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We could not fulfill our mission as a not-for-profit without the valuable support from our many partners and partners. Building a sustainable, inclusive future by connecting people to the Ford Family Legacy and to each other through history, culture, and love. George Historic Motorcars in Pennsylvania volunteered to fix up a Model T Touring Car (not the one Ford used on his trip) so it could motor the 150 to 250 miles a day, as the original journey did. Ultimately, 4,000 were produced during the fair’s run from March 2 to Dec. 4.
Historic Ford House opens to visitors with expanded amenities - Detroit Free Press
Historic Ford House opens to visitors with expanded amenities.
Posted: Wed, 26 May 2021 07:00:00 GMT [source]
About American Heritage
Involved in many worthy causes, and also collectors of art, they did a lot of giving back. Ever since I was young, and set foot in Greenfield Village for the first time, I’ve found historic places to be fascinating with stories they have to tell. I love how this has passed down to my girls, and for decades, Ford House, home of Edsel and Eleanor Ford has been a place on my “to visit” list. During your visit to Ford House, experience an extraordinary meal with a beautiful view of Lake St. Clair! The lakeside restaurant is located inside the Ford House Visitor Center.
The Architect for Ford House: Home of Edsel and Eleanor Ford
The body was again fabricated at the aircraft division per Gregorie’s design for a two-passenger roadster, with a vee’d grille; a tapered, boattail rear end; and cut-down doors. The hand-formed aluminum panels were mounted to a tube framework. Again, the sources say the cycle-style front fenders that turn with the wheels were modified from Ford Trimotor parts. The finished car weighed only 2400 pounds, so the stock 75-horsepower Model 40 flathead V-8 still gave it sprightly acceleration with a three-speed manual transmission and a floor shifter.
Restoration
When he wasn’t driving it in Palm Beach, like his ’32 Speedster he stored it at Gaukler Point, nowhere near his father’s stomping grounds in Dearborn. Sources say it was kept in an unheated “shed,” but the estate has a carriage house bigger than most people’s entire homes. Either way, a deep freeze in the winter of 1939–40 cracked the engine block, so a then-new 1940 Mercury V-8 was swapped in. A later owner would replace that engine with a NOS 1940 Ford V-8, with dual carburetors and dual exhausts. The Mercury engine, although removed, remained with the Speedster. To be able to significantly lower the car, he flipped the rear frame’s kick-up upside down, so the frame rails passed below the back axle, allowing for a six-inch drop.
Group Tours at Ford House
There was actually a third sports car that Bob Gregorie developed with Edsel Ford, the 1935 Special Sports. Unlike the two speedsters, this was a four-seater actually intended for limited production. Ford and Gregorie wanted to make a longer and lower version of the stock Ford passenger car chassis to sell to coachbuilders who would make custom bodies for it. Despite the fact that he liked it, Edsel and Gregorie discussed making an even lower and racier speedster. Gregorie started work on the new car and Edsel sold the ’32 Speedster to a Grosse Pointe neighbor named Elmer Benzin, who then sold it to a GM designer, who crashed it.
Several rooms, you would have thought were remodeled, due to the style of furniture and decor. Looking like something out of the 1960’s, the recreation room, and the bedrooms belonging to the boys, are filled with streamlined furniture. This shows how they were way before their time in setting trends, and being creative. Therefore, several details stand out based on the time period.
They were nationally prominent and they owned more than one house, but Southeast Michigan was their home. Here they built their final residence along the shores of Lake St. Clair, at a place known locally as Gaukler Pointe. Their impressive yet unpretentious home is where they raised and nurtured their four children - Henry II, Benson, Josephine and William - in a safe and loving environment. Warner considered doing a full restoration back to the original grille design, but in the end decided the speedster was a piece of history. Instead he and his team rebuilt the engine, replacing the aftermarket Edelbrok heads that had likely been installed when the car was in Hollywood with stock units, and then touched up the paint. Coming in spring 2020, Ford House will open a brand new visitor center and administration building, currently under construction.
History of the Estate
The result is visually arresting, if not quite as elegant as the first iteration. Gregorie made a scale model, and its photo, with Edsel Ford’s handwritten approval, still exists. By the mid 1920s, due to the success of the Model T, the Fords were one of the wealthiest families on Earth. Edsel and Eleanor furnished it with authentic fittings imported from the Cotswolds in the U.K. The project is to reduce the impact of waves and flooding, reduce polluted runoff and nutrient loads and increase recreational fishing opportunities. It also is to increase public access to the inaccessible shoreline for future educational and recreational activities, according to a Ford House release.
Friends enjoy free tours, daily access to the grounds, dog-walking privileges, discounts, and more. Your ticket gives you access to the Visitor Center, including the three exhibitions, as well as the grounds and gardens. Get regular updates about programs, events, and news from Ford House. On any given day, you'll see Moss chasing away the Canada geese, ensuring our grounds are pristine for visitors. Ford House is grateful for the support from our incredible partners and sponsors.
News & Notes - 6/29/23 Grosse Pointe Times - C&G Newspapers
News & Notes - 6/29/23 Grosse Pointe Times.
Posted: Tue, 27 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Offering a one-of-a-kind look into the private lives of Edsel Ford, his wife Eleanor and their children, a guided tour of their 60-room lakeside mansion brings you into the same rooms they called home. The Fords’ carefully designed and curated home also reveals their deep love for art and design, from architecture and landscape to their impressive personal collection of art and antiques. The house was designed by Detroit architect Albert Kahn and completed in 1929. Kahn designed a gracious sixty-room house resembling a Cotswold village. The exterior was fashioned in Briarhill sandstone from Ohio; the interior was paneled and plastered in the seventeenth-century English manner. Construction took three years—from 1926 to 1929—and no detail was overlooked.
Rivera’s Detroit Industry murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts were a gift of Edsel Ford. The Ford House grounds are a work of art in their own right. Designed by famed landscape architect Jens Jensen, the meadow, rockwork and water components appear to be almost completely natural but were meticulously planned. The most recent restoration project was to replace the sandstone pillars on the outside of the lakefront patio, which had started to crack around the upper edges. To ensure complete historical accuracy the foundation contracted a firm from the same region from where the original stone was purchased. The restoration projects are done by skilled craftsmen who have had proven previous experience in their fields.
After a year’s delay due to the pandemic, the Ford House, Edsel and Eleanor’s estate, has opened up its comprehensive visitors center, where the three cars are now in a permanent exhibit titled Driven by Design. Though the Ford House has owned all three vehicles for some time, for the most part they have been on loan to other institutions and car shows. As mentioned, Edsel Ford had a close working relationship with Gregorie, and Edsel liked to spend time in the styling studio offering suggestions and approving designs. Their relationship went beyond work on production Fords and Lincolns (Henry having bought Lincoln out of Henry Leland’s bankruptcy, it has been said, to give Edsel something to play with).
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