Auto News 5

The American auto industry has run into a ditch, but what many people may not realize is that Ford has been in a similar position before. In 1945, when Henry Ford II finally succeeded in taking control of the company after prying his near-senile grandfather's hands off the wheel, the Ford Motor Company was an atrophied enterprise. As civilian auto production resumed in 1946, Ford found itself in third place behind Chrysler and was fading fast. Young Henry brought in a team of outsiders who immediately embarked on a crash program to create Ford's first new postwar car. That car was the '49 Ford, and it was a huge advance over the previous model.inline_mediumwraptextright25708331/features/collectible_classic/0912_1949_1951_ford0912_01_z+1950_ford_tudor_sedan+side_view.jpgTrue

After October's hopeful results, November auto sales slid backward to the post-Clunkers doldrums of two months ago. So, while the financial markets are recovering and the TV talking heads debate whether the recession had ended, it's clear that there's no incipient recovery in the automobile business. There, the recession continues.