The V-8 Era

• By the beginning of the 1930s, the four-cylinder engine used in the Ford Model A was outshone by the six- and eight-cylinder engines used in competitors' automobiles. The Ford Flat-head V8 was long in development, but once a design was chosen, the engine came to the market with remarkable speed. Henry Ford's son Edsel was charged with designing the 1932 model Ford, and the new car's sleek styling made the Model A seem boxy and antiquated by comparison. The design was refined throughout the 1930s, but even today, the 1932 Ford is considered by many to be the epitome of hot rod style.
  
  

Ford Trimotor

• Although Ford is famous for revolutionizing the automobile industry, the company's successful foray into civil aviation is much less well known. In 1926, the company began production of the 4-AT, a three-engine aircraft also known as the Ford Trimotor or, because of its corrugated metal fuselage, the "Tin Goose." The Trimotor was the largest American civil aircraft when it debuted, and most major airlines flew the plane during the 1920s and 30s. Production of the Trimotor ceased in 1933.
  
  

Ups and Downs

• During the 1930s, Ford reached a number of significant milestones. Having built its five-millionth Model T in 1927, the company took just 10 more years to build 10 million more cars. Its product line expanded, including the introduction of Lincoln Zephyr in 1935 and Lincoln-Zephyr Continental in 1939, products of the subsidiary Ford had acquired in 1922. Despite its sales success, however, Ford would fall to third place among American automakers in 1933, behind General Motors and Chrysler, a position the company would hold until it once again overtook Chrysler in 1950.
  
  

Labor Unrest

• Empowered by the bargaining rights granted by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, workers felt able to take on the automobile industry in the mid-1930s. By 1937, the new United Auto Workers union had successfully organized workers at both General Motors and Chrysler. The Ford Motor Company was strongly anti-union, however, and when union organizers attempted to distribute literature at Ford's Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan, on May 26, 1937, men allegedly in the employ of Ford beat the organizer severely. An investigation by the National Labor Relations Board concluded that the company had violated labor laws, and Ford was order to cease resistance to unionization.