Little Ford History & AC

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:34 am

Goldberg Air Conditioner:

The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Max, invented and
developed the first automobile air-conditioner. On July 17, 1946, the
temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees.

The four brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and sweet-talked
his secretary into telling him that four gentlemen were there with the most
exciting innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter.

Henry was curious and invited them into his office. They refused and instead
asked that he come out to the parking lot to their car.

They persuaded him to get into the car, which was about 130 degrees, turned
on the air conditioner, and cooled the car off immediately.

The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office, where he
offered them $3 million for the patent.

The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2 million, but they
wanted the recognition by having a label, 'The Goldberg Air-Conditioner,' on the
dashboard of each car in which it was installed.

Now old man Ford was more than just a little anti-Semitic, and there was no
way he was going to put the Goldberg's name on two million Fords.

They haggled back and forth for about two hours, and finally agreed on $4
million and that just their first names would be shown.

And so to this day, all Ford air conditioners show Lo, Norm, Hi, and Max on
the controls.

So, now you know .

plowboy34 · Post by **plowboy34** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:26 pm

That's good Dave, come up with that one yourself??

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:31 pm

I had to look it up and sure enough, it's just a joke. But snopes did enlighten me that part of the joke, of which I completely missed, is that Henry Ford was outwardly prejudiced towards Jews and thus the name Goldberg would not be placed on a Ford vehicle in any way, shape, or form.

MalcolmV8 · Post by **MalcolmV8** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 5:09 pm

You had me going till it said the 130 degree car cooled immediately. That barely happens today

Gig was up from that point on.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 5:18 pm

Glad at least you thought it was a joke, someone had to contradicted me on another site and say that it was Packard that really invented the AC. I am not good enough to come up with this myself, got it from the Fairlane site I'm at also. It's cold and snowy, just thought I'd pass on some fun!
Old Henry did have a lot of really good ideas on how to save money. The plant up in the Twin Citys (where the Ranges are built) was built on the Mississippi River to use the hydro power available. He also specified what size and material the incoming suppliers were to use for crating the parts. Henry would then turn those crates into the wood for the internal bracing and body spacers of his cars (in the 30's). He was also really slow to adapt to hydraulic brake and several other things. My '50' F-1 still has the hole in the front splash pan for a hand crank.
Dave