FORD Museum

Well this week has certainly been an unusual one for us.  We will be going on three day trips.  Monday's trip to Science Works had been booked in over a month ago. Earlier this week I received a phone call from a friend saying she had booked to go to the FORD Museum (Discovery Center) and could no longer attend would Sir N and I like to go ?  Oh yes please !

The discovery center is well laid out and interesting. Down stairs starts with a time line in Fords History. The first car on display is a replica of Henry's Quadcycle built in  1896. From here we had a look at the Model T and Model A which was designed by his son. As you walk along there are mini displays of each decade in Fords History highlighting their milestones. We had two tour guides who gave us an excellent brief history of FORD and FORD in Australia.

Next we went upstairs and learned about the production process from ideas, to paper, to clay model and safety testing.

Upon completion of the tour the students were given an opportunity to design a car and make a clay model of their design. Lots of fun had by all.  We were then given the freedom to spend as much time exploring as we wanted in the museum. 

I purchased Time For Kids Biography: Henry Ford Putting the World on Wheels to read as a follow up to our field trip.

Some of the interesting things we learned are:

• Henry chose black paint for the Model T because it dried the fastest.
• The first V8 car produced for the market was in 1932.
• The UTE vehicle was designed in Geelong after a farmers wife wrote a letter asking them if they could make a car that the family could use to go to church on Sunday and take the pigs to market on Monday.
• Once a car has passed the paper stage of design it is made into a full sized clay model weighing over two tons.
• The interior of a car is also designed in clay before production is started.
• Henry's first engine was called a sink engine because he made it on a sink!
• Welding robots are used because of safety and because the job causes a lot of repetitive strain injuries in people. 

The Ford Discovery website is full of interesting information and you can take a virtual tour and see where we spent our day.

Blessings
Chareen
Post is linking with: Homegrown Learners: Collage Friday.