(In a recent visit to Andover (2013) John & Linda Coffin Common agreed to send a family collection of photos copied to Bill Greene and allowed us to share the photos on this website. The photos will be in a portfolio of Common Family in our Photo Gallery.
John 's Father & Grandfather were both dentists and in both Angelica to Andover provided many people with professional dental service for their lifetimes, including this webmaster!
In the collection were the two photos included with this article about the 20,000,000th Ford produced and which toured with a stop in Andover, Allegany County, NY.
Bill Greene has done his research and found the Andover News articles which are transcribed by him and shared below. Our thanks go to the Common Family for sharing the photos and to Bill for his help in providing the story…. Ron Taylor, Webmaster.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TWENTY-MILLIONTH FORD CAR TO VIST ANDOVER
Photos property of the Common family. Transcribed stories from Andover News & Copied by William A. Greene October 23, 2013
May 1, 1931: TWENTY-MILLONTH FORD CAR: Will Visit Andover This Morning at 9:30 at the Corner Garage, the Ford Agency.
The twenty-millionth Ford car, symbolic of one man’s contribution to world history and the development of American industry, will visit Andover enroute from Detroit on a transcontinental tour.
Assembled in the presence of Henry and Edsel Ford – The twenty-millionth ford left the Ford Motor company’s rouge plant in Dearborn Mich. on April 14th.
Following the brief ceremonies at the final assembly line, and with Henry Ford at the wheel, the car was driven to Mr. Ford’s home several miles away where its meeting with the first Ford produced in 1893 was recorded for future generations in motion pictures.
Now expected to arrive in Andover at about 9:30 o’clock a.m., the twenty-millionth Ford will be met at the village limits and escorted to the Corner Garage where it will be placed on exhibition for ten minutes before resuming its tour.
Its tour of the country completed, the Twenty-Millionth Ford will be returned to Greenfield Village for preservation near the first Ford, the “Gasoline Buggy” in which Henry Ford astounded his neighbors and demoralized horse’s traffic when he chugged noisily thru Detroit’s cobbled streets at the dizzy speed of nearly 20 miles an hour.
The first Ford built in 1893 and one of the first three automobiles the world has ever seen---odd, indeed, by comparison with its 1931 descendent, was mounted on bicycle wheels and its wheezing little tow cylinders boasted four horse power. Its gasoline tank held all of three gallons and its uncomfortable seat accommodated three people. In order to drive it, Mr. Ford was given a verbal permit by the mayor, thus becoming, it would seem, the world’s first licensed chauffeur.
Since the precursor of the long line of Fords that have since revolutionized the automotive industry, made the automobile a commonplace within the reach of almost every family and tremendously aided the development of a good roads system.
In December, 1915, more than 1,000,000 Fords had been produced. Thereafter as a result of Ford manufacturing methods and processes now recognized as standards of efficiency and ecomomy for industry the world over, the total production reached 2,000,00 in June, 1917; 5,000,000 in May, 1921; 10,000,000 in June, 1924, and 15,000,000 in May 19627.
TWENTY-MILLIONTH FORD VISITS TOWN
May 8, 1931: Gets Official Greeting and Recognition From Mayor Mingus – Fifteen Models in Parade.
The twenty-millionth Ford arrived in Andover Friday morning as scheduled, with 15 other models of the same breed and name on its country-wide tour and was welcomed at the corporation line by a committee of Andover officials and business men and was conducted to Village Hall where Mayor Mingus and the editor of the News inscribed their names in the log. The car was in Andover about ten minutes. The school children were given the opportunity to be present and see the display.
Assembled in the Rouge plant of the Ford Motor Company at Dearborn, Mich., the twenty-millionth Ford is to be preserved with the other famous automobiles in Greenfield Village, Henry Ford’s reproduction near Dearborn of an early American village.
During its visit here, it was pointed out that 20,000,000 Fords, if place bumper to bumper, would stretch approximately 485,296 miles within 1,508 miles of enough to twice girdle the globe at the equator.
After finding the old photos and stories, I wondered what ever happened to this car. I did a little checking on the computer and found that this old car is now again in the ownership of Ford Motor Company and is taken to selected functions. It was thought to have burnt back in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s.