Chapter 87 The Great Depression (6)
Huang Xuan did not wait in the hotel. He had a lot of things to do, such as drawing pictures, robbing several well-dressed gentlemen to pay the room fee, such as wandering in the market to find business opportunities.
The most important thing is to find a few suitable buyers. Huang Xuan has no experience in this regard, but with Ford's smooth itinerary, more manufacturers are easier to convince.
Huang Xuan used a simple but effective method - advertising, and the advertising tools he used were very advanced in this era: telegraph.
Telegrams in the 1930s were expensive, but the effect was obvious. Because of their expensiveness and commercial characteristics, companies that received the telegram would not easily throw them into the trash can like today's newspapers received letters. On the other hand, telegrams also meet Huang Xuan's requirements, which are simple but interesting.
He only wrote three simple sentences on the telegram: Tomorrow, a new car design drawing will be sold at the Erice Hotel, and a company has already bid. Huang Xuan believes that his performance in the Rouge factory should attract the attention of many people, and if someone is interested in buying this design drawing, he should be able to get such information: Ford is very interested in this design drawing.
Is there anything more gimmick to use Ford to attract business?
As for whether anyone in other companies is really willing to buy it, this is not the point. As long as it can put enough pressure on Ford, Huang Xuan believes that this v8 designed entirely by Ford himself will definitely make Ford unable to give up.
...
Henry Ford is a man with high self-esteem. In fact, he does stand higher than most Americans, but he is not always right when it comes to Ford's operations.
He likes to make judgments that are not influenced by others. Many times, this judgment is based on intuition rather than intelligence. The result is sometimes correct, and sometimes it is wrong. Blindly expanding the production base, reducing R&D costs, and acquiring stocks, all of which are his wrong decisions. Of course, this is from the hindsight standpoint, but what is wrong is wrong.
Ford is a genius designer who started from scratch and built a gasoline engine on his own, designed a T-type car. At the same time, Ford is also a genius manager. He created the concept of cheap cars, he created assembly line operations, and he created the 5-day working system every week. But his conceit is also a headache. Most of the time, Ford believes in his own abilities rather than his team. Therefore, in terms of the development of new technologies, Ford has always lagged behind its competitors. It is no exaggeration to say that Ford is a factory with extremely high productivity but ordinary technology, just a large factory.
From beginning to end, Ford was a champion of efficiency. He had not produced new models for more than 20 consecutive years. What he did every day was to increase production. It was not until the T-model was invaded by Chevrolet that he woke up from his dream and closed the factory for research and development. However, this did not give Ford a warning. When GM occupied the throne of the No. 1 Automobile Company, Ford was still paying attention to improving production efficiency.
Under the leadership of this idea, Henry Ford nodded in a difficult way when he saw the drawings his son brought, and asked, "How is the design of v8?"
"It's not very smooth." Ford v8, also known as the flat-head v8, soon became the darling of entry-level racers in the United States after it was launched. In the 1930s and 1940s, the flat-head v8 was praised by modified racers. At the same time, Ford, which used the flat-head v8 as power, also won the Monte Carlo Rally Championship in 1936 and 1938. As long as you see these information, you can understand that such a classic model must have many innovations and difficulties in development.
Old Ford bounced the drawings on the table with his fingers and said with a deep face: "Will it be better than this design?"
"This..., we can't be sure, either." Edsel hesitated: "The main problem is that this is just a drawing, not even a prototype car, and no one knows whether it can meet the indicators mentioned above."
"He didn't build a prototype?"
"It seems that there is no." Edsel recalled Huang Xuan's appearance and said, "He seems to have only drawings and is anxious to ask for money."
Ford frowned and sat back on the chair, saying, "He wants 100,000 yuan?"
"yes."
After waiting for a long time, Ford said: "If there is no problem with the drawings, give them to him."
Henry Ford has not said anything. Such complex drawings cannot be drawn without a prototype car. That is to say, if the drawings are not problematic, then there must be a prototype car, and the other party does not, then the source of the drawings is very problematic.
However, for Ford, these are not problems. If you can save millions of dollars, or even just one tenth, you can get rid of the problems caused by the source of the drawings, not to mention that the government is currently in a state of being overwhelmed by the economic crisis.
What's more, Ford never cared about the government, and Roosevelt changed his car angrily because of Ford.
On the other side of the city, Alfred Sloan, the new president of GM, also got Huang Xuan's ad, but he did not pay attention to it, but just ordered a supervisor to go and take a look. He just grabbed Ford's position and wanted to know what Henry was thinking.
Erice Hotel.
Huang Xuan was waiting in the living room of the suite with his legs raised. About 5 years ago, such a suite cost $30 a day. The arrival of the Great Depression forced the hotel to reduce the charges several times. Now only 4 yuan a day is enough. Of course, Huang Xuan was still waiting for Ford to send money. He had decided that as long as Mr. Ford brought $100,000, he would not let him take the money back.
If Ford didn't take the money, he might have to commit a more violent crime. This is due to the situation. He has used millions of dollars in energy and brought millions of dollars in supplies. If there is no profit, everything will be wasted.
Now is different from the first few trips. At that time, Lorraine had very little energy and he had no protective measures. Using violence may not be worth the loss. In addition, no goal is also a big reason. Now it is different. He is in a germinated financial kingdom, with a dense alloy woven on his head, and a plane base on his back, and no other travelers harass him...
Edsel, who was designed, still didn't know that the $100,000 in the suitcase had been "reserved" by Huang Xuan. He also specifically asked Brown to bring 20 strong security guards to the Ellis Hotel with guns to meet.
As the waiter came to the door, Edsel shook hands with Huang Xuan with a chuckling and said, "The weather in Detroit is still adaptable, it has become a little cold in recent days."
"It's okay." Huang Xuan didn't talk much, so he asked Edsel to join him, and then introduced him: "This is Mr. Edward, and he also wants to see my drawings."
"Of course." Edsel did not know this Edward, but the other party obviously knew him. Both sides greeted him in a friendly manner and kept his questions in his cheeks.
Without too much politeness, Huang Xuan asked, "Do you mind seeing the cash you brought?"
Edsel's face was a little stiff. He didn't expect Huang Xuan to be so direct, but he still nodded casually and signaled Brown to show it to Huang Xuan.
Although Lorraine could easily check the suitcases of everyone present, Huang Xuan was still willing to show a gesture, which would make the next conversation easier.
The suitcase is a neat Federal Reserve Bank, which is the US dollar of this era, with a denomination of $100 and $1,000. The latter has not been issued since 1969 and should have 20 pieces. The rest are neat 100-dollar bills, which feels like withdrawing money from a Chinese bank.
"Okay. We can start the conversation." Huang Xuan happily pushed the suitcase to Brown, got up and opened the bedroom door, which contained mountain-like drawings.
"You can watch it slowly." Huang Xuan said and sat down and drank the tea from Sri Lanka.
The representative of GM is a kind of unhappiness of being forgotten, but Huang Xuan didn't even look at him. GM was just an alternative. He told Ford that I had other companies to sell. But as long as Edsel didn't say no, he wouldn't spend time on GM. To be more precise, Huang Xuan believed that time is more important than money. If he dragged it for two days, no amount of money would be of use.
The bedroom was covered with the drawings that were drawn last night, Huang Xuan slept in the bed, and Lorraine easily used energy to complete the work. Ford people quickly buried them in these hundreds of drawings, and their work was much easier than drawing them.
Huang Xuan was not in a hurry and dragged the teacup to Edsel, "Mr. Ford, do you have any connection with you in New York?"
“There are some.”
"I want to buy a printing factory in New York, and the equipment should be as advanced as possible. Do you have any solutions?" This is the method Huang Xuan thought about overnight. It was a little despicable, but it is better because it is easy to use.
Edsel looked at Huang Xuan strangely and said, "There are many factories that have gone bankrupt now. If you want to buy it, it is very simple."
"That's good." Huang Xuan smiled and said, "But I hope it can save some time. Maybe you know where there is such a factory."
Of course this is a problem of funds, but Edsel still told Huang Xuan two names, just said: "As a friend, I think I should tell you that the investment environment in the United States is already somewhat, and the rate of return has become lower."
Chapter completed!