The Living Link Ford Piquette Plant
For many people, the image of mass production and the moving assembly line — scenes often associated with the iconic Ford Model ‘T’ — are mixed with images of a vast factory and thousands of assembly-line workers feverishly placing components together or onto assembly line vehicles at Ford Motor Company’s Highland Park plant. Yet those images would never occurred in the scale and impact that they did if Henry Ford had not first experienced the realization of his initial vision of the affordable car, or “Universal Car,” as he called it. This video brings you in for a brief “close-up view” of the modest three-story building that preceded the massive Highland Park factory by five years: the Ford Motor Company “Piquette Plant.” Incredibly, when this video was filmed, the Ford Piquette factory was actually up for sale and open to demolition for land redevelopment. In subsequent years, a dedicated group of Ford buffs and preservationists have collaborated in purchasing the building and restoring it to share with the world. Take a look through the portal of time at the ‘Missing Link.”