All language subtitles for The Cars That Made America - Season 1 Episode 1

- Hello, I'm Dale Earnhardt Jr.

As many of you know, cars
are very important to me.

They've been my passion,

they provided my livelihood,

and they've captured
my imagination.

Cars are also the backbone
of what America was built on,

industry, innovation,
and inspiration.

This evening along
with History,

I'm proud to present
to you the epic story

of the most American
of machines,

from the industry's
earliest pioneers,

to the innovators who
shaped its glory years,

this is the story of how
the car made America.

- [Narrator] As the
20th century dawns,

the modern world
is being created.

(dramatic music)
(train whistle blowing)

Industries like railroads,
steel, and oil begin to emerge

and the United States

is at the forefront
of this modernization.

Now the third largest
and fastest-growing

country in the world,
its 45 states span

the vast North
American continent,

but the travel
remains difficult.

And most Americans never venture

more than 50 miles from home.

(dramatic music)

A new innovation was
about to change all that.

In just 50 years, two billion
miles of paved roadways

will intertwine the country
connecting its cities,

its small towns, and its people.

(dramatic music)
(engines roaring)

As Ford,

Chevrolet,

Dodge,

and Chrysler,

become household names that
will forever shape the country.

(muffled chatter)
(dramatic resonating booming)

(flashbulbs crackle)

- There are 15
million Ford Model Ts

scattered around the globe.

This car lays a trail

for the entire
automobile industry.

Times may be changing, but
here at Ford Motor Company,

things don't change.

- [All] Ford, Ford!

- [Narrator] The Ford Motor
Company will become the

greatest car maker the
world has ever known

and one man will dominate
the cutthroat industry.

(glass shattering)
(dramatic music)

But 38-year-old Henry Ford,

wasn't always a success.

- Come on, Edsel.

Don't bother your father.

- Henry Ford learned
how hard it was

to build a car
and a car company.

He created the Henry Ford
Company and it did not go well.

Quite simply, he failed.

- It's odd to remember that

he put two companies
out of business

before he finally
found his footing.

(intense music)

- Here is a man with
very little money

who was going to be considered
a failure in his 30s,

and he was willing to risk his

livelihood, his
reputation, and his future.

That's an enormous
level of risk.

- [Narrator] German
engineer Karl Benz

creates the first gas
powered automobile in 1886.

Seven years later, the
first American car is made,

but after nearly a decade,

cars still aren't
catching on in America.

- The original cars could
cost $7,000 in 1900 money

and that would be the
equivalent of $100,000 today.

Well, ordinary people in
those days couldn't buy them.

- Very often, you would
see movie stars and others

who would use automobiles
to sort of demonstrate

that they're someone in society
and they've got the ability

to afford these
kinds of luxuries.

- [Narrator] Speed
was the primary focus

of early car makers.

- In the early 1900s,
people were uncertain

about the utility of the cars

or their ability to endure
different conditions

and so many of automobile
manufacturers engaged in races

to show the
durability of the car,

the capability of the car,

and people slowly, slowly
jumped on the bandwagon.

- [Narrator] Ford sees
an opportunity in racing

as a way to draw
attention to his cars.

- Henry was adamant
to not let the failure

of the Henry Ford
Company define him,

but he had to change
that perception.

(dramatic music)
(engine rumbling)

He saw an opportunity
to run in a race

against the best
race car driver,

and arguably, the best car,

designed, built, and
driven by Alexander Winton.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] But Henry
Ford has never even been

behind the wheel of
a race car before.

- It's funny to think, too,
like, a guy like Henry Ford,

he only drove in one
race in his life.

So here's a guy that was
a brilliant engineer,

who was a great marketer,
and on top of that,

he actually was a
race car driver.

So you needed to be a
multi-faceted person

back then to be successful.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Still,
he knows that beating

the most famous
driver in America

will land him on the front page.

- When this race came up,
he saw it as an opportunity

to build his brand
and hopefully to

raise funding in his
new motor company,

the Ford Motor Company.

(engines roaring)
(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Winton's car
has tripled the horsepower...

(dramatic music)
(engines roaring)

But Ford's car is more reliable.

- Alexander Winton's
car was so much faster

than Henry Ford's car,

but then Alexander Winton's
car started to fail,

as a lot of cars did,
with an ignition fail.

(dramatic music)
(engines roaring)

- [Narrator] Ford
narrowly wins the race.

- Henry Ford won the
race as an innovator

and it was because his
ability to create a car

that wasn't the fastest but
had the most reliability

and the best endurance
that investors

flocked to him

- Ford, from the very beginning,
wanted to be the best.

He had the kind of ambition
and the kind of obsessiveness

and the kind of single-minded
focus that it takes

to become preeminent
in your field.

His vision was always
straight ahead.

Henry Ford was eerily
reminiscent of Steve Jobs.

- Henry Ford had this vision

of building cars

that eventually
everybody could own

and this vision of an America

where everybody
could have mobility.

He wanted to make things
that would improve

the lives of ordinary Americans.

(dramatic music) ??

- [Narrator] Cars are the
technology of the future

and many wanted a piece
of the new industry.

- If you go back to the
turn of the century,

500 different
companies were building

an automobile in some
shape or fashion.

But there were more failures
than there were successes.

- The early days
of the automobile

were all about competition,

competition not only
to build the best car,

but who could build it
in large enough scale

to become king of the hill?

- One thing these
different manufacturers

all have in common
is that bulldog,

I'm not scared of nothing feel

that I have to gamble
to make it happen

but they weren't afraid to fail.

(wheels rattling)
(low music)

- [Narrator] One of
Ford's biggest competitors

sees an opportunity
to create a monopoly,

like what's happened with
the powerful steel...

(metal clanging)
(upbeat music)

And oil industries.

(low music)

- Nash!

What's taking so long?

I need to see those quarterlies
before the market closes.

- They're all here , Mr. Durant.

- (sighs) Very good.

- [Narrator] Unlike Henry
Ford, William Durant

comes from wealth and privilege,

the grandson of the
governor of Michigan.

He drops out of high
school and founds

his first company at 20.

- Durant was kind of the
black sheep of the family,

but he was a natural salesman.

- [Narrator] By 40, Durant
is a multi-millionaire

making his fortune
in horse carriages.

Travel is evolving.

(train whistle blowing)

But even as thousands
of miles of train tracks

are laid across the country...

(train whistle blowing)

Horses are still the most
common mode of transportation.

The problem is cars and
horses don't mix well.

Some cities even
require flag men on foot

to warn nervous
horses and pedestrians

of the approaching cars,

and horses cause
another problem.

In 1900, over 2 million
pounds of horse manure

land on the streets of
New York City daily.

- What do you do with
all the horse dung

and all the horse urine?

Big cities in America stank.

They stank like barn yards.

And aside from this,
there was the problem

of horses dying on the street,

and what do you do
with the dead horses?

- [Narrator] Travel
by horse is also slow.

A trip from Chicago to
Kansas City takes two weeks.

Durant senses America
will soon embrace the car

and the freedom it will bring,

so he liquidates his fortune
to fund acquisitions.

- Durant always
saw things in ways

that other people didn't see.

He could see the future
of any kind of product.

- [Narrator] He sets his sights
on a struggling automaker,

the Buick Motor Company.

- Buick had vision as well,

but he had very little
operating knowledge.

He was a very poor manager.

As a result, you
have a very good car

but he was unable to
sell his car effectively.

- When Durant bought Buick,

he knew that the
car was a good car

and with his salesmanship,
he could really produce.

He could sell anything.

He could sell you your
shirt off your back

and make you feel very happy
and thankful for paying for it.

- [Narrator] While Durant
is buying his way in,

Henry Ford is building his
company from the ground up.

- Henry Ford was the type of guy

that made some really aggressive
moves that would scare the

you-know-what out
of most people.

- [Narrator] Ford knows
this is his last shot

at success in the car industry,

so he sets his sights on
teaming up with two of

Detroit's rising stars.

(dramatic music)

- John and Horace Dodge.

I noticed your work.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] The 20th
century begins with

America's pioneering
spirit changing the world.

(airplane rumbling)

The Wright brothers have
made the impossible possible

with the invention
of the airplane.

Another innovation, the car,
is not catching on quickly

but two men are
trying to change that.

William Durant,
who's made a fortune

building horse-drawn carriages,

is turning to a new industry
he thinks he can control,

while Henry Ford,
a two-time failure,

is going all in on his dream

to transform America into
a country of car drivers.

- John and Horace Dodge.

Henry Ford.

- [Narrator] To do so,
he needs the talents

of the two best mechanical
minds in Detroit.

- [Henry] I noticed your work

- And?

- Admirable design.

- There was a ton of competition
in the automotive industry

at the turn of the century.

You needed to be the
manufacturer that had

the mechanics that
had the next idea.

- [Narrator] The Dodge
Brothers become known for their

work in the bicycle business

with a simple yet
ingenious invention,

the dirt-proof ball bearing.

Bikes, like early cars,
travel mostly on dirt roads,

exposed to the elements.

Their invention,
housing two sets

of enclosed lubricated
ball bearings,

keeps the axle spinning,
protecting it from debris,

a simple concept that can be
applied to early automobiles

As their skills evolve, the
Dodges are in high demand.

- Their reputation
spread very quickly and

that's when Ransom Olds
had entered into a contract

to produce transmissions
and axles for Oldsmobile,

and that gave them the start.

That's when the money
started to flow in

and their reputation
continued to explode,

in terms of the
quality of their work.

- I'm here to offer
you the chance to do

something revolutionary.

I want you to come
and work for me.

And I will pay
you $250 a chassis

and give you complete
creative freedom.

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] Ford
offers the Dodges

what no other car maker has,

a true partnership and
a 10% ownership stake.

- The Dodge Brothers,
they already had

a pretty lucrative
contract with Oldsmobile.

- They did a really good job
of developing their engines.

And they came up
with a suggestion

that Olds looked
at and rejected.

So they didn't think that he
would be as successful as Ford.

- We can do that.

- Excellent.

- You got yourself a deal.
- Very good.

- Let me show you
something we're working on.

- [Henry] I'd love it.

(upbeat country music)

- They would never
have come together if

they hadn't both respected
and fully understood

the other's mastery
of their craft.

And the relationship
between Ford and the Dodges

was entirely mutually
beneficial, at first.

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] To join forces
with Ford, the Dodge Brothers

leave the country's leading
car maker, Oldsmobile.

- The Oldsmobile little
Runabout was an enormous success

for the first five years
of the 20th century.

It was basically a buggy that
had a motor attached to it.

- [Narrator] The curved dash

makes Oldsmobile America's
number one car maker.

Oldsmobile's success gains the
attention of William Durant

who is looking for
more companies.

He buys up Oldsmobile and
another car maker, Cadillac,

adding them to his
growing conglomerate.

- The fact that he
was able to take

all these little car
companies and all of a sudden,

he had a company that
people paid attention to.

- [Narrator] Durant
now has the beginnings

of an automotive monopoly.

He calls his company
General Motors.

But as Durant's
company gets larger,

so does his number one problem,

car patent holder

George Seldon,

the man who sues
anyone who dares to

make a car without paying him.

- George Seldon was a patent
attorney who, in 1879,

decided he wanted to
build an automobile,

without much success.

Well, then he thought
it'd be a nice idea

to patent the automobile,

and he claimed that
he owned the right

to every single internal
combustion vehicle

made in America.

- George Seldon got
a pioneer patent.

Pioneer patents said that
anyone who copied not just

your idea but anything even
remotely like your idea,

anything that
achieved the same end

had to pay you royalties.

It's as if Bill Gates
got a patent which

covered all software
for personal computers,

it doesn't matter
what the code is.

- [Narrator] Durant pays
Seldon a total of $1 million,

worth 27 million today.

- It's amazing how all
the auto manufacturers

lay down for him.

They all caved and said,
all right Mr. Seldon,

yes, sir, it's your idea.

Now, they all must have
known this was ridiculous

but they didn't want to
take the financial risk

of having a case
go against them.

- [Telegram Delivery Man]
Mr. Henry Ford?

- Yeah.
- Telegram for you.

(mellow music)
(indistinct chatter)

- George Seldon thinks
he can steal from me.

- Henry, that's the
cost of doing business.

(dramatic music)

- [Henry] This is what I
think of George Seldon.

(dramatic music)

- Another one of Ford's
great business traits

was utter stubbornness and
a total belief in yourself.

Many of the independent
car makers caved

to the Seldon patent group.

- Get back to work.

- Ford refused and
he went to war.

- Seldon finally
caught up to me.

I got a letter telling
me to cease and desist

or else pay him royalties.

- [Clara] Can you
afford to pay him?

- That's not the point.

It's my name on those
cars, not Seldon's.

I'm done being pushed around.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Undeterred,
Ford and the Dodge Brothers'

first design is a two cylinder,
eight horsepower Model A.

But they sell only 700 of them.

- Ford started off
with his Model A.

The Model A was not a
particularly effective car.

- [Narrator] They
continue working their way

through the alphabet,

experimenting to find
the right balance

between price,
durability, and innovation,

getting closer and
closer to Ford's vision

of the perfect motor
car for the masses.

- Henry Ford's culture
was that he understood

the common man's needs.

It was to have a simple
machine that was reliable

and got the job done
for the average man,

and that was Henry
Ford's vision.

- [Narrator] William Durant
continues his buying spree,

adding Oakland Motor Company,
which becomes Pontiac.

GM now owns 11 car makers

and Durant is on the
lookout for more.

- The legacy for Billy
Durant is that he created

what nobody else had ever
created before with that

multi-brand huge conglomerate.

I consider him to be

the first big thinker in
the automobile industry.

(upbeat music)
(engine rumbling)

- [Narrator] Meanwhile, Ford
and the Dodge Brothers continue

their pursuit of perfection.

- Henry Ford had so
much trial and error.

He failed so many times and
succeeded so many times.

He didn't learn without failing
and so he learned a ton.

(engine rumbling)

- So what do you think of it?

(dramatic music)

- It's perfect.

- [Narrator] After five years

of missteps and
moderate success,

they have a design that finally
lives up to Ford's vision

of what America wants,

price, quality and durability:

(intense music)

the Model T.

(intense music)

- We're ready to share it
with the world.

(intense music)

By 1908, America is

the most modern
country in the world.

Rail lines crisscross
the continent,

connecting people
over vast expanses.

But the rising car business

is about to change the country
in ways no one expects.

William Durant's
General Motors is

spending millions
assembling an empire

- Billy Durant bought up
a number of car companies

and his idea was to have
each of these companies

specialize in a different
aspect of the market.

some will do luxury
cars like Cadillac

and some would do the
cheaper cars like Buick

but for what Durant
wanted to do,

he needed a lot of capital.

- [Narrator] Now
at 11 companies,

including Buick,

Cadillac,

and Oldsmobile,

General Motors is massive.

Henry Ford and his
partners the Dodge Brothers

are taking a different approach,

building their company
from the ground up,

and after five years
of trial and error,

their vision of a
car for the everyman

is finally ready to be revealed.

(engine rumbling)

The Model T is a revolution
in auto engineering.

At just 1,200 pounds,
nearly three thousand

less than the average car today,

the T features a
two-speed transmission.

Where most cars of
the time shift gears

with complicated hand
levers, the Model T

is the first mass-produced car

to offer something much easier,

foot pedals that control

brakes, clutch,
forward, and reverse.

The design is a precursor

to the automatic
transmission system.

It's simple, reliable,
and affordable,

three things America has
been waiting for in a car.

The Model T is the realization
of Ford's unique vision

and the Dodge
Brothers' engineering.

At just $850, $18,000 today,

Ford sells over 10,000
in the first year.

(upbeat music)
(engine rumbling)

- The Model T was an
amazing invention,

something that really
changed the game.

And yet, it's amazing
on how simplistic the

actual design of the vehicle is.

- [Narrator] Though
simple, the Model T

is the right car for
a country with only

a few hundred miles
of paved roads.

- If you look at a
Model T, it's an SUV.

You have a higher
center of gravity.

You sit higher.

It's meant to go on road
as well as off-road,

so the Model T, to me, was
the first really popular SUV.

- What Ford was looking for
in the automobile industry

was true innovation,
and a genuine innovation

is something that meets a
need you didn't know you had.

And his insight was, if we
make these things cheap enough,

people who never thought
they could buy them

will want to buy them.

- What Ford had
with the Model T was

something that was a
utility for the masses.

- Once it was available,
everybody wanted a Model T.

Don't ask people to imagine
something they don't have.

What you do is you build it,

and if it works,
you're a success.

- [Narrator] The Model T
ignites America's car obsession.

- It's hard to imagine
now just how much

the Model T influences
the country at that time.

It was more than just a
technical achievement.

It was a real social revolution.

- [Narrator] In just two
years, the Model T doubles

the number of cars on the road.

- The Model T changed entirely
the way Americans live,

from paved roads to
how we think and act.

- [Narrator] The
car is also changing

the landscape of America.

In Detroit, the world's
first stop sign appears.

Lane markings, traffic
signals, and paved roads

allow new car buyers to
travel wherever they want.

- There is no country
on earth that is so big

that has ever developed such an

extensive network of highways.

- [Narrator] In New York,
the first car-only roadway,

the Bronx River
Parkway, is constructed.

America is starting to change
itself to suit the car.

- (laughing) I'm telling you,

from 1,000 a month we're
going to 1,000 a day.

- 1,000 a day?

How soon are we doing this, huh?

- [Narrator] Ford's
success has drawn

the attention of the world

and the interest
of his competition.

(men chatting indistinctly)

- [Man] Mr. Ford

(dramatic music)

- Gentlemen, excuse me, please.

(dramatic music)

- Quite the shop you
have here, Mr. Ford.

- We got a ways to go.

But I think we're
on the right track.

- So I've heard.

I also heard that
you and George Seldon

aren't seeing eye-to-eye.

(dramatic music)

- Seldon wants to go to war.

He's chosen the wrong man.

- Admirable.

But suppose you didn't have to?

- What do you mean?

- Join the General Motors family

and all your problems with
George Seldon go away.

All patent royalties, we pay.

(dramatic music)

Or you can take your
chances in court.

(dramatic music)

Now tell me your price.

(dramatic music)

- $3 million.

(dramatic music)

- (chuckles) Seriously, now?

What's your real price?

(dramatic music)

- The real price
is $3 million...

(man chuckles)

Cash.

(dramatic music)

- Well, then Mr.
Ford, I wish you luck.

You're going to need it.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Ford's
asking price is worth over

$80 million today.

Durant's rejection
means he won't own all

the industry's major players,
but if he can't buy them,

he decides he needs
to out design them.

- Mr. Durant, you asked for
it and my team delivered it,

an automobile that will be
all things to all people.

- Let's see it.

(dramatic music)

- It's everything you asked for,

the horn button,
the clutch pedal,

the horsepower that
you were looking for.

(dramatic music)

- Now, that is exactly the
car we've been looking for.

How quickly can we
get this into production?

- Well, I think
almost right away.

- Excellent.

This is fast, it's
modern, it's sleek.

- [Narrator] The Buick
Model 10 features

a 2.7 liter four-cylinder engine

and with 22 1/2 half horsepower,

it's more powerful
than the Model T.

But Buick's biggest innovation

is its revolutionary
engine configuration.

The Buick's fuel
combustion goes through

overhead valves
like modern engines.

- This overhead valve
engine had ease of service.

You could kick the head off

and fix that, put it back on.

In other words,
you didn't have to

tear the whole engine
apart to fix it.

- [Narrator] The first 4,000
Model 10s are all white.

They're nicknamed
the white streak,

but GM only sells
4,000 Model 10s.

Ford, by contrast, sells
almost 20,000 Model Ts.

Durant's white streak fails
to take the Model T's place

in America's heart.

- General Motors
flirted with bankruptcy.

The banking community
looked at him and said,

this guy's out of control.

- [Narrator] The white streak

has cost GM $30 million

(dramatic music)

and the expensive failure

means Durant's got
trouble with his board.

(dramatic music)

- Gentlemen.

- Mr. Durant,

have a seat.

- This can't be good.

century's first decade seesheh

America's passion
for cars unleashed.

Two large companies
dominate the new industry

and as Ford battles
GM for supremacy,

the country begins
to transform itself

around the new mode
of transportation.

- When you look at
successful businesses.

it always comes down to the
human capital, leadership.

Everything runs from
the top and down.

- Durant wanted to have the
biggest, most successful,

most influential automobile
entity in the world.

He wanted General Motors to
be the automobile company.

- [Narrator] General
Motors focuses on scale,

buying 30 companies,

including Buick,
Oldsmobile, and Cadillac,

but after a strong start,

sales of the new
Buick Model 10 drop

and the company
financiers have noticed.

With its debt mounting, General
Motors must do something.

- Gentlemen, to what
do we owe the pleasure?

- Please have a seat.

- This can't be good.

- Now, Mr. Durant,

you've stretched
this company's finances

to the point of breaking,
with no plan for the future.

- I always have a plan.

That's what built this place.

- You promised to build
a car that would surpass

the Model T and it failed.

- Everything worth doing
takes time and money.

- Billy, your time is up.

(dramatic music)

- What's that supposed to mean?

- You're fired.

(dramatic music)

Effective immediately.

(dramatic music)

- If you lose me,

you lose everything
this place was built on.

- Mr. Durant,
General Motors needs

a steadier foundation
than the one you've built.

This Board's decision is final.

(dramatic music)

Oh, Mr. Nash, if you
could stay a moment,

we have something we'd
like to discuss with you.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Durant's
number two, Charles Nash,

is appointed GM's new president.

His top priority, finding a
way to compete with Henry Ford

and his best selling Model T.

Nash's plan centers
on innovation.

He needs to secure the
engineering talent to compete.

(dramatic music)

He hopes he's found
it in a young engineer

who's captured
Detroit's attention.

- I'm looking for
Mr. Charles Nash.

Thank you.

Mr. Nash, terribly sorry
to keep you waiting

I'm Walter Chrysler.

A fella's machine broke down
on the side of the road.

Couldn't rightly pass by
without lending a hand.

- Now, never mind that.

I'm just glad you made it.

- [Narrator] Walter Chrysler
is a self-taught mechanic

and an expert engineer who
has made a name for himself

building engines at
American Locomotive,

one of the largest train
makers in the world.

- Walter Chrysler, in his youth,
he was extremely meticulous

about how things were made

and tinkered around with all
kinds of mechanical things.

- Walter Chrysler got
interested in the car industry,

went to a car show, bought
a car, took it home,

and took it apart
to learn about it.

You know, most of
us would end up with

a pile of parts
in the shed floor.

Walter took it apart and was
able to put it back together.

- So, well?

- I am prepared to
offer you $6,000 a year.

- Six grand?

That's half my current salary.

- We're not American Locomotive.

- No, you most
certainly are not.

But trains are a
thing of the past.

Cars are the future.

I'm in.

- Mr. Chrysler, congratulations.

You're now Production Chief
at Buick Motor Company.

- As long as you
let me design cars,

you can call me
whatever you want.

(dramatic music)
(machinery rumbling)

- Chrysler, when he
came in, found that

the entire structure of
Buick lacks organization,

a lot of expenditures,
and so he went to work

in reorganizing the
company properly.

- The first day
he was on the job,

he saw cars going out
and not being signed out,

and he said, where's the
manifest for his cars?

The next day, he put in a
manifest system and he said,

I earned my first year
salary on my first day.

- [Narrator] Chrysler soon
realizes turning GM around

and catching up to the number
one car maker won't be easy,

because Ford is churning
out cars five times as fast.

- I will build a car
for the everyman,

constructed of the
best materials,

built by the best mechanics,
with the simplest designs

that modern
engineering can devise.

And a price so low, no
man making a good salary

will be unable to afford one.

- [Narrator] The Model
T becomes so successful

that Ford soon triples
GM's total output,

Now with over 70,000 cars sold,

Henry Ford has become the
world's number one car maker.

- Henry Ford is generally given
credit for changing America.

The main reason Henry
Ford is credited

was that among his
other brilliant skills

was an utterly brilliant
skill of self-promotion.

- Get your photos, boys.

Ha.
(falshbulbs crackle)

- [Narrator] A tireless work
ethic has made Henry Ford

the undisputed top
car maker in America,

but he has one enemy
he can't outwork,

George Seldon, who
continues to battle Ford

for the millions he
claims he's owed.

- It's amazing.

Dozens of car makers were
eager to avoid the courts

but Henry Ford was not.

- Any questions?

- [Crowd] Ford, Ford.

- [Reporter] Ford, are
you gonna pay Mr. Seldon?

- No.

- [Narrator] Another
challenge for Ford

is his relationship
with the Dodge Brothers,

which is starting to fray.

- One of the things that
really irked the Dodge Brothers

was the fact that
Ford was receiving

so much recognition
for the Model T.

- [Henry] Get your photos, boys.

- [Narrator] Ford's
knack for publicity

may have earned him notoriety,

but it could cost him two
of his greatest assets.

are on America's streets
and country roads.

The first car built
for the everyman

is helping to
change the country.

- What happened in
America when Henry Ford

turned loose his Model
T's was the restructuring

of our entire society
from top to bottom.

It broke down the ancient
isolation of the farm

and people were very
much aware of that

and felt very much
liberated by it.

- [Narrator] The Model
T makes Henry Ford

the world's number
one car maker.

- When you win, everybody
wants to come up there

and take you off the top.

You have to continue
to build and perform

and come up with the
innovative products

that keeps you ahead.

- [Narrator] Trying
to compete with Ford,

America's other
leading car maker, GM,

has gone into massive
debt buying up

Buick, Cadillac, and Oldsmobile.

The man charged with
turning the company around,

Walter Chrysler, is
feeling the pressure.

GM's former chairman,
William Durant,

refuses to let go of
the company he built

and hatches a plan
to get it back.

Starting from scratch,
he has his sights set

on his own key hire,
the 33-year-old

Swiss race car driver
named Louie Chevrolet.

- You have quite the flair
for publicity, Mr. Chevrolet.

With your charisma
and my business sense,

we can be quite a team.

Imagine it, you could
be the next Henry Ford.

- I'm quite happy being
Louis Chevrolet, thank you.

- Yeah, well, of course.

You are your own man.

- This new company, Mr.
Durant, does it have a name?

- Not yet, but I was
thinking something--

- May I suggest
calling it Chevrolet?

- Chevrolet.

It does have a nice ring to it.

- [Narrator] Chevrolet
makes his name

by dominating the
European race circuit.

- When you think
of American cars,

all you think about
is the Chevrolets

and Louis Chevrolet
was not American.

- I think that catches
some people off-guard,

that Chevrolet was
founded by a Swiss racer,

but a very smart man
and a man that made

the US his home, in a sense.

Now the brand is as
American as it comes.

- It's great to me,
as a race car driver,

to know that Chevrolet
was founded by racer.

- Very good.

- So where should we start?

- I think it's a
very good idea for us

to be on the same
page with the design.

- I agree.

I think whatever the design is,

we need to make
sure that this is

the car to beat the Model T.

The Model T's day is done.

- I agree.

- [Narrator] What Durant,

Chevrolet,

and Chrysler don't know

is Ford isn't content
with the status quo.

- I think in the auto
manufacturing world,

there's that tenacity, that
true grit to work harder

than the next guy,
continue to be smarter

in ways of assembly
and efficiency

and being able to build
a product the best.

- [Narrator] He focuses
on increasing production.

His current production
process is inefficient,

taking up to 12 hours to
assemble a single Model T.

He knows getting Model
Ts off the line faster

will mean more sales.

- When Ford began, automobiles

were built up like ocean liners.

The workmen would come
into the frame of the car

and put things on it.

So Ford thought of
ways of breaking down

all the different
jobs you have to do

to build a car faster
and more efficiently.

- Like a slaughterhouse
butchers beef.

We will do the same for
automobiles only in reverse,

each man doing one job,

perfecting and
speeding the process.

As the machine
moves down the line,

each station performs
one duty,

without error.

Defects will be
virtually eliminated.

- Excellent, Mr. Ford.

A moving assembly line.

- It led Ford to
construct an automobile

of high quality in
numbers that were going to

be able to drive down
the average price.

- [Narrator] Using the
meatpacking industry

as inspiration,

Ford designs an assembly line

with workers along a
long conveyor system

where each performs a
single specific task

in a continuous flow of work.

- An assembly line
that does not stop.

His ideas of mass production
change manufacturing.

He created the next
Industrial Revolution.

It changed society.

- This will revolutionize
the industry.

and demand is surging.

Some 1.2 million
cars are on the road,

a third of them Fords.

The amazing success
of the Model T

is the industry's
first phenomenon

but while business is
booming across the industry,

Henry Ford's competitors
have one mission:

beating him.

- When your a target, it's
because you're on top.

It's because you're in the lead.

And what does that do?

That just creates more
pressure to perform.

- [Narrator] With William Durant

starting a new company
called Chevrolet

and Walter Chrysler attempting
to rebuild General Motors--

- There'll be five lines.

- [Narrator] Henry Ford looks
to a revolutionary concept

to take his company to the
next level, the assembly line.

- The car will come off the line

and there'll be a final
team that will attach

all the special details,
check the quality,

look for any final
scratches, clean them up,

anything else, and the car
will roll off the line.

- His ideas on how
to produce cars

were the most
successful of all ideas.

- [Narrator] The Model T
assembly line is broken down

into 84 individual steps, from
bolting the chassis together

to mounting the transmission
to the drivetrain

and assembling the brakes
and attaching them.

- All of the parts,
then, are brought by

either conveyors or
pulleys to the location

in which assembly process
needs to take place.

- Which was not how cars were
manufactured at that time.

Cars were manufactured with
two or three or four people

standing around one station,

building a car
from the ground up.

- [Narrator] To implement
his revolutionary plan,

Ford recruits William
Knudsen to manage production.

- William Knudsen was an
engineer that Henry had met

when he bought a
stamping company

to make the oil
pans for his Model T

and Knudsen very
quickly proved himself

to be one of the great
industrial visionaries

of the 20th century.

- There will be
virtually no chance

that there'll be a mistake.

It's simply a repeat rote motion

that they have to perform
throughout the entire day.

- [Narrator] The assembly
line is perhaps the biggest

manufacturing innovation ever,

but it's not without problems.

- Henry Ford is the
man who brought in

mind numbing repetition.

They had to work at the
same pace day after day,

hour after hour, minute after
minute, doing the same task.

- [Narrator] Despite
its repetition,

it's a huge benefit
to the bottom line,

cutting build
time for a Model T

from 12 hours to
just 93 minutes.

- Henry Ford's great
contribution to the 20th century

was the theory and
practice of mass production

and that translated itself

to all the other
industries in America.

- [Narrator] The assembly line

will change America
dramatically.

Mass production of
items like refrigerators

and washing machines
will allow their cost

to be greatly reduced.

That creates jobs.

Ford uses the money
saved on production

to cut the price of
the Model T in half,

from $850

to just $390.

- To sit there and put
the time and effort he did

into building the assembly
line and then producing

that Model T in such numbers

that it got the cost way
down where the average Joe

could afford to buy a car,
that was something else.

- It changed society.

For the first time, every
American could own a car.

That's a life-changing moment.

- I mean, I think we can
do 1,000 of these a day.

I mean, the possibilities
are endless.

- [Narrator] Ford is able to go

from making 38,000 cars in 1911

to nearly 200,000 just
three years later.

Ford watches sales climb and
looks to hire more workers

to keep up with productivity.

To do so, he comes up with
another groundbreaking idea.

- Ford was having problems
retaining good workers

and he decided that he was
gonna introduce the $5 day.

This, at the time,
the average wage

in the industry was about $2.50.

- [Narrator] The $5 day
would be almost $300 today,

a huge increase in salary
for the working man.

- As a result, this was
really the beginning

of evolution of the middle class

because people now
had more money.

- Nobody had ever been able
to make that kind of money

for unskilled labor before.

He was getting
people from Europe.

- Ford attracted a lot
of African American labor

from the south, so there was
a great migration to Detroit

to find jobs and
start a new life.

- People came pouring in
from all over the country.

They finally had that
special police units out

to keep the crowds at bay.

They they had to turn fire
hoses on them to disperse them

because there were such crowds.

- You have not just
the people on the line

assembling the cars,

you have the people making
the parts for the cars,

you have the people making
the tires for the cars,

you have the people involved
with the roads for the cars.

You have this entire ecosystem

that builds up
around this vehicle

that affects a lot of lives.

- [Narrator] As the
auto industry grows,

the population of Detroit nearly
doubles to half a million.

- I see Detroit in
the 20th century

as representing precisely
what Silicon Valley represents

in the first 20 years
of the 21st century.

It was a place where people
pursued their dreams.

It brought in a stream of
population to the area.

It made the area
robust economically.

- The country developed
where in certain regions,

you had these pockets
of condensed industry

and for Detroit, it was
automotive industry.

That's forever what Detroit

will be synonymous
with, is the automobile.

- [Narrator] Detroit is now

the fastest-growing city
in the United States.

To accommodate the
growth of his company,

Ford buys up 2,000 acres on
the outskirts of the city

in his childhood home,
Dearborn, Michigan.

He plans to create a giant
state-of-the-art facility,

that he calls the
River Rouge Complex.

That will be one of
the largest factories

the world has ever seen.

By 1914, the car business
is transforming America

in ways no other
industry ever has.

The largest car maker, Ford,
develops the assembly line,

a production model adopted by

businesses across the country,

that he uses to help
create the middle class.

But as Ford surges, the
industry's other giant,

GM, struggles to keep up,

an advantage Ford
looks to capitalize on.

- Gentlemen.

- [Narrator] Ford risks
bankruptcy

battling George Seldon

for the right to sell his
cars without paying millions

in patent fees.

- It's a new day.

- [Narrator] The court
rules that Seldon's patent

doesn't apply to the cars
Ford or anyone else builds.

- There are a lot of dramatic
moments in Henry Ford's life

but he never gave up, and
it made him a folk hero.

And one of the interesting
outcomes of that

is that there still to this
day among American car makers

very, very few patent suits
in the automobile industry.

- [Narrator] It's a
huge victory for Ford.

With the patent
declared null and void,

someone who never
thought they'd be able

to build and sell
cars now might.

- Horace.

This is our chance.

If we want to
start building cars

with the name Dodge on
them, now's the time.

- John, we've got
a good thing going.

- (laughs) A good thing?

You want to be the man
serving to Henry Ford,

making him get rich or you
do something for yourself?

We built this.

Dodge Brothers.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Walter Chrysler
introduces his own version

of the assembly and ups
Buick's production over 500%.

- The Buick became
the financial engine

of the General Motors Company.

Actually the $96
million profit of GM

was made by the Buick division.

- [Narrator] To combat
Buick's increased production,

Ford reduces prices.

Hoping to make it
a three-way battle,

William Durant turns
his new company

to building a low cost car.

But his partner Louis Chevrolet

wants to make
high-performance cars.

- Chevrolet had been
a mechanic in Europe

and ran in the Indianapolis
500 four times.

There's some pride behind that

because it's founded by racers.

When I was younger I
didn't have any idea

that racing was such a critical
part of automobile industry.

(upbeat music)

- What the hell are you doing?

We had a meeting.

- This is not my design.

- Look, he had to make
some small changes

to cut back on the cost to
compete with the Model T,

but it's still your design.

- Henry Ford makes crap.

If you want to make crap, find
someone else to do it with.

- You're going to regret this.

- [Narrator] Chevy's
first car, the Series C,

fails to catch on,
selling only 5,000 units.

Durant decides the
partnership won't work

and buys Chevrolet out
for a mere $10,000,

$250,000 today.

On the other side
of the Atlantic,

the First World War rages.

(men shouting)
(guns firing)

And American automakers
see a new opportunity.

General Motors ships
thousands of armored vehicles

to the British and French.

Ford converts its Model T
into a military ambulance,

deploying 15,000 in
the field of battle.

- World War One, of course,
was a tremendous lift

to the Ford Motor Company.

Selling of cars and trucks to
the fighting line in France.

- [Narrator] Ford Motor
Company nets over $8 million

World War One contracts.

With his competitor struggling,
Ford should be riding high.

But a new problem is brewing.

For over a decade,
John and Horace Dodge

have helped to make
the Ford Motor Company

America's number one car maker,

but they've always been kept
away from the spotlight.

Ford treated his minority
partners like employees

instead of equals.

- The legacy of a man like
Henry Ford is always difficult.

On the one hand, you have a man

who was incredibly successful

who took an industry and
made it that much bigger.

On the other hand,
you have a man who had

no sense of loyalty to
his business partners.

- [Narrator] Ford continues
to invest his cash reserves

back into his company,
refusing to pay dividends

to his investors.

- John, Horace.

- We've come for
the money, Henry.

Where are the dividend payments?

- The dividends are now being
reinvested in our company,

which we all share
in the success of.

- And what if we we
don't want to reinvest?

What if we want to take
our money and leave?

- Thinking about building
cars yourself, is that it?

That's why you want the money?

- The Model T is a toy
compared to the car we make.

- The car.

You two may know how
to build engines,

but you have no
idea build a car.

- Someday, Henry, all the
people that own a Ford,

they're going to want a Dodge.

- [Narrator] Ford knows
that without dividends,

the Dodges will have less money
to start their own company.

Success is changing Ford,
making him more determined

to be the only one with a
say his company's fortunes.

- He was the most
famous American.

He was beloved by everybody,

and it's sad because it's
at just about that moment

that the bad Henry
Ford begins to emerge.

- [Narrator] Ford starts a
rumor he's leaving the company

to try to make the stock
even less valuable.

It's a move that
shocks the world

and it's one that
will change the life

of his only son, Edsel.

- Being Henry Ford's son, I
wouldn't wish that on anybody.

I mean, how can you
follow up on a man

that changed the world?

That's what he was
faced with, Edsel Ford.

- Henry and Edsel were
very different people.

Henry Ford was raised as
a farm boy, basically.

Edsel Ford was a rich man's son.

And here we begin to
see a real tragedy,

of almost Shakespearean scope.

- Gentlemen.

- [Narrator] Ford who is
looking to buy back the stock

he's given to the Dodges
and other investors

announces a shocking change.

- The new president of the
Ford Motor Company, Edsel Ford.

(crowd clamoring)
(dramatic music)

Edsel, do you think you're ready

to fill your father's shoes?

- I intend to try.
- Well, of course he is.

He's a Ford.

Isn't that right, son?

- [Narrator] The first f

have seen massive
change across America.

Cars have been responsible
for the creation

of a national road system

and the birth of
the middle class.

The big players in the
business are excelling.

Walter Chrysler has overseen
a massive turnaround at GM,

pulling it back from bankruptcy,

and Henry Ford as a plan
to restore to his family

complete control
of his auto empire

while crushing his partners
Horace and John Dodge.

Henry Ford's move to step down

and appoint his
young son president

sends Ford stock plummeting.

- Edsel was president
in name only.

Of course Henry
Ford wasn't going to

take his hand off the company.

- [Narrator] Rattled investors,

including the Dodge Brothers,

are forced to take pennies on
the dollar for their share.

Ford snatches up every share
of his company at a cut rate

and suddenly the world's
largest manufacturing firm

now sits in the hands
of just one man.

- Henry Ford, he was the
world's first billionaire.

He bought out his
shareholders for $75 million.

- [Narrator] While Henry Ford
owns 100% of his business,

oil tycoon John Rockefeller owns

just one quarter
of Standard Oil.

Henry Ford is so
powerful he believes

he can do whatever he wants.

Horace and John Dodge are
quickly backed by investors

who know their reputation

as the best mechanical
minds in Detroit.

And they start to create
their own company.

- Hey, John.

- What do you need?
- Come take a look.

- [Narrator] They're
hell-bent on building a car

to compete with the Model T.

- All right, so even with
the second seat in the back.

- Mm-hmm.

- And we're gonna have
nothing up front, right here.

To fit that four-cylinder
up front like that.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- What do you think?

- Ha, I like it.

- The Dodge Brothers came
out with their first car.

That first car included
much more powerful engine

and it sold for 795 at the time

that the Model T was
selling for $490.

- [Narrator] The
Dodges' first design

may be more expensive
than the Model T,

but it offers Americans
a new kind of automobile.

- What are gonna call this?

- This is going to be
called the Model 30.

- Model 30, brought to
you by the Dodge Brothers.

- [Narrator] The
1915 Dodge Model 30

features a series of
technological innovations

that revolutionize the industry.

It's powered by a 3.4
liter four-cylinder engine,

good for 35 horsepower,
60% more than the Model T.

It features a three-speed manual
sliding gear transmission,

a massive upgrade over the
Model T's two-speed design.

The Dodge 30 is housed
in the first ever

mass-produced all steel body,

making it the strongest
and most durable

automobile available
on the market,

all for under $800
or $20,000 today.

The Model 30 embodies
the Dodge tradition of

a tough, durable,
and reliable car.

- The Dodge Model
30 was leagues ahead

of what the Model T was.

Looking at a all unibody setup,

the car was safer,
the car ran better,

and it was by all
indications successful.

- [Narrator] Young George
S. Patton uses them

to hunt down Mexican
outlaw Pancho Villa

in a raid along
the Mexican border.

45,000 Model 30s sell
in its first year,

making Dodge the number
three car manufacturer

in the country, behind
only Ford and GM.

But unlike Patton,

some people see a
less-than-honorable use

for the Model 30.

(gun firing)

As Congress outlaws the
sale of alcohol in the US,

a new breed of criminal emerges.

- During the era of Prohibition,
it makes it a lot easier

for the crooks who
are delivering alcohol

that they have
vehicles of their own.

Nothing like it could
have emerged on the scale

that it did before automobiles.

- [Narrator] Bootleggers
start customizing their cars,

adding heavy duty suspensions,

removing seats, and installing
tanks to fill with liquor.

- The moonshiners,
they soup up their cars

so they can outrun the
revenuers, the federal agents.

Eventually these guys
who have the fast cars,

they decide to race
against each other.

It's no accident
that the original

NASCAR belt in America is
in this southeast region,

where the moonshine
business originated.

- It was in their best
interest to have fast cars

and great drivers, otherwise,
they'd all be in jail.

They're all running moonshine.

Now all but one race team
is there in the Carolinas.

(dramatic music)
(men yelling)

- [Narrator] With
crime on the rise

and a massive fortune to protect

Henry Ford wants some muscle.

(men yelling)

He finds it in a former sailor
turned bare-knuckle fighter.

His name is Harry Bennett.

Ford hires Bennett as head of
his internal security force.

- Henry Ford hired ex-thugs,
ex-football players,

big strong men, and he
also put Harry Bennett

in charge of protecting
himself from extortion,

from kidnapping, from harm.

And Harry Bennett had to
control the workforce.

The way he did that was
through fear and intimidation.

- The reason Harry
Bennett wore the bowtie

as opposed to a regular tie,

somebody couldn't grab it and
immobilize you for a punch.

- [Narrator] Bennett
is everything

Ford's son Edsel
is not.

and quickly becomes
Henry's right-hand man.

- Edsel was a different
person than his father.

He was really interested
in the way cars looked.

He was a man a wonderful taste,

loved the shapes, the
curves, the colors.

- Welcome back.

How was your trip?

- What is that?

- It's a new design
for the Model T.

It's just a prototype.

It's still in development,

but I think it has
some improvements.

- Improvements?

(glass shattering)

- [Narrator] The US now leads
the world in m

and the auto industry
is at the forefront

with three firms dominating.

Ford at number one,
GM at number two,

and Dodge at number three.

These giants are reshaping
the country in their image

with miles of paved roads
allowing for developed land

just outside urban
centers in the suburbs

and accelerating the
development of the middle class

that will define America.

The third decade
of the 20th century

starts with change at
the Ford Motor Company.

As Henry Ford's son,
Edsel, is named president,

and the transition of power
is not going smoothly.

(glass shattering)

- There's nothing
wrong with the Model T.

Certainly nothing that
can be fixed by you.

- Henry Ford felt
like motivating people

by treating them badly
was the key to success,

and the way he treated Edsel,

constantly intentionally
disparaging him,

intentionally rejecting
his suggestions

as a way of motivating
him to be better,

this is Henry Ford's
philosophy of life.

- [Narrator] William Durant
whose company, Chevrolet,

is quietly finding market share

quickly puts him to
place his ultimate plan.

- Durant came up with an
idea of how to get back

at General Motors
and at the people

that threw him out
of the company.

He was buying stock
of General Motors

and he'd acquired
quite a few shares.

- [Narrator] Once Durant
secretly aquires enough GM stock

to have a controlling interest,

he merges it with Chevrolet

and suddenly William Durant

is back running
the company he founded.

- Billy Durant is buying up

all of these automobile
manufactures.

Bought up Frigidaire,
home appliances,

anything that he felt could
be a center for profit

was something that he felt
should belong to General Motors.

- [Narrator] The man who
saved GM from bankruptcy

now has a new boss.

- Mr. Durant,

I'm Walter Chrysler.

Welcome back to GM.

Mr. Chrysler,

I've wanted to meet
with you for some time,

to talk about a few things.

By cutting the gloss coat
from the undercarriage,

we've been able to reduce cost.

- It sounds like a fine idea.

I'm sure the boys upstairs
will make careful note of it.

- Chrysler was an
organized, practical man,

and Durant was anything but.

Durant was a visionary
and he did not take time

to work out the details.

- Mr. Durant, is there a better
time for us to discuss this?

- Keep up the good
work, Mr. Chrysler.

Thanks for coming by.

Thank you.

Nice to finally meet you.

- [Narrator] Chrysler's
attention to detail doesn't mesh

with Durant's management style.

- Chrysler has enough.

He didn't like
dealing with Durant.

He said, Billy, you and
I can never get along.

He had made a lot of
money with the arrangement

that he had with General Motors.

- [Narrator] Walter
Chrysler decides

it's time to become
his own boss.

- Walter Chrysler always
had an appetite for risk

but this was more than that.

He knew that he had an
opportunity to be a success

beyond anybody's imagination.

- [Narrator] To raise capital,

Chrysler cashes in $10 million

of his GM stock, worth
140 million today.

- He had learned everything
there was to know

about manufacturing automobiles.

- [Narrator] He uses it to
buy Maxwell Motor Company.

Then, he redesigns
their best selling car,

the Maxwell Model 25.

- If you're willing to
spend more time working

longer and harder
than anyone else

if you're passionate about the
industry you're working in,

you'll stay open-minded
to new things that come in

and be able to succeed.

- [Narrator] The new Model
features the first mass-produced

six-cylinder engine and
varnished wood spoked wheels.

It is seen by many to
be one of the first

affordable luxury cars.

Chrysler sells over
30,000 in the first year,

but he knows that he
needs to expand his line

to compete with
industry leader Ford,

where new President
Edsel Ford is struggling

to prove himself as he continues
to push for new designs.

- Edsel Ford, he was a
nice man, Democratic,

will consult with people,
will take people's advice.

Henry Ford was the
complete opposite.

He was autocratic,
dictatorial, selfish,

ruthless, and cunning,
and so you had two

diametrically opposed
people and they had conflict

almost from the beginning
because of that.

- Don't waste your time.

You know better than to think
you're actually in charge.

- You'll never run this company,

not if I have anything
to say about it.

(coughing)

- How are you feeling?

- Like hell.

- You've looked better.

- You don't look so good
yourself. (coughing)

- [Narrator] At the country's
number three automaker,

the Dodge Brothers
continued to innovate

until circumstances beyond
their control intervened.

- The influenza
epidemic of 1918, 1919,

it changed the United States,

it changed it in every
conceivable way.

- [Narrator] The Spanish flu
is the world's worst pandemic,

transmitted by soldiers
returning from World War One.

It kills nearly
700,000 Americans,

10 times the number
killed in combat.

Worldwide, half a billion
people are infected,

1/3 of the global population,

and now the disease
threatens to rob the country

of two of its most
gifted car makers.

(swing music)

The US car industry,

led by Ford and GM,

has become big business,

selling eight million cars
and netting billions in profits

while creating a
national road system,

the suburbs, and a middle-class.

But the industry is starting
to experience growing pains.

(coughing)

- Here.

- [Narrator] The Spanish
flu afflicted millions,

including the Dodge Brothers.

John Dodge succumbs to
the epidemic in 1920,

and just a year later,

Horace follows him
into an early grave,

putting the country's number
three automaker in limbo.

- What a shame.

- The Dodge Brothers were
really geniuses in the field.

Unfortunately there's
no way to see how far

they could have gone
with their company

in terms of their impact
on the automotive world.

- [Narrator] The tragedy
gives Walter Chrysler

just the opportunity
he's been looking for.

- [Reporter] Mr. Chrysler,
over here, please.

- The Dodge Brothers widows
had sold the company.

It was being run by some
bankers who really didn't know

that much about
running a car company.

Chrysler saw the
opportunities in my Dodge

which not only had big factories

but also had a good
reputation as a company.

- [Narrator] Chrysler and his
investors pay $170 million,

nearly $11 billion
today, one of the largest

business transactions of
the twentieth century.

It's a move that
stuns the industry

and instantly makes Chrysler
one of the three biggest

car makers in America.

- Every day decisions
define who we are.

We're defined by
our opportunities,

not just the ones we capitalize
on as great inventors are

but also the ones we miss.

- As the market becomes more
refined and more sophisticated

the big players win and the
smaller players drop out

because they don't have
the efficiency of scale

that the bigger players
have, and pretty soon,

you had just the big three.

- [Narrator] The once chaotic
American auto industry

is now dominated

by Chrysler,

General Motors,

and Ford.

Three of the most influential
corporations America

and the world will ever see.

They come to be known
simply as:

"The Big Three".

- The new name for progress
will be General Motors.

- [Narrator] The
cars they produce

drive America into the future,

but the road ahead tests
the might and the will

of the nation

(engines rev)

in a battle that will soon erupt

in an all-out war.

(glass breaking)

- [Narrator] On the next episode

of The Cars that Made America.

The Roaring 20s bring
prosperity to the country

as the car becomes the
heart of American culture.

And the big three
battle to capitalize

on an auto obsessed nation.

- All I want to do
is crush Henry Ford.

- [Narrator] But as economic
turmoil crashes the party,

labor violence threatens
to bring Detroit

to its knees.

- That key is going
to kill someone.