1910

The automobile was changing American life. It had already started to change the language: 'parking', 'necking', and 'petting' had made their way into the language

There were about 500,000 motor vehicles in the U.S.

There were 458,500 registered automobiles in the U.S., and the automobile industry stood 21st on the list in value of product. The industry had surpassed the wagon and carriage industry in every measurable category related to its economic significance in American life.

Hit by an unexpected slowdown in auto sales, GM ran into a cash shortage that forced Durant to find $13 million in cash from a consortium of bankers. The bankers provided the needed cash in exchange for a $15 million note and $6 million in GM stock. The bankers also stripped Durant of his voting rights (surrendered to a voting trust made up of bankers) and forced him out as President of GM.

The Ford Motor Company opened its 60-acre Highland park plant on January 1 in an effort to meet the unprecedented demand for the Model T. Company policy already dictated that production machinery was to be scrapped as fast as the tool department could develop improved types of specialized machinery that would support higher volumes of production. Henry Ford was trying to keep up with demand by developing more specialized machine tools and innovations in the production process.

Willy's-Overland produced 18,200 automobiles, which made it a very large producer, number 2, right behind Ford.

Ford sold 32,053 of its popular Model T.

Forced out at GM, William C. Durant joined Louis Chevrolet to form the Chevrolet Motor Company--backed by Du Pont money arranged by John J. Raskob, Chair of the Du Pont Finance Committee. Using the success of the Chevrolet and the backing of Du Pont, Durant began buying GM stock. By 1915, Durant, Du Pont, and the Chevrolet Motor Company owned the majority interest in GM, which allowed Durant to walk into the GM board meeting and take over.

1911

After the wife of a friend had been killed crank-starting an automobile, Henry Leland gave a contract to C.F. Kettering's Dayton Engineering Laboratories (later called Delco) for 4,000 of Kettering's new electrical starters. Leleand put them on his 1912 model Cadillacs.

The courts decide in favor of the Ford Motor Company in denying the sweeping claims of the Selden patent. The Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers dissolved. Henry Ford's reputation soared as the beleaguered 'little guy' fighting off the rapacious corporate interests of 'Big Business."

1912

Henry Ford could put Model T's out of the Highland Park plant at the rate of 26,000 each month--without any assembly lines. That gave Ford a production capacity in excess of 300,000 a year. More than 1 in every 5 automobiles on the road (22%) were Fords even before the assembly line

Just 4 years after its introduction, the Model T accounted for 3/4 of all cars on America's roads

The Ford Motor Company had 3,500 dealers nationwide in the U.S.

Time and motion studies the newly hired Clarence Avery carried out at the Ford plant in Highland Park, Michigan, led to the installation of continuous conveyor belts designed to bring parts and materials to assembly areas. This is the reverse of the moving assembly line--the chassis stayed in one place, and all the various parts came to that one place. Assemblers walked down the line from chassis to chassis. No one had yet decided to move the chassis past stocks of parts.

1913

By mid year, the Ford Motor Company was using moving lines to assemble magnetos, motors, and transmissions in its Highland Park, Michigan, plant. On the magneto line, switching to the moving assembly line cut the time required to produce one unit of this critical subassembly by 75%--from 20 minutes of labor per unit to 5 minutes labor. The flood of components coming off these lines producing major subassemblies quickly outpaced the ability of the chassis assemblers to keep up. By the end of the year, ropes and windlasses were in use to pull the chassis though the final assembly area--moving the assembly rather than the parts. Even this hastily rigged expedient dramatically increased productivity, cutting the time for chassis assembly from 12 and a half hours to 2 hrs and 40 minutes by the end of December 1913. The endless chain was installed in January 1914.

1914

In January, the Ford Motor Company installed a continuous chain to pull chassis though its Highland Park, Michigan, plant.

This moving assembly line was a product of a policy of continuous improvements in plant and process machinery that had been underway since the introduction of the Model T in 1908. More specifically, the adoption of the moving assembly line for final chassis assembly had been made possible by the program that had first brought conveyor belts for the delivery of parts and, then, in 1913 had put the production of important subassemblies onto moving lines. The moving line for final assembly made no sense until all the bottlenecks in production and delivery of components had been cleared. By the end of 1914, adjustments to the chassis assembly line had reduced the labor input for assembly of each Model T to 1.5 hrs.

At the Ford plant in Highland Park, Michigan, the effort at continuous process improvement had resulted in the installation of about 15,000 separate pieces of machinery needed to support a moving assembly line for production of the Model T.

Henry Ford promised that if the Ford Motor Company passed sales of 300,000 Model T's within the next year, his company would give a rebate to every purchaser of a T. At the end of the specified period, the company sent out checks totaling more than $15 million to 308,313 people who had purchased new Model T's.

Based on the enormous productivity gains resulting from the introduction of moving assembly lines, Ford launched the $5, 8-hour day. The move more than doubled the average wage, but Ford clearly understood that in doing so he was helping to build the market for the Model T.

The introduction of the moving assembly line at Ford allowed the company to push production past 500,000 units, while dropping the price of a Model T to $440, and raising workers wages to $5 per day--twice the standard industrial wage in America. In terms of purchasing power, the Ford $5 day gave workers a daily wage that was equivalent to the weekly earnings for an industrial worker in Britain. Thus, assuming a 6-day work week for unskilled and semi-skilled workers, the Ford assemblers had twice the purchasing power of their American counterparts, 6 times the purchasing power of workers at comparable skill levels in Britain.

First V-8 engine introduced.

1915

Since 1911, Durant's Chevrolet Motor Co had produced 16,000 automobiles. Durant offered GM stockholders 5 shares of Chevrolet stock for every one share of GM.

Western Auto Supply Co, the aftermarket specialist in accessories for the Model T was selling $229,000 worth of its auto parts. The company, founded in Kansas City, had opened a second plant in Denver to keep up with the demand

For an average automobile tire, the life expectancy was just 9 months. By 1930, average tire life expectancy would rise to 2 1/2 years.

U.S. annual production of automobiles passed 800,000 units.

Henry Ford chartered the S.S. Oscar II and called it the Peace Ship. He sailed for Europe in early December with a party of anti-war activists proclaiming his intention to negotiate an end to the war, and "get the boys out of the trenches by Christmas." Ford returned home in disgust within weeks. The public embarrassment over the peace mission fiasco led James Couzens to resign his salaried management position at the Ford Motor Company. Couzens kept his stock in the company

About 2 million motor vehicles in the U.S.

Willys-Overland produced 91,780 cars to make it the world's second largest automobile maker.

1916

Alfred P. Sloan sold the highly profitable Hyatt Roller Bearing Company to General Motors for $13.5 million. The sale made Sloan a very rich man, but he was much more interested in the possibilities of multiplying his capacity for creating wealth as an executive in the sprawling GM organization. He joined the company as President of United Motors, a parts manufacturing subsidiary. The next four years were a struggle for Sloan, who had difficulty dealing with the flamboyant William C. Durant. When Pierre S. du Pont stepped in to rescue the failing GM in 1920, however, he quickly identified Sloan's management capability as one of the most valuable of all the GM assets. Du Pont and Sloan would create the GM industrial greatness in the 1920s.

The Dodge Brothers sued Henry Ford, who owned 55.2% of the Ford Motor Company, for refusing to pay dividends on the company's stock. Ford had been plowing all profits into expansion. The courts ruled in favor of the Dodge brothers, which so infuriated Henry Ford that he threatened to leave and form an entirely new company to compete with Ford unless the Dodges and all other minority stockholders sold their stock to him. Reluctantly, the minority stockholders including the Dodge brothers and James Couzens complied, reasoning that there was no way to say what the independent and unpredictable Ford might really do. Henry Ford, his wife, and his son emerged from the stock fight as the owners of the Ford Motor Company, which was at that point valued at half a billion dollars.

Unable to compete with Ford on price and perceived value, other manufacturers introduced purchases on credit as a way to lure customers into their show rooms.

U.S. annual automobile production surpassed 1 million units for the first time. Over half were Ford Model T's. Ford sold 734,811 Model T's during the year. As of August 1, 1916, the runabout model sold for just $345 and the touring model was priced at $360

The Ford Model T got 20 miles per gallon of gasoline.

1917

Registrations of cars and trucks in the U.S. reached 4.8 million. The total for the rest of the world stood at 720,000.

Further evidence of the influence of automobiles on American life: the term 'jaywalking' entered the language.