Chapter 87: The Great Depression (Part Six)
Translator: Kim_Guo Editor: Tehrn
Huang Xuan didn’t wait in the hotel because he had a lot of things to do such as drawing diagrams, robbing a few more well-dressed misters to pay the accommodation fee, and wandering at the market to seek business opportunities. The most important thing was to find more buyers, in which Huang Xuan was inexperienced. However, after the smooth tour in Ford Company, they would be able to convince more factories, for which Huang Xuan chose to advertise by telegrams, which was advanced and expensive in the 1930s. Because telegrams were expensive and special, and the contents were simple and intriguing, the companies who received them wouldn’t throw them into the bin immediately like what the newspapers did after they received letters today, so the effect was satisfactory.
It said in the telegram: “The design of the new model car will be sold in Illis Hotel at 9 a.m. tomorrow. A company has already bid.” Huang Xuan was convinced that his performance in Rouge was supposed to draw much attention. Meanwhile, the potential buyers of the design should sense that Ford was interested in the design too. Was there a better business stunt than Ford?
It didn’t matter whether other companies were interested or not as long as Ford could feel the pressure. Huang Xuan believed that Ford wouldn’t abandon the V8 which was designed by himself.
Henry Ford was conceited. In fact, he was much more far-sighted than most Americans. However, he was not always right regarding the management of the company. He liked making decisions by himself, mostly instinctively. Sometimes, the decisions were wrong, for example, blindly expanding Rouge, reducing the expenses of research and development, and purchasing stocks.
Ford was a genius in design. He had built the company from nothing, made petrol engine and designed the T car. He was also a talented manager. It was him that had created the cheap car concept, the flow-line production, and the five-workday system. But his conceit was insufferable. He would rather trust himself than his team. Hence, Ford Company had always fallen behind in the development of new technology. It would be fair to say that Ford was just a huge factory with super high productivity and rather ordinary technology.
Ford had always valued productivity. He hadn’t produced cars of new models in more than 20 years because he had focused on how to improve productivity. He hadn’t stopped until the T cars had encountered fierce competition with Chevrolet. Then he had closed the factories and conducted a lot of research and development, but Ford still hadn’t been alert. When GM had become No. 1 in motor trade, Ford still paid most of his attention on productivity.
Under this thought, Henry Ford asked when he saw the design his son had brought, “How is everything going with the design of V8?”
“Not very well.”
The V8 car of Ford was also called flat V8. It had become very popular with the beginner racers in America as soon as it had been launched. In the 1930s and the 1940s, flat V8 was loved by the race car modifiers. The Ford cars which had used flat V8 as engines had won Monte Carlo Rally in 1936 and 1938. From this information, it could be drawn that making such a car must demand creativity, and there had to be a lot of difficulty during the process.
Senior Ford flicked the design on the table and asked seriously, “Will it be better than this one?”
“Er… We are not sure,” Edsel hesitated. “The main problem is that this is just a design. There isn’t even a car model. We can’t be certain whether it will meet the demands.
“There isn’t a model?”
“It seems no. He only has the design and looks short of money.”
Ford frowned and sat back in the chair.
“Did he ask for 100,000?”
“Yes.”
“If the design is OK, give him,” Ford said after a long moment.
Henry Ford knew that such a complicated design must need an original car model. But the other party didn’t have one, which meant that the source of the design was fishy. However, for Ford, as long as he could save millions of dollars or even less, this was not a problem.
On the other end of the city, the new CEO of GM, Alfred Slone, also received Huang Xuan’s ad, but he didn’t pay much attention. He just asked one of his managers to check it out. Having just taken Ford’s place, he wondered what Henry Ford was thinking.
At Illis Hotel, Huang Xuan was waiting in the meeting room of his suite with legs crossed. A suite like this cost 30 dollars per night, but the hotel had lowered the price several times to four dollars because of the economic depression.
Huang Xuan had decided that as long as Ford showed up with the 100,000 dollars, he wouldn’t let him go back with it. If he didn’t come with it, he might have to use more violence. He had brought the materials worth millions of dollars at the expense of energy which had cost a fortune. If he failed to make money, all would be for nothing.
The situation was different now. Since during their first several travelings, Rolin hadn’t had much energy, and he, himself, hadn’t had many protection measures either, using violence would have been unwise. But now, he was in a finance kingdom with percale alloy on his head and a base behind him, without the disturbance from other travelers.
Edsel didn’t know that Huang Xuan had decided to take the 100,000 dollars in the suitcase. He asked Brown to take 20 armed guards to go to Illis Hotel with him.
At the door, Edsel smiled and shook hands with Huang Xuan.
“Can you adapt to the weather in Detroit? It’s getting cold,” he said.
“It’s OK,” Huang Xuan didn’t talk much about this topic. “This is Mr. Edward, who is also interested in my design.”
“Of course.” Edsel didn’t know Edward, but obviously, Edward knew him. They greeted each other cordially and remained silent.
“Do you mind me looking at the cash?” Huang Xuan cut to the chase.
Edsel’s face went stiff. He hadn’t expected Huang Xuan to be so blunt. He nodded and gestured Brown to show the cash to Huang Xuan.
Although Rolin could have easily examined the suitcases in the room, Huang Xuan would rather do it himself because it would make the following negotiation easier.
In the suitcase were federal reserve bonds put in good order, which were the dollars used in that time. The facial values were 100 dollars and 1,000 dollars. The latter hadn’t been issued since 1969. There were only 20 pieces of it in the suitcase. The rest was all 100-dollar bonds. It felt like drawing money at China Bank.
“OK. Let’s talk.” Huang Xuan pushed the suitcase back to Brown and opened the door to the bedroom, in which were piles of designs.
“Take your time.” Huang Xuan sat down and started drinking some tea from Sri Lanka.
The representative of GE felt neglected and unhappy, but Huang Xuan still didn’t even look at him. GM was just a backup. It was Huang Xuan that had told Ford that another company was also interested. As long as Edsel didn’t say no, he wouldn’t spend time on GM. To Huang Xuan, time was more valuable than money. He couldn’t afford to wait for two more days.
The designs had been drawn the night before. When Huang Xuan had been sleeping, Rolin had done all the work. The representatives of Ford Company began looking at the designs.
Huang Xuan stayed calm.
“Mr. Ford, do you have connections in New York?” he asked Edsel, holding a cup of tea.
“Some.”
“I want to buy a printing factory with advanced equipment in New York. Can you help me?” Huang Xuan had spent all the night to come up with this idea, which was a little despicable but effective.
Edsel felt weird. He looked at Huang Xuan and said, “There are a lot of bankrupt factories. If you want to buy one, it is very easy.”
“Good.” Huang Xuan smiled. “But I want to save time. I hope you know where I can find such factories.”
It was all about capital. Edsel told Huang Xuan the names of two factories and said, “As a friend, I must tell you that the investment environment in the USA has become… Er… the returns are getting fewer.”
“Understood.” Huang Xuan smiled and closed his eyes to rest.
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