Comment by bryanlarsen
7 days ago
Agreed. The autombile was two innovations, not one. If Ford had created a carriage assembly line in an alternate history without automobiles, how many carriage makers would he have put out of business? The United States certainly couldn't have supported 4000 carriage assembly lines. Most of those carriage makers did not have the capacity or volume to finance and support an assembly line.
That's the part missing from TFA, there were thousands of auto 'startups', but only a handful survived the depression.
I might be a wealthy person if "my" company had survived the Depression.
Which company is that, you ask? My last name is Maxwell.
(But afaik, none of my ancestors owned or even worked for that car company.)
Also, the auto built on some technologies that were either invented or refined by the bicycle industry: Pneumatic tires, ball bearings, improved steel alloys, and a gradual move to factory production. Many of the first paved roads were the result of demand from bicyclists.