The mind of Henry Ford, was, I think, not so much inventive as associative; his genius found full expression in the efficient rearrangement of things. He admired Thomas Edison and the Wright brothers, among others, because what they imagined and then brought to pass was genuinely new; Ford’s own achievements had more to do with what was readily available and could be improved. He did not conceive of the automobile; rather, he mass-produced it. And innovation followed in the wake of repetition. This seeming paradox—since, after all, few individuals have altered the future more thoroughly than did Henry Ford—informs the museum that bears his name. It is a forward-facing repository of the past preserved.

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration,” as Edison observed; an idea may take shape in an instant, but its successful application must take time. And over time the shape and substance of that original idea will likely be refined until even its progenitor might be shocked. The single light bulb and the electrified city seem a world apart. Yet the principle of the assembly line has to do with just such juxtaposition: Put this next to that in rapid and uniform sequence, and something new will emerge. For example, 7,882 distinct tasks were required to assemble Ford’s 1923 Model T touring car, yet the whole is more than the sum of the parts.

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