Originally released in 1953 and then revised with a new ending in the 1970s, this black and white and color film recounts the beginning of the Ford Motor Company. The movie opens with a horse pulling a cart. The American Road, and MPO Production, New York City. Music composed and conducted by, Alex North. Script by, Joseph March. Re-created scenes directed by, George Stoney. Narrated by Raymond Massey. A wagon wheel rolls through the mud. A couple sit in a horse and buggy 1:15. A man and a woman tend to the household chores as the buggy passes 2:15. The buggy passes the old schoolhouse with children playing 2:27. The couple passes the doctor’s house. The doctor leaves his house and gets in his buggy 3:00. The couple arrive at the train station and are greeted by the trainman 3:35. The trainman puts a ticket on the couple’s trunk 3:58. Man looks down the long railroad tracks 4:18. Cut to older footage (1920’s) of hectic and bustling scenes from the city 4:26. Horse and buggies fill the streets and streetcars zip up and down the road 4:45. Firemen jump out of bed and slide down the pole into their horse drawn fire engines 5:00. The fire engines speed down the road 5:12. Summer in the city. Vegetables and people wilt in the blazing sun 5:22. Elevated train and an oyster truck passes by 5:36. The baseball park uptown 5:40. Roller coasters on the ocean 5:53. Water rides and camels to ride 6:04. Beachgoers frolic on the shore 6:09. City kids open a fire hydrant to cool off 6:15. Men and women ride bicycles 6:30. Man’s bicycle falls in the dirt 6:58. Bicycle wheel is shown on Henry Ford’s Quadricycle 7:30. Henry Ford test drives his Quadricycle at approximately 4:00 a.m. on June 4, 1896, in the shed behind his home on Bagley Avenue in Detroit 8:16. Two men test driving an early automobile 9:25. The Sail Wagon, built like an ice boat on wheels, is test driven in the desert 9:41. Henry Ford works on the gasoline engine and puts it in a racing car called 999 10:22. On October 25, 1922, Barney Oldfield set a world record by going 60 miles an hour on a circular track in the 999 10:53. Horse and carriages mixed with cars in 1903 11:12. The Model A car, 1927 11:33. Driver cranks up the Model A 12:14. Farmer watches a car go by his farm 12:42. The Model T is introduced to the farmer 13:24. Henry Ford works on advertisements and tries to lower the price of the Model T. Cars were originally built on wooden sawhorses 14:22. Assembly-line production starts to develop 14:50. Workers have specific tasks 16:00. Sub assembly lines emerge 15:16. Parts are fed to workmen by gravity slides 16:32. Conveyor belts are introduced and work speeds normalize 16:49. Cars are produced at the rate of one every 40 seconds on the assembly line 17:27. Model T’s come off the line 17:4747. A Sunday drive 18:34. Cars meet head-to-head on the road 19:10. Man is stuck in the mud 19:40. Man and machines work to improve roads 19:50. Man reads road signs 20:55. A man gets directions from a motorist 21:33. Dr. arrives at a patient in a Model T 2:03. Filling stations pop up everywhere 22:20. Model T on a winding road 22:32. A bear is fed from a Model T in the park 23:01. People camp and women pick flowers 23:20. A family picnics on the beach 23:38. Children run on the beach 23:45. The Model T runs through a river, mud and snow 24:25. Policeman try to stop the Model T 24:52. The Model T struggles to get up a hill 25:16. Comedy film shows the resilience of the Model T 25:37. Model T and the industrial revolution 26:00. The Ford family album 26:35. Henry Ford walks to the camera 26:41. Ford works with steam engine and tractor 27:24. Ford’s son Edsel sets out on a trip 28:01. Ford drives the Quadricycle 29:00. Camping with Firestone, Burroughs and Edison 29:22. Burroughs drives a Model T 30:15. Ford and son walk the plant 30:51. Photograph of Henry Ford 31:10. Cars fill the streets 31:30. The Lincoln is created 32:05. 15 millionth Model T is produced and discontinued 32:30. A car is demolished in a machine 33:00. Scenes from the 1920s 33:45. Scenes from the depression, 1930s 34:10. Footage from World War I 34:50. The atomic bomb explodes 35:02. Cut to modern cars and highways 35:45. A tractor, a van and a sports car take to the roads 36:25. Workers drive to work 36:50. The modern American road 37:45. Ford.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com