I have never felt the urge myself but I can
comprehend what it is--although I think that a man who retires ought
entirely to get out of a business. There is a disposition to retire and
retain control. It was, however, no part of my plan to do anything of
that sort. I regarded our progress merely as an invitation to do
more--as an indication that we had reached a place where we might begin
to perform a real service. I had been planning every day through these
years toward a universal car. The public had given its reactions to the
various models. The cars in service, the racing, and the road tests gave
excellent guides as to the changes that ought to be made, and even by
1905 I had fairly in mind the specifications of the kind of car I wanted
to build. But I lacked the material to give strength without weight. I
came across that material almost by accident.
In 1905 I was at a motor race at Palm Beach. There was a big smash-up
and a French car was wrecked. We had entered our "Model K"--the
high-powered six. I thought the foreign cars had smaller and better
parts than we knew anything about.
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