Why John Dodge said the Ford wasn't a real car

67yelodart wrote: "Also,did you know,that Ford (and of course everyone else) was so impressed with the Torqueflite,that in the late 50's they paid chrysler to be able to copy some of the internal functions."

Right, Ford paid Chrysler big money to be able to use the design of the TorqueFlite, but they made some changes to the Chrysler design when they introduced their Cruise-o-matic, and most people think the those changes made the transmission worse, not better.

Ford was forced to consult with Chrysler engineering many times over the years because Henry Ford did not think engineers knew anything and would not hire them. He liked to "engineer" his cars by the seat of his pants. By the time Ford died in 1947, Ford Motor was seriously behind GM and Chrysler in engineering and metallurgy and it took them a long time to catch up. All this consultation occurred "behind the scenes" because Ford Motor wasn't terribly proud that they couldn't solve some of their engineering problems in-house. For example, when they introduced the Falcon engine in 1960, it initially wore out its rings in 40,000 miles or less. Ford couldn't figure out what the problem was, so they secretly consulted with Chrysler. The Chrysler metallurgists discovered that the Falcon engine's block and rings were made from incompatible materials, from a wear standpoint. Once Ford used a different alloy for their rings in this engine, as recommended by the Chrysler metallurgists, the rings would last 100,000 miles or more.