See iron ore and sand transformed into powerful new Ford engines in this original Ford Motor Company movie from 1954.

Historians have noted that one useful way to study the Ford Motor Company is to approach it as two distinct enterprises. Ford version 1.0 was the pioneering carmaker created from scratch by Henry Ford I, which put America on wheels but eventually fell dangerously behind the times and nearly went out of business.  Version 2.0 was the company created by his grandson and namesake, Henry Ford II, rebuilding the Dearborn automaker from the foundation stones up. So from that angle, just as there were two Henry Fords, there are two Ford Motor Companies, if you will.

This 1954 film, Technique for Tomorrow, is very much the story of the second company. At the time, Ford was rapidly turning away from its old ways, including the colossal,  vertically integrated River Rouge complex where the the venerable flathead V8 was made. (See our feature on the Rouge plant, often described as an industrial wonder of the world, here.) Now there were new and modern manufacturing facilities spreading across the country, where advanced, up-to-the-minute products could be produced.

The focus of this film is on the Ford Brook Park facility, just southwest of Cleveland, Ohio and brand new in 1954. To be precise, it was originally two plants: a casting foundry and an engine assembly plant. The Ford Cleveland V8 of 1969-82, formally known as the 335-series V8, was produced here, among others, and here we see the 1952-64 I-Block 6, sibling of the Y-Block V8, under construction. (More on the Y-Block here.) For us, one valuable part of this film is its rare look at an often mysterious process, cylinder-block casting, including sand cores, starting at around the six-minute mark. Enjoy the movie.