Time has a way of corrupting legends. Ford Motor Company’s story has always skirted the romantic: Henry Ford, the populist hero turning the tables on any who would stand in the way of his dream to park a car in every garage, writing his own classic American rags-to-riches story. Of course, Americana has long given way to the cold reality of Ford’s enigmatic personality, revealing a man of dubious merits and possible genius who redefined a state but didn’t care for the result. In doing so, he left behind a palpable legacy for anyone to touch and smell. The dead speak loudly in Detroit.
Besides the company that bears his name, Ford’s most lasting legacy is his greatest idea, the Model T. Unlike most emotional detritus from the early 20th century, the Model T has stuck to the American consciousness to the extent that many think it was the world’s first car. To legions of automobile enthusiasts, it is THE old car. Parts availability is a credit card away, over 100 years after its genesis. Its low price and attractive simplicity have rendered it a four-wheeled folk hero, one that has transcended its birthplace.
This particular T stands mere feet from that birthplace, a corner of the Piquette Avenue plant where the Model T was designed by men who were able to envision Ford’s abstract desire to create a People’s Car, decades before the Volkswagen that it inspired.
That such an automotive legend first drew breath in such a long forgotten spot seems incongruous, but it’s fairly commonplace Detroit lore; after all, Piquette wasn’t even Ford’s first factory.
The Ford Motor Company (which was Henry Ford’s third try at building cars commercially) began in this plant on Mack Avenue in Detroit. Greenfield Village in Dearborn has a one-third scale replica, but even the full-sized factory was not large enough for Ford’s growing production. Therefore, they abandoned it for Piquette in 1904.
Piquette was a short term residence for Ford, as well. By 1910, the Model T’s success demanded a much larger assembly plant: the Highland Park plant where so many million Model T’s were assembled, the home of the five-dollar day. Studebaker purchased and used the Piquette plant from 1911 (when Ford vacated it) until 1933; afterward, it passed through a number of corporate owners before gradually becoming another forgotten, decaying Detroit landmark. Fortunately, the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex purchased the building and transformed it into a museum, saving it from the wrecking ball and opening it to history buffs everywhere.
It’s a fascinating place to visit. The museum has preserved the “lost in time” feel of the building, updating only for the sake of safety and modern code. Detroit is filled with “assembly plant finds” in varying states of disrepair, and this one lived to see the light of day again.
Piquette is now open several times a month, and even displays early Fords (many on loan from owners who benefit from free storage) that would have been built within Piquette’s four walls. Competing makes and models offer a counterpoint, and often contribute to the Ford story; after all, an early Dodge Brothers touring speaks volumes about the tempestuous relationship between Henry Ford and the Dodge Brothers. Horace and John were able to produce their own automobile because of the fantastic success of their Ford stock.
I wonder how Henry would react to a Dodge sitting on his factory floor. According to legend, Henry took an axe to a prototype he didn’t like, so a vehicle manufactured by people he must have viewed as traitors would certainly be vulnerable to some kind of violence.
The Piquette plant is now open for weddings and other events, which may seem a little irreverent to people who view these old places as hallowed ground, but if it helps to keep the doors open, so be it.
In fact, couples are unified within talking distance of the corner where men like Joe Galamb, C. Harold Wills, and Charles Sorensen hammered out the details of the Model T. This is the “Experimental Room,” which isn’t much of a room at all. It’s more like a corner of the assembly plant. Ford seemed to enjoy depriving his engineers of basic amenities to get the best work from them. Similarly, the Ford V-8 was designed in one of Thomas Edison’s old buildings in Greenfield Village, even though a fully equipped design laboratory was within walking distance. A quirky guy, that Henry Ford.
Ford would often sit in this rocking chair and ruminate over new ideas for his revolutionary car. He was certainly a “cut-and-try” guy, as Smokey Yunick may say derogatively. One can’t, however, argue his success. And in a way, it all started here.
Of course, the Model T sold in such spectacular numbers that a new plant had to be built, the fabulous Highland Park plant. Highland Park still stands, in one of the most frightening of the Detroit suburbs, and there’s been talk of renovating portions of it, which would be a welcome development for automotive history fans.
Highland Park, like the Piquette before it, was eventually abandoned for the gigantic Rouge plant, which remains open today, in much modified form, building new F-150 trucks. The idea that all of that corporate tonnage originated in the corner of an old nearly abandoned building fires the imagination, and is one of the greatest of Michigan’s ghost stories.
http://www.fordpiquetteavenueplant.org/
Please see the above website for information about the history and operation of this fantastic old assembly plant.
‘Time has a way of corrupting legends’ and you have a way with words, Aaron. Great start to a very fine read. I’ve read the Lacey book and just picked up Brinkley’s epic on the man as well. Full of seeming contradictions, but maybe I’m trying to box a genius into my non-genius understanding of things.
Those ceilings are almost more interesting than the cars. Almost.
The book, The Fords: An American Epic by Peter Collier and David Horowitz is a great read also with tons of tidbits you’ve never heard about.
The last third of the book kind of fizzles out but from Henry’s birth to his death and all the through the early to mid 50’s it’s great.
Thanks for the headsup. One in return.
Fordlandia by Greg Grandin about the Amazon rubber cities folly.
Even a GM guy like me is happy that places like this are being saved. Everyone enjoys pretty Colonial and Victorian homes that have been restored, (I do.) But these buildings and others like it have had more of an impact on the lives of Americans than many people know. Indeed, They are the definition of historic landmarks. Also that the Model “T” remains an “economic” way to get into the antique car hobby is a testimony to it’s basic goodness, regardless of what I may think about Ol’ Henry as a man.
That is good to see. It has been about 10 years since I was by there, and the preservation group has clearly done a lot of work!
A wonderful article and a nice look back to the early automobile age.
I’ve never had the opportunity to drive anything older than the 1952 Chevy I had as my first car, but would like to see what in the world it would be like to drive a Model T!
I’ve read a book about Henry Ford, and as most geniuses, he seemed to be half-nuts or close to being insane! That’s probably not far from the truth, but it sure seems like it takes a special type of person to accomplish great things.
I’m going to Model T driving school at Gilmore Museum this summer, so I’ll let you know how it goes! 🙂
I’m going to Model T driving school at Gilmore Museum this summer, so I’ll let you know how it goes! 🙂
Well, going from a Ferrari to a T may qualify you as the person with the broadest experience here. It has crossed my mind to take that class myself, though the 2 1/2 hrs drive time each way from home to the Gilmore takes the shine off it a bit. And once I completed the class, how could I use the knowledge? Go to work driving one of the T’s at Greenfield Village, which is about a 20 minute drive from Casa del Steve?
http://www.gilmorecarmuseum.org/education/2016-model-t-driving-school/
Thanks for the enlightening read. I had heard of this plant, but had never visited or seen any modern pictures of it. These shots show how modern that next generation of factories (like the Dodge Main in Hamtramck) were in comparison.
This would be an interesting place to visit.
The place looks a lot more inviting to visitors now than when Model Ts were being built there. It is easy to see how the new model’s popularity outstripped that small factory building’s ability to turn out cars, despite what were surely Henry Ford’s best efforts.
Appears to be very much pre assembly line.
Yes. This one makes this even more clear.
If I were to get married again I’d love to have the ceremony/reception there! I think that’s fantastic.
If I were to get married again I’d love to have the ceremony/reception there! I think that’s fantastic.
There are oodles of interesting places that rent themselves out for weddings, including the Packard Proving Grounds in Shelby Twp. When the CC meetup was being held at the ACD in Auburn, the place was being decorated for a wedding.
Yes, my nephew’s wedding reception was there- part of an amazing visit to the Detroit area by a former Michigander myself- with LOTS of auto history in the family! Grandpa LeSuer first worked for Edward Gray, Ford’s Chief Engineer (photo below he may have taken inside Highland Park- c.1914) then Gar Wood- we missed seeing his ‘Packard powered Miss America X’ though that’s often there. It still was fun!
Did I mention it WAS a wedding reception- car guy here was having too much fun!
Wonder how the ghosts would react if you had a funeral there? 😉
Cool tour, thanks for taking us there.
I suspect that only Henry Ford could have abandoned plants with the frequency he did as he did not have stockholders demanding dividends. When he had a better idea, he could move on it, hence pulling car assembly out of Highland Park when the plant was only 20 years old and building the new plant at the Rouge. Sections of the Rouge have been repeatedly torn down and rebuilt over the years. There is a map of the complex at the observation level at the truck plant where you can see how the complex evolved.
They had to move production out of HP. HP water and sewer systems could not handle any increase. Also, many suppliers had moved in close to the plant and there was no land available for expansion.
The plant continued to produce service engines until WWII.
Also a rail strike made him vow to never be bound by rail deliveries again (HP was ‘land locked’). And with the multiple levels of Highland Park it was never designed for ‘assembly line workflow’ as can be seen in my photo below.
Ford likely was family owned during that time – and surely if there were any “stockholders” they were few and far between – even today there are several types of Ford stock and the family still has controlling interest. I believe by the time HFII took control that he changed the family ownership and started selling the other form of stock. Henry Ford was an interesting story – certainly visionary and certainly not a nice guy as he grew older. And then there is the involvement in 1930’s Germany that is a blemish.
Wow! The building, the cars, what a beautiful place to visit! I love that old brick work- so perfect! And those dark wood floors, I can almost smell the factory and hear the wood floor creaking from these pictures!
Exactly. They built quality in those days – even for a factory.
I very much enjoyed my visit in 2014. I went on a tour led by a retired Ford engineer that was extraordinarily informative and interesting. One of the many things I learned was how to read the evolution of the Model T over the years. Another weird thing he told us was they haven’t figured out where everyone went to the bathroom! I visited the Piquette plant in the morning and then went to The Henry Ford Museum that afternoon on the Friday before the 2014 Old Car Festival. I was delighted to pull into the parking lot at The Henry Ford and find a space behind this georgeous red Model T next to a more plain example. From what the retired engineer told us I was able to quickly determine that the red T was one of the first T’s made at the Piquette plant (the “winged” Ford script on the radiator shell is one way to identify a Piquette made Ford) and the cream T was one of the last produced in the 20’s.
Most feel that Ford kept the Model T in production for too long, but it certainly changed a good bit from the beginning to the end as demonstrated here. I find the size comparison with my Honda CRV interesting.
The early model looks like a buggy with an engine. The late model is actually starting to look like a car (although IMO, that wouldn’t be realized fully until the Model A).
A whole bunch of Piquette pictures at the Henry Ford Museum website; here’s 1989:
PBS has a documentary about Henry from birth to death (PBS app on smart TVs and also on Netflix). The documentary brings out both the high and low points in Henry’s life.
It was son Edsel who forced Henry to develop the Model A, among other items. Well worth the hour and a half of viewing time.
One of my “bucket” list items is to visit the Henry Ford Museum and the Detroit auto show. The Piquette Plant and the Rouge would be great additions to the list…
My grandfather worked directly for one of Henry Ford’s key men at Highland Park, Edward Gray, the Chief Engineer and Construction Engineer. Grandpa worked with Gray first in Oil City, PA at Riverside Engine where the first power plant engine was built- a 1500 horsepower engine and a far cry from those final nine 6000 horsepower ‘Gas Steam’ monsters, one of which Henry personally saved as the first item to be placed in the Henry Ford Museum- had to be as they couldn’t put those teak floors in before that! Many, many interesting stories in the online library of the Benson Ford Museum- and moving that engine is just one of them. Some 238 accounts are available there. I do have one photo of the interior, most likely taken in 1914 before Gray left Ford Motor. Gray helped design Highland Park with Albert Kahn along with designing the power plant engines. This may be the only ‘private’ photo of the interior this early on.