Facing Off with the Flivver

Henry Ford was notoriously reluctant to change the Model T, his “Universal Car,” which he felt was more than adequate for the transportation needs of America and the world. Dissent on this point was treated harshly. According to Ford biographer Robert Lacey in his 1986 masterpiece Ford: The Men and the Machine, Henry took such umbrage at one proposal that he literally tore the doors off the prototype with his bare hands.

With such an atmosphere in Highland Park, it is perhaps small wonder that ex-Ford employees with ideas for improving upon the Tin Lizzie often took up residence at other companies. Perhaps the most famous is “Big Bill” Knudsen, who left Ford