Day 27 - to London, Canada

Detroit is known as Motor City for good reason.  In 1903 Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor company here and Dodge, Packard and Chrysler reinforced Detroit's status as the world's automotive capital.  So what better place to have a car museum called The Henry Ford. 

Henry Ford was a bit of a collector, it seems.  We're not talking stamps or coins here.  Ford collected cars, buildings and any item in between that reflected American life and the industrial revolution in order to preserve American life and tradition.

We allowed ourselves much of the day to check this massive museum complex over, starting with the transport museum.

Now, there are quite a few pictures here - but we saw so many cool and interesting things here, I thought you'd be interested in a look with us.

And just to prove there were two of us on this trip...

 

 There was a travelling Titanic exhibition on show here so we made that our first stop.  This was an interesting collection of hundreds of bits and pieces found on the sea floor in the vicinity of the Titanic, including coins, lights, passenger diaries, plates, bottles and bits from the ship itself.  This is one of the chandeliers from the Titanic.

In no particular order, here are some snapshots of some of the cool things we saw, starting off with some old (early 1800s) machinery with huge fly-wheels.

Have you ever taken a photo of you and you haven't immediately recognised yourself?  This was the case here.  Looking like a glassy-eyed stuffed dummy, I'm behind the wheel of a Willy Overland.  the same company that made the famous WWII Willy Jeep.

The Henry Ford Museum is pretty hands-on.  Here, Nige is practising his singing and dancing routine to a Dire Straits number.

The Dymaxion House was constructed out of left-over aircraft parts, following the war and if you ever watched the Jetson you'll recognize it as the cartoon house was based on this one.  

The plan was to mass-produce a futuristic house out of aluminium, steel and plastic that incorporated some clever space and energy saving attributes.  But it never took off.

 

 This old traction engine looks like it's been given a hot-rod make-over..

Here's a view of a Model T you don't see every day.

An here's one for the bottle collectors, an early Dr Drake's Plantation Bitters patent medicine, complete with original contents and label.

This is a famous Rosa Parks bus.  Rosa Parks was a black civil rights activist who, on December 1st, 1955, refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama to make room for a a white passenger. This action resulted in the Montgomery Bus Boycott

  

And here I am sitting in the very seat once occupied by Rosa Parks.  President Obama was here two days earlier and sat in the seat across the aisle.

Moving right along, this is the chair Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in, on April 14, 1865.

On the subject of presidential assassinations, this is the car John F Kennedy was travelling in, in downtown Dallas on November 22, 1963.  The car has subsequently been modified to add a roof over the back seat.

They dismantle and completely reassemble a Ford Model T every day at the museum.  Here they are part way through.

This is the oldest car on display.  It's an 1865 Roper Steam Carriage - the oldest surviving American automobile. 

Here's an oldie from the Ford stable; an 1896 Ford Quadricycle Runabout.  This is Ford's first car and one of a few surviving early experimental vehicles.  He could have chosen steam or electricity to power his car but instead he chose a gasoline-burning internal combustion engine.

Here's one for the fast-food junkies.  And no, we haven't been to McDonald's yet.

This is a reproduction 1903 Wright Flyer.

 

 Here's the Ford tri-motor Tin Goose of 1925.

And the ever-dependable DC-3

Although it never went into production, this 1962 Mustang I Roadster sported a rear-mounted V4 91 cubic inch engine in a sleek two-seater body. 

This was the first production Mustang ever built, a 1965 convertible with serial number 1.  It sported a 260 cubic inch 164hp V8 under the bonnet and was USD3,334 brand new.

A general view of the cars on display...

 

 And another one...

This is a 1906 Thomas Flyer from the E.R. Thomas Motor Company, Buffalo, New York.  It had a 50hp four cylinder 523 cubic inch motor and cost $3500 new.

  

 What an incredible car!  This 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale convertible is longer than a Duesenburg, has twice the horsepower of a top end Rolls-Royce and costs more than both put together.  Bugatti built only six Royales and all six still remain.

Under that huge bonnet, there's a straight-eight 779 cubic inch 300hp engine with a 3-speed manual transmission.  The Royale cost $43,000 new.  The average 1931 wage was $1388 per year - but then again this car wasn't designed for the average worker.

The 1937 Cord 812 was the only front wheel drive car available on the US at the time.  With is swooping mudguards and hidden lights, it was a popular option for those with spare cash.  It had a 289 cubic inch V8, generating 125hp and cost $2645 new.

 

Oh- there's a Tucker!  This one was the 16th off the production line and the fourth we've seen on this trip.

They had one J-class Deusenburg on display.  Here it is, a 1931 265 hp in-line eight of 420 cubic inch capacity.  They made 481 Model Js between 1928 and 1935 from the Indianapolis factory and you could buy one for $13,000 new.

 1955 - and the arrival of the Corvette...

 

Here's a 1967 Ford Mark IV.  This was the first all-American car to win the Le Mans 24-hour race. It had a 427 cubic inch 500hp V8 and competed in just one Le Mans, finishing 32 miles ahead of the second-place Ferrari.

This 1965 Goldenrod broke the land speed record for wheel-driven cars with a run of 409 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats.  The car had four 426 cubic inch V8s on-board, generating 2400hp.  Goldenrod held this speed record until 1991.   

Loved this shot - I'm guessing it's the Pikes Peak hill club.  Recognise it John?

Right - that's enough of cars, for now.  How about some trains?

This one's a MONSTER! It's a 1941 Allegheny Locomotive, weighing in at 603.5 tons.  It hauled freight - mostly coal - in trains that were one and a quarter miles long

Being a colder place during the winter months, they not only need snow ploughs for their roads here - they need them for their railway system as well.

All of this part of the Ford collection was housed indoors.  However there's another part of the museum that is outside - it's basically a village, comprising of a collection of interesting and important buildings that Henry Ford collected over the years.  Here's a sample of what we saw here.

This Boarding House was built in 1870 and was one of the first homes in America to be wired for electrical light.  Ford was great mates with Edison, so lots of Edison inventions were on display here. 

Including the humble electric light bulb...

Glass-blowing is demonstrated...

 

 It was a working museum, with helpful folks dressed in period costumes, very keen to give descriptive explanations of what it was like to live in early America.

The Village was spread out and it took quite a while to wander around.  After about four hours we still hadn't seen all of it!

The Logan County Court House was built in 1840.  Abraham Lincoln tried cases here as a travelling lawyer between 1840 and 1847.

Here's an old farmhouse

Inside, the dishes were being washed...

And outside, the farmers were working a field (This is an actual working farm).

Old cars and horse-drawn buggies cruised around the roads...

 

 Here we are in a 1921 Model T

 But the best way to check the place out quickly is on the Steam Train. 

This gives passengers the opportunity to see the Ford Test Track next door.  Wouldn't you love to be here, Jeremy?

Here's a working Roundhouse.  Train engineers are working here all year.

And this is the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop, built in 1875, in Dayton Ohio.  This building is considered the Birthplace of Aviation - Wilbur and Orville made the Wright Flyer in the room out the back.

Here's the room out the back and the actual lathe and band saw they used to make their famous aircraft.

This is the Wright family home, built in 1871 in Dayton, Ohio.

And inside, with another friendly helper...

Here's the Eagle Tavern.  Built in Clinton, Michigan in 1831, this place served many people travelling by horse-drawn carriages and wagons as well as trains.  A place were congressmen and high-society ladies mixed with farmers and immigrants.  It must have been a lively spot.

Almost finally, here's Nige looking rather dashing in an old-time photographer's studio.

 This chap was a little shy but I managed to snap a quick shot before he high-tailed it.

 They kicked us out of the museum at 5pm and we headed for the Canadian border to stay at a place called London - complete with its own Thames River.
 


Hope you've made it this far - this blog was hammered out in record time as we're heading off now to the Niagara Falls.  More on that tonight.

See you!