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Detroit’s Past Meets the Future—Henry Ford’s circa-1904 Factory and 21st Century F-150's Assembly

Thomas Wilmer
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Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, Nancy Darga, Detroit, auto

  Correspondent Tom Wilmer reports from Detroit Michigan at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, Henry Ford’s first purpose-built auto assembly factory constructed in 1904--This where the Model T was born and sparked the advent of the age of the automobile. 

We’ll visit with Nancy Darga, Executive Director at the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex. Ford’s Piquette Avenue plant is a National Historic Landmark and a part of the National Park Service’s MotorCities National Heritage Area, encompassing more than 10,000 square miles in Southeastern and Central Michigan.

Afterwards we’ll visit with Cynthia Jones, General Manager for the Ford Dearborn Rouge River F-150 truck assembly plant’s public tours.

The Rouge is where the past meets the future. Since 1927 the Rouge has been a mainstay Ford assembly facility, producing an incredible array of legendary models throughout the decades, including the Mustang and Thunderbird. Today robots work side by side with UAW assembly teams producing F-150 trucks. 

Tom Wilmer produces on-air content for Issues & Ideas airing over KCBX and is producer and host of the six-time Lowell Thomas award-winning NPR podcast Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer. Recorded live on-location across America and around the world, the podcasts feature the arts, culture, music, nature, history, science, wine & spirits, brewpubs, and the culinary arts--everything from baseball to exploring South Pacific atolls to interviewing the real Santa Claus in the Arctic.
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