In post #374, @saforwardlook mentioned Chairman Lee's orientation on "better stuff". In the book of Iacocca's in the earlier 1980s, he mentioned that as a young Ford executive, he was taken into a meeting where they were discussing which shock absorbers to use in production. The choices were "a shock" that would last past the warranty period (of the time) and provide good service/value to the customer. The other choice was Ford's Rotunda brand of shocks, which were of better quality. The "a shock" cost about $1.00 each and the better Rotunda shock was about $2.00 or so, each. The ultimate choice was the "a shock" item.
Iacocca's manager could tell that he was not agreeing with their decision, so he said that they went with the less expensive item to: 1) save production cost on the vehicle as that part would last past about 12K miles and give the customer good service past that and 2) that when the shocks needed to be replaced, the customer would return to a Ford dealer for new shocks, thereby giving the dealer another chance to keep a loyal Ford customer in the process as the customer would then have the "better choice" of a quality Rotunda part. This was in about 1956 or so, IIRC, so you can also consider the side issues back then.
One side issue was that many customers who could afford it traded cars every 1-2 years, getting the "newest and best" available at that time. If the shocks really needed replacing, the dealer would foot the bill for new shocks (Rotunda or otherwise). Back then, Monroe actively advertised and advocated that owenrs should "get rid of their cheap factory shocks" and install (much better) Monroe shocks after about 12K miles. So customers who had relationships with good mechanics would head over there and request that they install new Monroe HD shocks on their Ford (or other make) vehicles.
Of course, if the customer special ordered "HD suspension" or "HD shocks" from the factory, they probably got the better Rotunda shocks, but paid the difference between the std and HD shocks on the MSRP of the vehicle as an "optional extra".
Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
Iacocca's manager could tell that he was not agreeing with their decision, so he said that they went with the less expensive item to: 1) save production cost on the vehicle as that part would last past about 12K miles and give the customer good service past that and 2) that when the shocks needed to be replaced, the customer would return to a Ford dealer for new shocks, thereby giving the dealer another chance to keep a loyal Ford customer in the process as the customer would then have the "better choice" of a quality Rotunda part. This was in about 1956 or so, IIRC, so you can also consider the side issues back then.
One side issue was that many customers who could afford it traded cars every 1-2 years, getting the "newest and best" available at that time. If the shocks really needed replacing, the dealer would foot the bill for new shocks (Rotunda or otherwise). Back then, Monroe actively advertised and advocated that owenrs should "get rid of their cheap factory shocks" and install (much better) Monroe shocks after about 12K miles. So customers who had relationships with good mechanics would head over there and request that they install new Monroe HD shocks on their Ford (or other make) vehicles.
Of course, if the customer special ordered "HD suspension" or "HD shocks" from the factory, they probably got the better Rotunda shocks, but paid the difference between the std and HD shocks on the MSRP of the vehicle as an "optional extra".
Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
