Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Ford Rouge

Logan is a self-declared Ford man. Nearly every week he defends the merits of Ford over Chevy against Brother John or Caleb.

So it was appropriate that, in honor of his birthday, we toured the Ford Rouge Factory in Dearborn Michigan. From the 1/3 mile, elevated walkway we watched as, step-by-step from installing headlights to attaching windshield wipers to stuffing owner's manuals in the glovebox, hundreds of workers turned thousands of parts into complete pick-up trucks.

The Rouge Factory Tour is a part of the Henry Ford, which also includes the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. Henry Ford, the man who founded the company that first mass produced automobiles, left some of his fortune to preserve history. Part of that money was used to create the museum beside the Rouge factory.

Today the Ford Rouge Factory produces pick-up trucks, including the popular F150. Over the years the factory has been the birthplace of tractors, cars (such as the Model A, Mustang and Thunderbird), and, during World War II, Jeeps. Henry Ford's inspiration for the Rouge was a facility where all the components of an automobile were produced on-site. While the strategy of the Ford Motor Company has changed since Henry Ford first produced the Model A, his vision of providing Americans with affordable automobiles remains.

Waiting for the bus that would take us from the Henry Ford to the Rouge.

The Rouge factory with it's ten acre living roof.

In it's heyday, the Rouge employed 100,000 workers and produced a car every 49 seconds.

5 comments:

  1. Very interesting. Jerry prefers Ford over Chevy too...but right now he has a Dodge Dakota!

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  2. hummm....living roof....is there story behind that?

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  3. The living roof is green--it's made of living plants.

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  4. Amy,
    Would you believe that I just now saw your comment on our farm blog! Hardly anyone comments so I just missed it somehow. Thank you for looking at it! Our farm is actually about the same size as yours I think we just grow a large variety of fruit. Are you all going to farmer's markets? What do you grow mostly? I enjoyed looking through some of your blog tonight...reminds me of my Mennonite friends and all the years I wore long dresses and a covering.
    Christina

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  5. Welcome Christina,

    Most of our farm is seeded to alfalfa hay, though we also have a large garden. My brothers bale hay from many fields in the area as well. In a few weeks we will start running a five acre blueberry farm near our house. We plan to take the blueberries to four nearby markets.

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