The Ford Body Drop

Topics Last Day Last Week Tree View    Getting Started Formatting Troubleshooting Program Credits    New Messages Keyword Search Contact Moderators Edit Profile Administration
Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: The Ford Body Drop
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rick J. Gunter on Thursday, May 03, 2012 - 05:21 pm:

I am reposting Hap's photo from his "Ever wonder why an original car might have a body produced by one company but original floorboards produced by another company?" thread, because I have a question that would be getting off of his subject.

I have always wondered about this photo. It looks like the body-drop is outdoors on the side of a building. Was this operation exposed to the elements or is there a roof overhead that I cannot see? The weather can get bad in Detroit. It seems that they would have had problems if it was pouring down rain, an ice storm, or a blizzard. Was this really outside? Does anyone know?

bodydrop


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Peter Claverie on Thursday, May 03, 2012 - 05:54 pm:

Judging from the shadows on the ground, it certainly looks like it's outdoors.

Of course, ten feet later it could go back indoors, but even so your comments about Detroit weather apply.

Could this have been somewhere other than Detroit? Of course it rains everywhere, but it doesn't snow everywhere!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Cassara Long Island, NY on Thursday, May 03, 2012 - 06:17 pm:

Greenhouse or glass roof. Natural light is free ......


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ken Kopsky, Lytle TX on Thursday, May 03, 2012 - 06:39 pm:

That appears to be the brass era. It was outdoors. Later assembly was indoors. You can see a body coming from the side behind the Coupe. (Note the overhead rail.)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Page on Thursday, May 03, 2012 - 06:57 pm:

There is a very good account of this early body drop set up in the book " Ford Methods and the Ford Shops" chapter 5 pages 150-151.
It would appear that the assembly of the cars QUOTE ( 1 every 40 seconds ) was just overwhelming. If you look at the rather crude structure in the body drop picture it had to be a temporary solution.
Regards, John


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Thomas Mullin on Thursday, May 03, 2012 - 07:01 pm:

No authoritative source for this, but I always heard this was an experiment as they developed the assembly line at Highland Park. This same picture is on the Benson Ford Research Center web site with this description of the 1913-1914 photo:

Description: When a Model T leaving the assembly lines at Ford's Highland Park plant was going to be shipped by rail, it was not fully assembled. In this photograph, workers temporarily place bodies onto chassis. At the loading dock, bodies and wheels would be removed and packed separately to conserve freight car space. Full assembly took place at branch plants closer to the vehicles' final destination.

Seems odd to me that they would go to the trouble of putting the body on the chassis and then take it off again. Maybe Dr. Trent Boggess can provide a better caption for this photo.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Keith Townsend ; ^ ) Gresham, Orygun on Thursday, May 03, 2012 - 07:10 pm:

I seem to recall that the pictures does NOT show the body installation. There are no splash aprons on the chassis, which have to be on before the body goes on.

The whole thing looks to me to be very temporary. I would not expect a standard step in the assembly process to be out in the elements. Maybe it was to empty the bodies from this facility and move them to the new plant?


: ^ )


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker on Thursday, May 03, 2012 - 09:40 pm:

Bottom Line Up Front: Yes, the body drop for cars that were going to be shipped out by the railroad box cars was located outside during 1914 -1916 time frame. At that location the body was only dropped onto the chassis to transport it to the awaiting freight train. The captions on the photos clearly identify that outside body drop was at the Highland Park Plant. Bodies that were dropped onto the chassis that were driven away to be sold near Dearborn rather than shipped by rail car were assembled inside the plant and had the front fenders, running boards, splash aprons all installed before the body was dropped.

Additional details:

1. The original posting at: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/286255.html?1336077723 posted the photo to highlight that the body did not have the front floorboards installed at that point. The caption with the posting read:
“Fifth a photo showing the temporary body drop at the Highland Park Plant. Bodies were placed on the chassis and driven to the waiting railroad box car and then chassis and body were separated and placed in the box cars. Front floorboards are not installed.”

2. There are several photos showing that area and yes, it is clearly outside at the Highland Park Plant. And yes they dropped many bodies onto the chassis and went direct to the train siding that was very close by. Bodies were loaded into one end of the box car and chassis went in the other end of the box car. Note the original posting shows the 1915 body being loaded into the box car see: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/286255.html?1336077723 Additional similar photos of that body drop area are shown at:

page 54, Robert Kreipke “The Model T” – probably the same three guys in photo but different pose.
Page 62, Robert Casey –“The Model T A Centennial History” same photo
Page 58 Floyd Clymer, “Henry’s Wonderful Model T
Below are several photos of the same area from Bruce McCalley’s “Model T Comprehensive Encyclopedia” that contains a copy of the “Ford Methods and Ford Shops” Note page numbers are for the version on Bruce's CD. The original version may be downloaded or viewed for free at Google books. See: http://books.google.com/books?id=TcAqZt9U4gQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Ford+Methods+and+Ford+Shops&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hi2jT-SWD4P69QTzjrFy&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Ford%20Methods%20and%20Ford%20Shops&f=false and if someone would let me know how to link to it without the yellow highlighting in the text -- please drop me a note. Thanks!

Below from Page 92 of Bruce's CD


Below from Page 93 of Bruce's CD


Below is from Page 92 looking East from the same body drop area. Note how close the railroad box cars are:


There is also a photo on Page 254 but it is not small enough to post at the moment.

3. Note that Ford was constantly expanding and modifying his assembly line process to make things better, faster, and less expensive. Below you see the newly completed building with yet another body drop – again only temporary as the car does not have fenders etc. And probably from around 1913 to very early 1915 as that was the time frame most of the photos from “Ford Methods and Ford Shops” were taken.

Notice how close the rail road cars are.

4. Compare the photo above with the photo below which was published in the Apr 1916 “Ford Times” :


I’m 80% sure that is the same building either months or a year or so later. Note the single body chute is not a double body chute and while covered is still “outdoors.” But it is very close to the box cars they will load the T’s into.

5. How do we know it is just for temporary transport to the railroad box car? Someone probably sent me a copy of page 415 from the Apr 1916 Ford times (or I may have snagged it from somewhere – I don’t remember. But if you sent it to me, please let me know so I can add that to my files and say thank you when we use it). And it was the article that goes with that photo above. And the words say:



6. If anyone has additional photos, articles etc. concerning this please let us know. I'm 99% sure that either the "Vintage Ford" or the "Model T Times" had an article about that "body drop" with the 1914 style bodies in it. But I do not have ready access to that. If someone know which issue and page -- please add that for future reference.

Again thanks to everyone for helping us collect additional information about how things were done.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


Posting is currently disabled in this topic. Contact your discussion moderator for more information.
Topics Last Day Last Week Tree View    Getting Started Formatting Troubleshooting Program Credits    New Messages Keyword Search Contact Moderators Edit Profile Administration