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Monday, July 13, 2015

Edsel Ford's 1915 Detroit to San Francisco Road Trip

From a story published in  the Detroit Free Press: author Mark Phelan

A century ago, 21-year-old Edsel Ford and six friends whose families would shape Detroit in the 20th Century set out for a last fling, a cross-country road trip before taking up the responsibilities of adulthood.
This week, drivers from the Historic Vehicle Association will leave the ancestral Ford estate in Dearborn in an identical 1915 Ford Model T Touring Car to recreate the forgotten journey.
"It was one last taste of freedom before life and family obligations took over," said Matt Anderson, curator of transportation at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn. "Edsel's life was pretty well planned for him" by his famously domineering father, Henry. "They slept out in tents they secured to the cars. They carried pistols and rifles because of wild animals and criminals along the route.
"It shows there was a romanticism to the road trip even then," Anderson said. "It wasn't about the destination as much as the journey and the company,"



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