Henry's Lieutenants

Eugene Jeno Farkas

Eugene Jeno Farkas 1881-1963 "You know, Gene and I are going to run this place. I wish Gene had more boldness. He's too nice a guy to work around here.,, —Henry Ford* Many of the unique chassis features of the Model T automobile , the Fordson tractor, and the Model A Ford can be attributed to Eugene Farkas. Henry Ford and Farkas were engineering partners not only on those well-known vehicles but also on the mysterious X Car, which after six years of experimentation was not yet ready for mass production. Eugene Jeno Farkas was born in Kald, Hungary, on October 26, 1881. There were ten children in the family of Karoly and Anna Farkas, and Eugene was second eldest. When he was five years old, his family moved to Janoshama and then to the larger town of Sarvas, where the father became quite successful as a wagon builder. When Eugene had finished his compulsory six years of schooling, he was sent for four years to military school. He moved to Budapest and graduated from gymnasium, somewhat equivalent to American high school. He then attended the Royal Joseph Technical University, an engineering college, where he received the degree of certified mechanical engineer in 1904. The expense of this elaborate program of training was aided by a wealthy uncle on his mother's side of the family. Farkas spent one year in the army. Following the army training, he took work in a motorcycle factory without pay in order to obtain experience . Work was not at all plentiful in Hungary at that time, and Farkas, with a friend, set out for the United States in the fall of 1906. Knowing, as he said, "an estimated seventeen words of English," he studied the want ads in the New York papers and found his first job with Maxwell-Briscoe in Tarrytown, New York, at fifteen dollars per week. He stayed there only six months and took English lessons during that period. Farkas was especially interested in original automotive design rather than simply detailing or copying the designs of someone else. *From the oral reminiscences of Eugene Farkas, recalling a statement Henry Ford made to Helen Farkas. 105 Henry's Lieutenants He sent letters to Packard and Ford in Detroit and received a reply from Walter Flanders of Ford, offering eighteen dollars a week. He took the Ford position in September 1907, but it turned out to be work on Model R and Model S production drawings, not the experimental drafting he was seeking. He stayed with Ford about two months, then went to Cadillac, where he was given work at forty cents an hour but was not kept long because of the panic of 1907. Another position with Morgan Engineering Company in Alliance, Ohio, was also lost because of panic conditions. In early 1908, Farkas returned to Detroit, where his good friend Joseph Galamb hired him back at Ford Motor Company. The two men roomed together and took rides together in Galamb's Model N Ford. Farkas's work at that time was designing tools and fixtures for the upcoming Model T engine production. But because of some altercation between Farkas and a man named Haltenberger, both were fired. Farkas next worked a few months at a time for a series of automotive plants—Packard, Olds, Oakland, Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, Carter Car Company, and Hudson—but always as a tool designer rather than an auto layout designer. When General Motors bought the Carter Car Company, Farkas became chief engineer of Carter. He was with Carter about three years but then left to work for the Cass Motor Vehicle Company which manufactured trucks. Farkas designed trucks from the ground up, but he saw little future in that particular company. In 1911, while living in Pontiac, Farkas married Helen Louise Parshall . Their first child, Raymond Zoltan, was born October 7, 1912. Three more boys were later added to the family: Louis Eugene on September 30,1914; Don Earl on September 23,1917; and Robert Lawrence on May 13,1919. Again through the influence of Galamb, Farkas was given another opportunity to work for Ford Motor Company. This time, he was given charge of the experimental drafting room at $165 per month. This was October 1, 1913. The Farkas family moved into a flat at 79 Glendale Avenue in Detroit, and Farkas often traveled to work with Evangeline Cote (Dahlinger), who lived nearby. Detroit addresses subsequently occupied by the Farkas family were 149...