Author Topic: When a dollar bought you more...  (Read 4551 times)

bpossel

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When a dollar bought you more...
« on: March 13, 2009, 17:25:25 »
Thought y'all would get a kick out of this ....  ;)

Bob  :)

mdsalemi

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Re: When a dollar bought you more...
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2009, 17:33:36 »
...and good old Henry paid his workers $5 a day.  So a day's wages for body parts....
Michael Salemi
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JamesL

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Re: When a dollar bought you more...
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2009, 17:54:42 »
That was actually $12 a day if you include benefits, medical and future pension costs ;)
James L
Oct69 RHD 280 in DB906 with cognac leather

al_lieffring

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Re: When a dollar bought you more...
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2009, 18:23:23 »
When the model A came out, Henry Ford discovered that there were so many model T's on road that it was deterring sales of new cars, so he would pay his Ford dealers a bounty of $25 each to take the T model trade-ins and destroy them instead of reselling them. My father found a pit on the Missouri river near St. Joseph, MO where a dealer had smashed with a bulldozer and buried dozens of model T's. My dad salvaged enough parts to make several complete cars back in the 1950's.

mdsalemi

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Re: When a dollar bought you more...
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2009, 18:51:49 »
Tosh said: That was actually $12 a day if you include benefits, medical and future pension costs ;)

Nice try Tosh.  None of that came until organized labor at Henry's place in 1937 (The T and the $5 a day wage were gone by then) and most "benefits" as people call them were a consequence of wage controls during WWII; you know, that time when we saved those islands off the coast of Europe?? ;)

(N.B.  Sorry couldn't resist...)
Michael Salemi
Davidson, North Carolina (Charlotte Area) USA
1969 280SL (USA-Spec)
Signal Red 568G w/Black Leather (Restored)
2023 Ford Maverick Lariat Hybrid "Area 51"
2023 Ford Escape Hybrid
2024 Ford Mustang Mach Ex PEV

JamesL

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Re: When a dollar bought you more...
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2009, 20:52:13 »
That's OK

Lend Lease bankrupted us and cost us numerous technological gains such as the jet engine.

Bitter, moi? Not when we're all driving German cars :o :D ;)

James L
Oct69 RHD 280 in DB906 with cognac leather

mdsalemi

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Re: When a dollar bought you more...
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2009, 21:04:02 »
By Jove, I think you are on to something...

If the world isn't pining for German cars, it's Japanese cars, right?  What a twist of irony...
Michael Salemi
Davidson, North Carolina (Charlotte Area) USA
1969 280SL (USA-Spec)
Signal Red 568G w/Black Leather (Restored)
2023 Ford Maverick Lariat Hybrid "Area 51"
2023 Ford Escape Hybrid
2024 Ford Mustang Mach Ex PEV

waqas

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Re: When a dollar bought you more...
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2009, 21:15:05 »
If the world isn't pining for German cars, it's Japanese cars, right?  What a twist of irony...

Yes, and the Japanese are still imitating German designs....
Waqas (Wa-kaas) in Austin, Texas

Faust

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Re: When a dollar bought you more...
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2009, 15:22:40 »
When the model A came out, Henry Ford discovered that there were so many model T's on road that it was deterring sales of new cars, so he would pay his Ford dealers a bounty of $25 each to take the T model trade-ins and destroy them instead of reselling them. My father found a pit on the Missouri river near St. Joseph, MO where a dealer had smashed with a bulldozer and buried dozens of model T's. My dad salvaged enough parts to make several complete cars back in the 1950's.

More recently, the 70's, IBM still required that you "trade in" your old Selectric typewriter in order to get a new one. In the 70's a Selectric was $1200.00. IBM destroyed them to prevent an "aftermarket". Consider how much "word processing" $1200 will buy you today. In time Xerox brought out a "Clone" Selectric for $600.00, that will also buy a lot of "word processing" today. Come to think of it, my first "word processor" was close to $2,000. My first laser printer was about the same.

Old Henry had a lot of ties on the $5.00 a day, including church attendence.