Maryborough and Dunolly Advertiser (Vic. : 1857 - 1867 ; 1914 - 1918), Monday 9 October 1916, page 1


UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL. A year or two ago when Mr. Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, visited England the London Automobile Club gave a dinner in his honor. It was a swell dinner, and Ford was given a warm welcome, the chairman extolling his organising genius and his industrial methods and his mechanical ability in a particularly neat speech. "But," he concluded, with a twinkle in his eye, "there's one thing I think Mr. Ford ought to explain. How is it that he drove here to-night in a Rolls-Royce car?" When the noise, which the reporters describe as loud laughter, had died down, Mr. Ford arose with a whim sical smie he acknowledged the ap-plause, thanked the chairman for all the nic.e things he had said, and the as-semblage for its welcome. Then he add-ed: "Your chairman asked me to ex-plain one incident connected with my visit here. and I must admil he is jus-tifed. Well, gentlemen, it was this way : When I received your invitation I said to my secretary, "This is a great compliment a very great compliment, and we must acknowledge it in style. There must be no half-measures about the manner of accepting an invitation from such a great club as this. Just you get a move on our London agents. and tell them to send round the best car in stock.' 'Impossible, Mr. Ford,' he replied. 'The Ford works turn out one and three-quarter cars a minute, and the public demand now amounts to two and a third cars a minute.' 'Don't worry about that.' I said. 'order the car'. 'But.' he protested. 'to send you a car means breaking faith with a con-sumer, and he Ford to Company has ne-ver yet been known to do that.' 'You are right' I said. 'Well, if you can't raise a Ford car in this little burg, let me have the next best. And that, gen-tlemen, is how I came here in a Rolls-Royce."