Dad looked at the chart for a long time, lost in thought, and then spoke.
"To be able to create such a chart to persuade others, my son truly has outstanding business talent. You will become a great businessman in the future. Do you think automobiles will replace horses because they are cheaper than carriages?"
"No, price is just a secondary issue. It's only a tiny fraction of the automobile's real advantages, and its priority is low. The biggest advantage of an automobile is, first of all, speed. Dad, it's just over a mile from our house to the company, but it takes about 20 minutes. However, if you take a car, it takes less than 10 minutes. A horse is only 5 miles per hour, but a car can go up to 20 miles per hour."
"The car I saw wasn't that fast. Isn't a car that fast a special case?"
"That might be true right now, but that's because automobiles haven't properly demonstrated their functions yet. In a little while, 20 miles per hour will be easy. And the next advantage is that they don't poop or get sick. Currently, many horses have bags attached to their rear ends to prevent them from pooping on the road, but more don't have them, and the streets are covered in the poop they drop. Street cleaners suffer every day cleaning it up.
It's not just on the road; it's even more troublesome at home. Even we suffer cleaning up poop in the stable. Also, horses get sick. As I noted in that chart, you have to feed them every day, and you can't slack off on care even for a moment. In comparison, cars don't poop or get sick. You don't have to suffer trying to feed them every day."
"Instead, it's hard to get gasoline. Even you are stocking up several barrels of necessary gasoline like that in advance."
"Mr. Rockefeller will solve that when the number of cars increases. If cars increase, Mr. Rockefeller will create places to sell gasoline everywhere, so you don't have to worry about anything."
Only then did Dad nod and acknowledge the advantages of the automobile.
"Certainly, as you say, automobiles will replace carriages. So now that you've completed the engine, can we see the car right away if we wait a little bit?"
I became a little glum and said,
"Making the engine was merely solving the first-stage problem. There's much more to do in the future."
"What is difficult?"
"For suspension or seats, we can just bring them from carriages as they are, but the steering system and brakes are problems. Especially brakes are difficult. Since it's something that runs much faster than a carriage, brakes that can stop immediately when desired are absolutely necessary."
Dad lifted me up high, rubbed his cheek against my face, and said,
"My son is so smart; who does he really take after to be this smart?"
"It's because I take after Dad."
"Do you answer like that when Mom asks too?"
"When Mom asks, I say it's because I take after Mom, and when Dorothy asks, I say I take after Dorothy."
Dad laughed heartily, rubbed his cheek against my face several times, and put me down.
I told Dad that the steering system and brakes were difficult, but in fact, there are more problems. A transmission is also needed, and carriage tires don't suit cars, so tires exclusively for cars are needed. It seemed it would take quite some time to solve all these problems.
December 24, 1896, Christmas Eve. In the United States, all work stops on this day, and vacation begins until work starts again in the New Year. The Wall Street financial district is no exception in this regard, and people gather with their families or relatives to hold parties.
John Pierpont Morgan is the King of Wall Street, and relatives and colleagues all gather at the spacious Morgan residence to hold a big party.
Tang! Tang! Tang! Tang!
Suddenly, a banging resonance began to be heard from the gate of the Morgan residence. People gathered at the Morgan house turned their heads in unison toward the direction of the gate where the banging sound came from, and a moment later, my first car, the Ford Model A, revealed its magnificent form and was entering the main gate of the Morgan residence.
"Oh my, what is that?"
"A carriage is moving without a horse."
"Goodness, it's moving by itself."
Amidst the women making a fuss seeing a car for the first time, men who at least knew what an automobile was opened their mouths.
"What is it? It's an automobile."
"Automobile? Is that called an automobile? Wasn't it a horseless carriage?"
"Really? I heard it was a four-wheeled motor bicycle."
Since the name "automobile" hadn't been established yet, everyone was calling it by whatever name was comfortable for them.
"What? The one driving is the little Duke of the Ford family."
"Ah, is he that famous Duke Ford?"
"The Ford couple is riding in the back. Can't you tell by looking?"
"Why is the kid driving instead of Mr. Ford?"
A young woman who was listening to the men's conversation from the side answered that question.
"That kid said he was making something called an automobile, and it seems he finally made it."
"What? He didn't buy it with money, but that kid made it?"
"Haven't you heard the rumor that the kid is a genius? There shouldn't be anyone on Wall Street who doesn't know."
"Ah, that was that kid? I heard the rumors, but I only heard that he calculates incredibly fast; I hadn't heard he makes things like that, so I didn't think of it."
A woman who didn't know the situation well asked.
"But why do they call him a Duke?"
"They say he's a Duke from some country in the East."
"Why is Mr. Ford keeping an Eastern Duke?"
"They say his father, who was originally a Duke, was executed by the King, and Mr. Ford found the child fleeing alone, hurriedly smuggled him out, adopted him, and is raising him."
"But are there only one or two countries in the East? Which Eastern country is it?"
"Except for a few close relatives of Mr. Ford, they say no one knows which country it is. But looking at his appearance, doesn't he look like somewhere in China, Japan, or Southeast Asia? I don't think it's India."
While women mainly talked about the Duke status, men were focusing on the fact that he made a car.
"So you're saying that kid made that? Is that possible?"
"Everyone who has seen him in person sticks their tongue out in amazement. So I guess he makes cars too."
"Still, isn't he a kid who looks like he hasn't even entered school yet?"
"Don't be too surprised. He's such a genius that they say university professors invited as tutors all ran away saying they didn't have the confidence to teach him."
"I saw him calculate in person. He just glanced at something ten bankers struggled with all day and couldn't do, calculated it immediately, and gave the answer."
"Don't even talk about it. He remembered data created a month ago at our company and pointed it out immediately when an error occurred."
"Do you know that the money that kid receives is more than our annual salary?"
"He receives that much?"
"Is he currently going around four banks including Morgan Bank? Or five? Anyway, they say he earns more than his father, Mr. Ford."
When I brought the car to the front of the porch, men flocked to the front of the car, surrounded it, looked around, and chatted noisily.
"Ah, that thing visible under the seat over there must be the engine. And that brass container must be the fuel tank."
"The seats were brought straight from a buggy carriage, but the tires are something I've never seen before."
"It seems it's steered with that stick."
While people were surrounding the car and chatting, Aunt Jane and Uncle Jack Morgan came out and welcomed Mom and Dad.
"Welcome, Laura unnie. Welcome, John brother-in-law."
"Welcome. Laura, John."
"Jessie, Jack, we came riding something too noisy, didn't we?"
I also greeted my aunt and uncle while sitting in the driver's seat.
"Hello, Aunt Jessie. Uncle Jack."
Aunt Jane and Uncle Jack said simultaneously.
"You finally completed that automobile thing. Laura unnie worried a lot that you were only absorbed in cars."
"I heard this is faster than a carriage; how many miles per hour does it get?"
"It gets up to 20 miles per hour. But now it's dangerous, so I don't speed up that much and only go about 10 miles."
This car doesn't have seatbelts yet, let alone windows blocking the front. The back seat is a bit better because the front seat blocks it, but the structure is such that a person sitting in the front seat could be thrown forward if stopped suddenly while running fast. So, when running, I attached handles to the side and made them hold those handles, but a speed of 20 miles could be a bit dangerous, so I was contemplating installing seatbelts. I can't die in a car accident before I even try something with a car.
Then why didn't I bother installing seatbelts? It wasn't because seatbelts were tricky to make, but because the car was too small and there was no space to install them.
The structure of the 3-point seatbelt is in the blueprint in my future knowledge, so I could make it if I spent some time and effort, but I didn't have the capacity to make seatbelts while spending time on improving brakes, transmission, and engine.
Another reason was that a speed of 20 miles per hour, or 32 km/h, seems impressive now, but in fact, it was a speed where the risk of death wasn't that high.
So now, I boldly gave up on the 3-point seatbelt and am contemplating whether to install a 2-point seatbelt worn around the waist.
But the fact that 20 miles per hour is nothing special is my perspective with future knowledge, and it wasn't for people of this era.
Hearing the story that my No. 1 car could go up to 20 miles per hour, Jack Morgan was surprised and said,
"This can run up to 20 miles? Young Ford, won't you sell this to me?"
"Actually, thinking of selling, I made a few more. The price for one is $1,000."
Jack Morgan whistled.
"$1,000 is quite a bit more expensive than a carriage."
"Including the engine, the cost involved is vastly different from a carriage, so it can't be helped. Besides, this can run at night too. Of course, it is a bit dangerous though."
"It can run at night too?"
I immediately flipped the switch for the headlights. Lights came on in the two headlights attached to the very front of the car. Since the weather wasn't dark yet, it didn't look particularly bright, but one could understand how it could run at night.
Hearing that I had made a few more cars, several of the Morgan family's guests ran over and shouted. The people gathered at Mr. Morgan's party were all Wall Street bankers, people who could easily pay around $1,000 right away.
"$1,000 you say? I'll buy it. Can you sell it to me right now, young Ford?"
"No, I'm first, sell it to me."
"What is this, can't you see I brought it up first?"
"I made plenty, so you don't have to rush. Since you have to spend Christmas with your family anyway, if you come to my house the day after Christmas, you can take one right away."
"You tell me to wait two days?"
"How can I wait two days? Can't I go tomorrow?"
Uncle Jack Morgan looked at my car with greedy eyes and said,
"Buying can be done the day after tomorrow, but can't I just ride it a bit now?"
However, Jack Morgan's greed couldn't be satisfied immediately. Because the little kids, including Mr. Morgan's grandsons who were gathered together inside the house, saw my car through the window and came rushing out.
Jack Morgan's son, Junius, shouted first.
"Henry, what is that? Give me a ride too."
Other little kids shouted all at once.
"Me too, I want to ride too."
"Henry, give me a ride too."
There was even a little lady, a mere two-year-old girl, acting cute.
"Duke Henry Ford, give me a ride too."