October 26, 2015
MARSHALL NEWS MESSENGER: (10/23/15)- East Texas Baptist University business students took a drive through the past century on Thursday with a few Ford Motor Company cars.
Pegues Hurst Ford of Longview, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, brought over a 1915 Model T Ford for the students to inspect, along with a 2016 Ford Fusion.
ETBU Computer Science Professor Bill Mills also brought his 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 for presentation.
"I've always talked about the auto industry and the great pioneers like Henry Ford and Preston Tucker, but it struck me that just showing pictures of old cars did not convey to students how different they were," ETBU Associate Professor of Economics Tyler Watts said. "I realized the best way to address this would be to bring in actual cars and let the students see them up close and personal, and then they could really appreciate the innovations and improvements that have accumulated over the years."
Scott Owens, caretaker of the Longview dealership's Model T, explained the features and functionality of the car to students.
"This (is) a four-cylinder, about 20-horsepower with two speeds - low and high," Owens said. "The transmission is similar to the automatics of today with foot pedals that change the gears. The fuel tank is under the seat. People could use the exhaust heat from the engine to cook food while out. They used them on farms. This one is a wide-tracked model, about six inches wider than others. It fit in the wagon ruts and was mainly sold in the southern states."
Watts said looking at the progression of automobiles during the past century is a great way to explain the "market process."
"It starts with the basic ideas of trade and prices. We add in the idea of entrepreneurship, the quest for profits. Finally, we talk about institutions, or the legal system, which for us is the fact that our economy is mostly free and competitive," Watts said. "The result of this process is what the students were able to observe at basically 50-year intervals - continuous innovation and improvement in all products, in this case cars. This idea of continual innovation is the one feature of the free market system that we can rely on."
Mills explained the difference in materials from his 1957 Fairlane to the 2016 Fusion.
"This was made out of rigid solid steel," Mills said of the Fairlane. "If you were in an auto accident, this car would take the brunt of the damage. Today's cars are made of fiberglass components because it's cheaper."
Watts explained changes like this are part of the innovation process.
"In economics, we assume that people are only in it for the money. This might be a bit too negative a view, but it's the safe assumption," Watts said. "Therefore, what explains the innovation and constant improvement is that it's a very competitive industry, and if you don't innovate, you die. So while car companies come and go, in the end consumers - all of us - wind up with better and better products. And that's the beauty of the free market economy."