes and the fact that people like Robert McNamara (the archetypal bean counter) pulled the plug on it prematurely. The author also demonstrates that the production capacity created for the Edsel was actually utilised to the full in the 1960s with the Falcon and the Mustang.
This book is a great read, and the illustrations include many interesting design proposals. I would have given the book 5 stars if the illustrations had been printed on coated paper and included at least a few in color.

Disaster in Dearborn: The Story of the Edsel by Thomas Bonsall is easily the best piece of automobile journalism I have ever read. If you are interested in the Edsel, or just cars of this era in general, Bonsall will simply have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Not only will you come away with a thorough understanding of the Edsel itself, the author artfully puts the whole Edsel saga into context with what was happening with the rest of the American auto industry during time before, during, and after the Edsel's brief lifespan. I honestly could not put this book down once I started it as Bonsall truly lets you feel the anticipation and excitement surrounding Edsel's conception, design, and launch. Quite simply everything about the Edsel and the people who created it is covered in this book. In closing Bonsall impartially takes you through all the theories on why the Edsel failed and brings the book to a very satisfying and thoughtful conclusion. And although primarily not a picture book, you'll find gathered here a small but exciting group of Edsel prototype photos and sketches I have never seen in print anywhere else before. A terrific book for anyone interested in auto history in general and an absolute must for anyone fascinated with the Edsel.

Bonsall's treatment of the Edsel story is unique in that he first sets the historical stage and market conditions under which the Edsel program was conceived and executed. He does an excellent job of describing the reasons Ford needed the Edsel program, and why the program missed its mark. As Bonsall methodically moves the Edsel story forward, the reader is filled with a sense of impending doom, much like reading about the maiden voyage of the Titanic. Bonsall does an excellent job of drawing together the many disparate influences and elements that together charted the fateful course of the Edsel.

Being employed in the car industry, finding a book like this is particularly useful as I can relate to a lot of what HF has written. What's really surprising is, he writes of things which are rational and based on common sense, but many don't seem to speak about or even practice in their daily work! Much of what is today attributed to Toyota was common practice at Ford factories in the 1920s! Ford was a world leader and pioneer in the field of mass producing automobiles, and companies like Volkswagen even used American mass production machinery. People who have been reading Kaizen, JIT, the Toyota Way, etc. should buy this book and study history. Henry Ford, American Military Training-Within-Industry and W.E. Deming's influence and contribution to the rise of post-war Japan cannot be denied. One of HF's many enlightening observations: Big business is not money power, it is service power!

If you would like to know who really started the Lean Journey look no further than Henry Ford

This is the book that made me appreciate Mr Ford's accomplishments and how he changed the world of business, particularly manufacturing. He was a leader and true visionary in many aspects of business, which are chronicled herein, and many of the roots of Lean are documented in this text. Aside from kanban and `jelly beans', he didn't miss much of the fundamentals of what we see as Lean.

The impacts of Ford's principles on business, the economy, social ramifications, and more are profound. The ideas, thought processes, and applications are expressed well and we can learn from these today. Too bad much of the rest of American business lost sight of Ford's techniques as they became enamored with scientific formulae like EOQ (economic order quantities) without questioning the assumptions.

There are different "uses" for this book - some I'd recommend, and others not.
I WOULD NOT recommend this book for it's insights on -
Economics: Ford explains a classic industrial notion that a company paying employees more will increase its sales because employees will buy more company product. Not only is this a false assumption of employee behavior, it also only approaches plausibility for very large consumer product companies.
Finance: Ford describes how financial instruments are short-term narcotics and long-term ills. His opinion seems to ignore the buffering benefits of finance, as well as the gains created for society by letting financial tools open possibilities.

HOWEVER, YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK BECAUSE -

It is current: Ford describes a organizational skill poorly understood and mostly ignored: coordination. In the book, many processes are described that Ford says are all well known to other companies, but how the Ford Corporation made the processes interact was their power. Today's out-sourcing is more palatable knowing this skill.
It is insightful: An excellent alternative to the "profit-motive" of companies is presented: service-motive. Not because profits are bad does Ford present the service-motive, but because profits are give unreliable feedback. Ford sees the maintenance of service to the public as a more durable goal.
It is historical: Not only does it provide the roots to Taiichi Ohno's - Toyota's - operations strategy, but it also gives clues to why Ford lost dominance. The Toyota roots pop up in Ford's writing on waste, on cleanliness (5s), on continuous flow, and on timing. The clues pop up with his ignorance of customer desires vs. needs, his overconfidence in managing highly diverse businesses, and his inattention to downstream processes.

If you know the limitations of Today and Tomorrow, you then can reap great benefits by reading it as if it was written last week. Many of its ideas have yet to fully play out in the world of industry.

This is an outstanding book for those folks in manufacturing who are starting out on their "Lean" journey. The book teaches the uninitiated an original thinker's way of recognizing "waste" in manufacturing, and often, how to deal with that waste. Taiichi Ohno took a "shipload" of this book with him to Japan in the '50s and made sure that every Toyota engineer read the book. The rest is history as to how Toyota packaged this information for the rest of the world, including the United States, in its now famous "7 wastes of manufacturing." You will enjoy the book and learn what an outstanding visionary Henry Ford really was.

I bought this book as part of the materials of a history of innovation course, and it resulted a valuable piece. The history of Ford is well known in general terms but not in the details and the way their engineers broke thoundsands of paradigms and how they adapted to the market needs. The book of evidence of this effort. There is a nice introduction by Paul Newman. I recommend it for all lovers of engineering or product development.

complete history of Ford Motor Company incl. sub-brands
Every employee of Ford Motor got one in 2003.

Tying in with Ford's 100th celebration is this fine chronicle of this influential name and continuing legacy in so many areas of the past century.

The mobility and culture which has sprung up around the auto is staggering. Here it is captured from following one of the influential figures in all of that: Henry Ford and the legacy he left.

Well done with photos and enough text to provide running history of this giant in industry and society, this will become a collector's item to be given with pride, displayed on coffetables or in libraries.

To reflect back on all those vehicles--- Model T, Thunderbird, Mustang, Edsel, F-150, assembly line. We've all been touched by it. This is luscious nostalgia at its best.

This book is fascinating, even for people like me who aren't especially interested in cars. I picked it up at my grandpa's house and couldn't put it down. More than a "car book," Ford Century brings in a lot of the history that Ford grew up in - from hula hoops to hot rods - and reminds its readers how Ford was there for it all. This is a beautiful book, as well, with great images and nostalgiac pictures. I highly recommend it.

This book provides a comprehensive look at Henry Ford's life that is both entertaining and educational. It covers basically everything, his personal affairs, all the little side ventures he took part in in addition to his car company, even relationships with other notable people of his time, namely Thomas Edison, Dodge brothers, etc. It is overall an interesting read and at times I find it quite humorous. Highly recommended.

For those who want the dish on one of the most dominant yet dysfunctional American family businesses, Robert Lacey's profile of the Ford Motor Company is a must. It's plot is pure Movie-Of-The-Week - a country boy inspired to build a cheap car for the masses, accrues wealth and fame, then has to deal with the giant he created. His lone son, the second generation gives his life for the company, a casualty of the tug of war between a patriarch and his ego. Just as the company is about to crash in corruption and incompetence, the grandson, Henry II enters and saves the day, building the infrastructure of a modern corporation. But, eventually Henry's hat changes from white to shades of grey - the pitfalls of arrogance from never ending riches and successes. It's 650 pages of American history and soap opera, and it was so interesting it could have been longer. A great book for those who appreciate American motoring history. - Leila Dunbar, Mobilia.com

"Ford: The Men and the Machine" is the most definitive and complete book about the life and happenings of automotive's greatest man, Henry Ford. His accomplishments as cited cannot compare to any other single figure in automobile history (or even business itself).

The book is nothing short of epic: over 800 pages and 36 chapters, plus appendices. It starts off with the author's assessment of Ford's total contribution to life, starting at Dearborn Michigan in 1831. The details are all-inclusive and mind boggling, right down to Henry's Sister's comments about his early days repairing watches. The book moves slowly and steadily through Part One, "The Rise of Henry Ford" to Parts Two and Three, "Glory Days" and "Grass-Roots Hero." Here the reader is given the unbiased account of even the thoughts of young Henry, and how he became so fascinated with what was then the latest thing: the gasoline engine, which he saw in 1877 from a trip to Machinery Hall in Philadelphia. We are given the full story behind Ford's rise to power over other prominent automotive men of his time, such as the Duryea and the Dodge Bros., and particularly Henry Selden. I found it exciting to read about how Ford didn't give in to a greedy, money-hungry individual like Selden who had no real engineering talent, but wanted only to rake in the royalties from his so-called gasoline engine that he patented in 1895 (it didn't even work as illustrated in his diagram, and Selden didn't even have a working model in an automobile until 1904--it went five yards and died!). Ford held out through more than 10 years of court battles over the legal implications of the Selden patent, and won. After that, there was no doubt that Ford had firmly established himself as a "man for the people." The victory over the Selden patent allowed ALL automobile manufacturers to keep their prices affordable.

Part Four, "Henry and Edsel" describes the business relationship with his firstborn son, and their occasional public disputes over company policies and overall business strategies. Henry bitterly opposed automoible financing, for example, but Edsel was all for it. Edsel was right, too, it was the only way to sell cars to lower-income buyers. Of course, the whole story behind the biggest flop in automotive history, the Edsel car itself, is revealed. What happened? How much money was lost? What were the shortcomings of the Edsel that ultimately was its demise? "...The Men and the Machine" will tell you, without room for doubts.

In fact, as part of the research I'm doing for an automotive book of my own, I noticed at least three other authors in my bibliography that referenced this same book, perhaps Lacey's greatest achievement.

Parts 5 and 6, "Henry II" and "Henry and Lee" gradually move more away from the business side of the Ford Machine--but not altogether away--and gradually reveal personal aspects of later Ford generations and their family relationships. Discussed are the development and marketing plans of the Mustang and Pinto which, ironically, were diametrically opposed to each other as complete success and utter failure.

This book is worth double the money. Sometimes I am amazed at the length Lacey went to get his sources, over 50 pages of specific and varied references. I feel fortunate to have a copy that is in good shape. Every time I open the pages, I learn something new. Each page informs, educates and increases depth of thinking, in that sometimes what appears to be a single invention is only a hub to other spokes of development. "...the men and the Machine" actually helps me to think better overall. I can then apply the underlying techniques to all situations in life; consider that one thing leads to another, and if this happens, then it will affect that and that, and so on. If you have even the slightest interest in automotive development, automobile history, American Culture or the person of Henry Ford himself, do not be without this book. Buy it today. My highest recommendation for all readers over 14 (reading level).

This is the best kind of academic writing: direct, technically accurate and concise, yet intriguing, lively and infomative. Segal clearly has affection for his subject, yet does not hedge on Ford's notoriously disagreeable qualities. A clear-eyed look at a complex man and his ideals.

This book is fabulous! It captures this topic better than any I've ever read. It's very interesting to me, and I'm not in the least way associated with Ford. Great book and enjoyable read!!

Henry Ford is famous for setting up the basic concepts of mass production. And some of his factories Highland Park, River Rouge and Willow Run to name three were truly huge facilities producing huge numbers of vehicles, even aircraft. Yet at the same time he was concerned about the social aspects of the businesses.

In the early 1920's he was instrumental in Ford setting up nineteen smaller 'village industries.' Each of these industries were set up to provide some kind of easily specified component that would be used in Ford vehicles or manufacturing. These included things like voltage regulators, twist drills, manufacturing test equipment, etc.

After his death, in the late 1940's and early 1950's these nineteen was shut down, usually merged into a large factory in the newly formed parts division. This effort cannot be considered a failure. All in all, the nineteen plants were too small, too hard to manage.

Now similar outside suppliers provide such sub component manufacturing, but they are larger, and independently owned. This same concept is also followed closely in Japan where smaller independent suppliers make components for automobiles and other products.

Best Model A book around. Lots of photos and information not found anywhere else. Got a copy on loan from the library, and would buy a new copy to keep if it was still in print.

I've owned a copy of this book for over 25 years, purchasing it in the early 1970's. As an owner of a Model A Ford, I wanted more information about the car and its history. This book has an amazing amount of information about the Model A and its birth, changes over the 4 year production run, and great original factory photographs and charts.

The thing that amazes me most about this book is that, even today after almost 30 years after its original publication, the accuracy of what the authors wrote when the book was first published is outstanding! These 3 fellows REALLY did their homework.

If you only own 1 book on the Model A Ford, I recommend this one.

I am prejudiced since I am the author. Contrary to what this says the book is still available from the Early Ford V-8 Club. Go to their website, www.earlyfordV8.org.

Here are a couple reviews from other people:

"I'm impressed. This is a great book! I have shown it to a few friends and they can hardly put it down."
-Jerry Jensen, Subject matter expert, Camarillo California, Dec. 6, 2000.

"Our 1938-1939 Ford Manual just came in the mail. What a superb job you did. John hasn't put it down since it came. John says "it's extremely thorough, very instructive, automatically will help every '38 and `39 restorer fantastic job."
-Ruth Owen, wife of John Owen, car owner, e-mail December 26, 2002.

"My hat's off to you for the fine job on the `38-'39 Ford book.
I have just picked up my copy at the Turlock swap meet and I have been unable to put it down. The `39 Ford line has always been my favorite, but until now, the information on them has been limited. Now, I can find the answer to almost any question I have about them.
Again, kudos to you for a job well done."
-Henry Dominguez, Author, Edsel, The Story of Henry Ford's Forgotten Son; Edsel Ford and E.T. Gregorie; The Ford Agency, Danville, California, letter January 28, 2003.

If you own a 1938 or 1939 Ford, go ahead and make out a check for $34.95 to the Early Ford V-8 Club of America, because they have what you need-Gary Mallast's six-year labor of love, the definitive restorer's guide to 1938 and 1939 Ford cars. Mallast studied 1938-39 Fords down to their minutest detail and compiled it for the convenience of his fellow Ford owners, resulting in an effort that would make owners of other marques outright jealous. The product of Mallast's work can tell you if your window crank handle fits a 1938 DeLuxe or 1939 Standard model, what the seat pattern should look like on your 1938 Standard coupe, or which engine heads are correct for your flathead, through more than 600 illustrations, some in color. The book's spiral construction also makes it easy to handle when you're scrounging parts at a swap meet or salvage yard. You'll find the information in the book's 250-plus pages so handy you may want two copies-one for the trunk and another for the library!
To obtain your own copy of the $34.95 post-paid book, visit www.earlyfordv8.org or write to Linda McDonald at 1752 Darwin Avenue, Livermore, CA 94550.
-Angelo VanBogart, Old Cars Weekly, March 6, 2003

Dear Jerry, (V-8 Times editor Jerry Windle)
Just received my copy of The 1938-39 Ford Book for Passenger cars published by the Early Ford V-8 Club and what a treasure trove of information it contains. The descriptive diagrams, drawings, and photographs are outstanding. The Index, narrative outline and subtitles makes reading clear, orderly and concise. From glass to tools, it's got it covered.
I only wish it was available ten years ago when I was trying to verify data on a 1939 Standard Ford Coupe and fine original for the Rouge Class. "Bravo" to author, Gary J. Mallast, for his outstanding achievement. The Early Ford V-8 Club of America, Inc. can be proud!!
Jeff E. Howie III
Norfolk, Virginia

This is a wonderful former dissertation that became a good book, especially important now as we witness the ruin of the US auto industry, with the full complicity of its inmates. Notably, the last people to jump the sinking ship will be the UAW leadership, not the Ford or GM bosses. The UAW bosses need to preserve their pensions, while the Big Auto bosses know they are not in business to make cars, but money. How US auto came to its zombie like state now is, of course, rooted in its past, and Meyer does a fine job getting us in at the start. From Taylor, who sought to strip the mind of the worker on the job and to replace that mind with the mind of the boss, to the Christian benevolent societies that sought to Improve the Foreigners by destroying their culture---and the carrots and sticks that made that possible---all of that is here in the text. And the finger story is worth the price of admission alone.

Very high quality thorough book on the History of the Ford Motor Co. in England. Covers the entire time period from the pre WWII era up to the present with infomation on both the cars and company fortunes. Having owned several 70's Capri's I was especially interested in that particular model. Very nice text and photos