Written by another, slightly edited~

>>"There were 3 men who had more influence on the automobile business than anyone else. These 3 created & nutured automobile manfacturing businesses & concepts that live today, and their ideas continue to affect the way autos are built & marketed. They were all born in the 19th century, but their vision gave life to the legacy of the 20th. There were a number of similarities in these men's lives, but their differences lay in the way each approached the business of producing autos. The contributions to automotive perfection & advancement of these 3 cannot be overstated."<<

There was one very personal similarity the 3 shared, and if you get get this, you are given a big shove toward identifying the 3.

The similarity.... is it losing a parent at a young age?

I checked one of the 3 and he did lose a parent young.... but that was not what I was alluding to as the 'very personal similarity'. Another of the 3 did NOT lose a parent when 'young'.

Edited January 5, 201015 yr by balthazar

They went bankrupt

^ Quite the opposite, at least WRT 1 of them.

Any involved in car accidents?

^ Nothing serious to my knowledge; that's not it.

MORE: I don't believe this was misleading (certainly not intentionally) but what they shared was not 'similar', it was 'exact'.

Hm-mmm...... OK...... they shared... 1st names.

heh, the only three I can think of with the same first name is Henry Ford, Henry Leland and Henry Kaiser. But I cant think how that fits the rest of the question...

coming to the hotel after the 7 hour slog through the slush and then having a beer, I read this question and kept thinking...

"Henry Ford, Henry Leland......Henry..... EARL!

That's gotta be who Balthazar is talking about! Henry Earl!"

Google image the name to make it even funnier.

coming to the hotel after the 7 hour slog through the slush and then having a beer, I read this question and kept thinking...

"Henry Ford, Henry Leland......Henry..... EARL!

That's gotta be who Balthazar is talking about! Henry Earl!"

Google image the name to make it even funnier.

LoL.... the pics (and Wikipedia entry on Henry Earl are pretty funny.

Didn't we used to have a Harley Earl character on C&G? Someone that was a fan or had them as part of their sig or avatar?

^ It wasn't that long ago that Harley Earl posted here regularly. His appreciation was not bound by being "modern" (whatever that may mean), and I of course value that.

Henry Ford, Henry Leland are correct! The third man the piece I got the opening from suggests is .... Henry Royce (Natch; of the Rolls fame). Interesting piece (too long to transcribe here), but all 3 grew up similarly; not wealthy, began machinist's apprenticeships while young, and had both strong work ethics and mechanical aptitudes. Their professional approaches differed: Ford (duh) wanted to build an auto for the masses, Royce knew how his car was to be built and was very demanding & particular, while Leland fell between the 2- he determined that a high quality car could be built to a consistant high standard of material & precision that allowed a certain level of mass production.

Henry Leland was a humble & awesome soul.