Henry's Lieutenants

William S. Knudsen

William S. Knudsen 1879-1948 "/ think Mr. Ford had occasion to regret losing Knudsen. I think Knudsen was a very capable man. I liked Knudsen. He always got along with me, and I always got along with him. Whenever I asked him to do anything, he was right on the trigger that quick. He had the faculty of knowing how to handle men." —Ernest G. Heboid* Ford's loss of William S. Knudsen in 1921 was his loss to Chevrolet in the automotive business. During Knudsen's ten years with Ford (1911-1921), Ford's production increased from 72,000 vehicles to 1,000,948. When he moved to General Motors from Ford Motor Company, Knudsen raised Chevrolet production from 75,700 in 1921 to 1,001,680 in 1927, considerably more than Ford production for that year. From that time on, Chevrolet led Ford in most years. Signius Wilhelm Poul Knudsen was born March 25,1879, in Copenhagen , Denmark. His father, Knud Peter Knudsen, had operated a cooperage , and his mother, Augusta Zellner Knudsen, was the daughter of a carriage maker. His mother was his father's second wife. Signius was the oldest of Augusta's five children: Signius, Obeline, Louise, Anna and Elna. Knud Peter Knudsen had lost his cooperage business in the panic of 1873 and was working as a customs inspector at the time of Signius's birth. Signius started public school at the age of six, attending school in the mornings and working as a cartage boy for a glazer in the afternoons . He completed seven years of public school and two years of government school and graduated from the Government Technical School. At age fifteen, he was apprenticed by his father to a wholesale hardware dealer for four years. When he left, he was earning two dollars a week. He then worked for a Copenhagen importer of bicycle parts and earned twenty-five dollars a month. * The oral reminiscences of Ernest G. Liebold, general secretary to Henry Ford. 153 Henry's Lieutenants At age twenty, Knudsen was rejected for service in the Danish navy because of his six-foot, two-inch height and 150-pound weight, but he was allowed an exit permit to come to the United States, where he intended to enlist as a machinist in the U.S. Navy. After landing in New York City in 1889, he obtained his first job, and his name was abruptly Americanized to William S. Knudsen. Although he had been taught a bit of German, French, and English in Denmark, his heavy Danish accent never completely disappeared. In the fall of 1900, Knudsen was working as a boilermaker in the shops of the Erie Railroad at Salamanca, N.Y. Here, with a rough group of workers, the somewhat pugnacious Knudsen got into frequent fistfights and became reconciled to the nickname of "Squarehead." Semon Knudsen, an older half-brother, dealt in bicycles in Denmark . Semon wanted to do business with the John R. Keim Mills people in Buffalo and asked William if he would act as interpreter. William did so and was very impressed by the Buffalo bicycle manufacturers. He accepted a job in 1902; the pay was much less, but his technical training would be appreciated. He became acquainted with John R. Lee, general manager, and with William H. Smith, superintendent of the plant where 200 bicycles were being manufactured daily. Knudsen was soon in charge of the pedal department and producing a record 2,000 pedals a day. He was now called "Bill" and treated with respect; he became a substantial Buffalo resident and invited his sister, Louise, to come to the United States and keep house for him. When the bicycle business became slack, the Keim factory with its 1,500 workers looked for other work. Early in 1906, Smith and Knudsen approached Henry Ford regarding a new "forming and drawing" method of producing axle housings for autos. Ford was impressed and ordered 50,000 axle housings and crankcase covers for his Model T, then in the design stage. Knudsen became general superintendent of the Keim plant in 1908 at age twenty-nine. They were making mufflers, gasoline tanks, fenders , and other parts for the Model T. Knudsen bought an early Model T to study it. The car was delivered to the Keim plant, where it was carefully disassembled; each part was inspected and put back together before Knudsen attempted to drive the vehicle. This experience was worthwhile because Ford was to select...