The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America

In the summer of 1893, an economic depression causes many people to lose their jobs. The railroads stop buying freight-cars, and the factory where Tom Shutt works closes. Soon the family is forced to move into a single room. Fourteen-year-old Abner leaves school to take a job selling newspapers. Abner is beaten by other newspaper boys for invading their territory. Forced to work outdoors and inadequately dressed for the winter, he has to have one of his frostbitten fingers amputated.

Times are hard: Abner begs for money, his father stands in bread-lines, and his mother walks long distances to soup kitchens in order to feed the family. Three years later, when the economy has improved, Abner, his father, and his brothers find work again. Abner, though physically frail, has “honest grey eyes and a kind disposition” and is “a good moral boy” (14).

Like his father, Abner believes in his country and its institutions, and regards the occasional occurrence of hard economic times as “a law of nature” (14). Like Tom Shutt, Abner believes that any American can succeed if he works hard and leads a moral life. He joins the Republican Party and remains loyal all his life, regarding agitators without sympathy and viewing his government “as something remote and sublime, to be adored, even though it might slay him” (15).

Henry Ford struggles to find success in business, since the businessmen who are interested in the horseless carriage conceive of it as a toy for rich men:

as they saw the problem, it was to find some well-to-do person who could afford an expensive toy; they had to find out exactly what kind of toy he wanted, and build it for him and get his money. That was supposed to end it, and there was a tendency to consider him a nuisance if he came around complaining that his expensive toy was out of order (15-16).

For Ford, the horseless carriage is “a useful article for everybody” (16) and keeping it in working order is as important a task as building it. In Ford’s view, it is pointless to ask people what they want; instead, it makes sense to build carriages that can be sold inexpensively and to create demand by allowing people to see these carriages on the road.

Ford attempts to work with the Detroit Motor Company but leaves because he has no control over product design and sales. He goes back to work in his own shop.

At this time, bicycles are wildly popular and are mass-produced; Ford envisions mass-producing his automobile in the same way. Bicycle brands advertise their product by hiring professional riders to compete in races, and Ford decides to imitate their strategy. Since he cannot afford to pay a professional driver, he challenges Mr. Winton (the maker of another car, the “Bullet”) to a race. The race is held at the Grosse Pointe racetrack, and Abner, now a young working man, attends. To Abner’s delight, Ford wins the race.