Terry Traveller – Fordlandia

Although true, this definitely has a Terry perspective to it. In fact it’s such a forgotten bit of history the legal team and I had to look it up. – Editor

Terry Traveler here to tell you about another amazing day in history.

October 1st marked the 107th birthday of Henry Ford’s Model T- the car that everybody could afford.

But I don’t remember Ford for his car, I remember him for his crazy vision.

Yes, Henry Ford had lots of ideas about the world in the 1900’s, the Tin Lizzie being the best one that really took off- at 45mph in fact.

Fordland however, his Amazon Utopia and social experiment, was an epic failure.

As any mogul finds after creating a world altering, history-changing product, Ford had the confidence and finances to pursue his craziest dreams- his own little world running under he own little rules. You might call it a dictatorship in some circles.

It seemed simple enough- his cars needed tires, tires needed rubber, people were seeking answers to life’s big questions, and Ford thought his gut knew the answers. And his gut said “Brazil”.

Armed only with the broken logic that “jungles produced rubber tree plants, land in South America is cheap, and everybody wants to be an American”, Ford set out to create a 200 million dollar mistake with the elegance and grace of a Bond villain.

He knew nothing about growing rubber trees (his houseplants’ personal diaries can verify that), even less about Brazil’s culture, and forged ahead anyways in an attempt to modernize the world.

He built track housing for the natives in which English was the only allowable language, required workers to participate in square dances and poetry readings- a murderous offense in any country, fed them nothing but hot dogs and pizza, and enforced Prohibition on a people who had no intention of giving up the booze.

Mixed with a regulated 9-5 work day that ignored cultural restraints and extreme temperatures, malaria outbreaks (worsened by Ford’s insistence to overplant trees which created the perfect breeding ground for predatory insects), and Ford’s refusal to visit his self-made world, Fordland was doomed to daily deaths and eventual revolt.

After 20 years and all that mucky muck, not a single ounce of rubber from Ford’s Brazilian operations ever made its way onto a Ford car.

So today when you get ready for work, kick the tires on your car the way Ford may have done, work your 9-5 schedule breaking only for hotdogs and malaria pills, invite your friends to a square dance after work, require them to speak only proper English, and offer carrot juice to quench their thirst.

Henry would be proud.

This is Terry saying, this time it’s mostly true. You can look it up!

Terry Traveller
Email: terry@discoveradel.com
Facebook: facebook.com/DiscoverAdel.TerryTraveller?fref=ts