Monday - Day 19 - Ford River Rouge Tour & Ford Museum

Today we thought we would try to cram in a tour of the Ford River Rouge plant and then the Ford Museum. You park at the Museum/Greenfield Village area and take a bus to the plant. Tickets for the plant tour cost us $27.50. My membership saved us $5.
When you get off the bus the first thing you do is watch a movie about Ford's history and the construction of the River Rouge plant. It was interesting.
Next you go into another theater for a Whiz Bang, we an blow your eardrums out and overload your senses, movie. It was so loud Kathy walked out. I should have because the techie nerds who produced the movie were far more interested in a light show and noise than they were conveying any type of actual message.
Then it was up an elevator to an observation tower, maybe 80' above the ground. It have you an idea of the size of the complex, about 1,000 acres.
After that you walked a 1/3 mile catwalk and looked down on people assembling F-150's. It was interesting and yet disappointing. We saw nothing of the chassis assembly, nor the mating of the cab/bed to the chassis. The other thing I took away from the walk through was that even with all the mechanization we hear about there were probably 500 people doing jobs that required maybe twice as much training as it takes to teach someone to flip hamburgers. The lowest starting salary I could find for a Ford worker was $35k/year. I couldn't find a lot on the benefit package but I am sure it is FAR better than what most US workers, other than government workers, get. The people were working steadily and I'm sure they know they have put in a days work at the end of the day, but there was no job in the areas we saw that required a rocket scientist.
These were interesting.
This 1949 Ford, powered by a 95hp 6-cylinder was campable of a top speed of 100 mph. It was supposed to get 20 mpg. The base price was $1,420-1,638 ($14,900-17,100 in 2017 dollars)

Then there was the 1965 Mustang.

 After adjusting for inflation the no option base model would cost $20,700 in today's dollars. Look at all the "options" available. In case you can't read them, options include: 3 speed automatic trans or 4 speed manual, push-button AM radio, air conditioner, backup lights, tinted glass all around, power brakes, power steering, front disc brakes with V-8's, emergency flashers, windshield washers, brake warning light, rear seat belts, limited slip differential, and many more.

Then it was back on the bus for the trip back to the Museum.

The first item of business was lunch, and who could pass up the Oscar Meyer wiener mobile.

 Kids get their own pickup truck

 Our lunch. Once again, Ft Wayne's Coney Island has noting to worry about from this place.

Lots of old steam engines and other farm equipment.

 Even some combines.

Wait, who is the lady driving the combine - LOOK OUT!

I had never heard of these, probably because no one of them was ever sold. Two of the investors did actually move display models to home sites and lived in them for some time.

They are actually hung from a center post. The home section is tied down and does not rotate, but it is suspended above the ground. The top "fin" rotates with the wind and "sucks" air through the home, for "cooling". Some of the innovations inside were interesting.

Bet this brings back fond memories for some.

There were also lots of displays of actual steam powered pumps, LARGE stuff, and steam powered generators.

Over in the train section I thought this 20 ton snow plow was interesting. It was pushed by either 1 or 2 locomotives. It is from 1923. With its "wings" folded in it clears a 10' wide path. With them extended it cleared a 16' wide path.

We were at the complex 5 hours again today. Today we only walked 2.2 miles, but I can assure you that we are both pooped again.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.