"THE FORD."

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2420, 27 March 1915, Page 18

"THE FORD."

CARS OF BRITISH MANUFACTURE BIG WORKS IN CANADA 'I lie Ford motor-car"; that are so popular throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand are manufactured in the town of Ford, Ontario, Canada, and are consequently in evory respect a British manufacture. This enterprise, which had for its initiating genius, Henry Ford, is iargely financed Ij.v Canadian capital, it employs Canadian labour, and every year an enormous amount of raw material from the .mines and forests of Canada is used in the building of these modern conveniences to a comfortable life. Not only are the greater number of cars for the Britisli Empire turned out in Ford, but the company has live factories in no fewer than eight Canadian cities and one Australian. That is something that no other builders of cars: can lay claim to, and such extension of the business is solely the answer to the demand. This year the Canadian factory will turn out iJU,OOO "Fords," valued at about li!, 000,000 dollars on the spot. The hoalthy growth of the Ford Motor Company of Canada (represented in Wellington by t'he Colonial Motor Conipany, of Courtenay I'laco), since its inception nine years ago is an indication that success is a matter of prin-' ciplo and right mothods, and not geography: l'rom a modest beginning it has grown into the largest automobile manufactory in the British Empire. And the reason is not far to seek. Most of the car-builders of the world sot out originally, to cater for one market —one class—tho rich! The Ford people, realising that the motor traction age was only at the dawn peeped over the edge of the horizon into the future and saw that the motor-car was to be the means of locomotion oven to the man of most moderate' means, and that a car put together by skilled hands and made of good material throughout could, by cutting out unnecessary trimmings and fancy ideas, be pub on tho market at a price to suit the' man of moderate income, and, if his business depended on rapid,transit, be a boon and a blessing to him from an economic standpoint. That is why there aro more Fords in Now Zealand than, it is claimed, any other lour makes put together. The public ha/3 only to use its eyes to note the popularity -of the Ford. It is everywhere. One finds the bu6y doctors whirling round the City streets .in Fords, tho grocer delivering his goods in a Ford carrier, tho farmer travelling 20 and 30 miles in the country to a stock sale in a Ford, and those out for pleasure spanning the distance between .the scenic resorts by means ol : the übiquitous Ford. In a recent iasuo of the. "Ford Times," a compact little journal, is a. design oil the cover, with the line, '.'Two modes of locomotion in New Zealand." One is a bulloclc-drawn coach —a relic, now of- tho misty past—and tile other a trim five-seater motor. It is curious to reflect that whilst tlie motor carries nearly as many people as the, cramped old coach, and 'speeds along 'at at least ten times' the rate, it Would not cost a quarter of what the old cotich outfit would. Jn brief, the picture represents the manner in" which the world has galloped ahead in the matter of transit (luring tho past fifty years And the Ford is cheaper than ever it was in New Zealand. Concentration and specialisation in the works have brought this about, and the public are benefiting by it. Hitherto the public have only known tile car through a visual acquaintance with tho ''run-about" and tho "fiveseater" models. An innovation has recently been made which is sup to bo popular. That is the marketing here of the-new "Coupelet" (two-seater) and "Sedan"- (five-seater) ears, Built on graceful lines in the style of the motorlandau, now so favoured in America and iinglahd. The ear is ' roomy, comfortably seated,' cosy, and absolutely weather proof—in short, the ideal car lor the winter in New Zealand. The "Coupelet" is to be sold at the low price of £250 and the "Sedan" for £285. As demonstrating the confidence that the Colonial Motor Company have in the fiiturfe of the "Ford" in., Wellington, they are building a huge garage in brick at the corner of York and Taranaki Streets, the plans for which have been prepared by Mr. J. M. Dawsoil. Mr. \V. L. Thompson is the builder. —•