Ted Ryan

@tobiaswerks @financedystop OMG!! by the way, I’ve turned into Mr. LEGO at Ford. 30 emails last two weeks, either thanking me, asking me to connect them with LEGO, or just commenting on the sets.

@financedystop @tedryan64

This guy bought a $110,000 LEGO collection and takes you through the journey

@iowahawkblog Spectacular!

Bib has had a lot of plastic (or should I say rubber) surgery over the years, in an effort to de-scarify himself. I mean, a little nip-and-tuck was fine, but he sorta ended up looking like (or maybe inspiring) the Poop Emoji. And in his latest incarnation, the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man. A shame really, give me that good ol' frightning DGAF hard-drinking 1898 tire pile. Did I mention how Michelin rubber plantations in French Indochina (now Vietnam) indirectly led to a Communist revolutionary movement there? Or how my high school buddy lives near the highly guarded Michelin estate in the Luberon Mountains of Provence? Or how Austin now has 4 Michelin-starred BBQ joints? Those are meandering stories for a different day. I gotta get to my car ID rounds.

Time for an old fashioned Dave's Car ID Service meandering car history lesson! This time about the world's most disturbing, and long-serving, tire company mascot and restaurant critic, The Michelin Man. That's what we here in the States call him anyway, elsewhere he's called 'Bib.' And how he came to be is a bit of a stemwinder, but one that you can use to amaze and/or bore to death fellow cocktail party guests. Let's start with the Brothers Michelin, Edouard and Andre, who owned a farm implement business in the southern city of Clermont-Ferrand. One day circa 1887 a bicyclist showed up at their door with a pneumatic tire in need of repair. That was a real bitch at the time, a couple hours of work, because tires were fixed to the wheel rim. That inspired them to design and create the first removable pneumatic tire, for which they received a patent in 1891. Voila, les freres Michelin struck it rich almost overnight, what with the huge bicycle craze, followed by cars, trucks, and motorcycles. This was also the high age of French advertising poster design, and you had to go big to attract attention on the poster-covered walls of Paris and Lyon. Enter "O'Galop," the pen name of French cartoonist Marius Rossillon. For the Michelins he designed a chimera tire-pile humanoid that that debuted at the Lyon exhibition in 1894. The 1898 poster below, by O'Galop, show how 'Bib' got his name: 'Nunc est bibibendum!!' - a Latin quote from the Roman poet Horace, meaning 'Now is the time for drinking!!' The rest is in French, which translates as "that's to say: to your health, Michelin tires drink up the obstacles!" Thus Bib is short for Bibendum, which is Latin for 'Drinkin' Time.' And look at ol' Bib, still poundin' down another glass of jagged rocks and broken glass while his competitors like 'Pneu X' are near dead. So why, as a pile of tires, is Bib white and not black? Because the process of carbonized rubber had not been invented in the 1890s, and rubber tires were off-white, the natural color of raw latex.

Look what we added to The Ford Vault today! This 1913 LEGO Model T is a beauty! I was lucky to have been involved in the development and even got to meet the designer, Ann Hearley, at LEGO HQ in Billund, Denmark last year to see her prototype to share documents and photos on the Model T from our Archives. It was an amazing project, and I am so excited with how the Model T turned out. I just wish I could build LEGO Sets as fast as I do in the time lapse video I shot. I cut out the scene where my cat, Percy, tried to join the fun! #LEGOModelT #LEGO #ModelT #WeAreFord

@iowahawkblog They are amazing. Have you ever met them? Great guys, great family. They also built a scale model of Sweepstakes.

This is so friggin' sweet it makes my teeth hurt. BTW it would be 50% scale in 3 dimensions, so 429/8 = 53.625 cubic inches or 879cc

The 30th Spirit of Ford Award goes to the Yates family, accepted by Doug Yates. Congratulations to the Yates family on an illustrious history and being a cherished member of the Ford Racing Family. 💙

What’s Your Favorite? 💛 Lady Gaga, Trevor Noah, Jisoo, Charles Leclerc, Lamine Yamal, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and Young Miko share their favorite Pokémon to kick off #Pokemon30! Join the celebration: pkmn.news/Pokemon30

Doing some research in our Styling Negative collection. I love this photo from June 25, 1965. Look at how Ford saw the future of the Galaxie, Fairlane, Falcon, Mustang, Bronco and Ranchero. You can see the renderings and the clay versions. It was taken outside the design studio. I even love the fact the photo is off kilter, but the content is just great.

Great story on the Mustang Immersive we opened in LA! Two more weeks to get your tickets! youtube.com/watch?v=Qe5cTM…

It was an amazing sale! Thanks for all your support!

It’s International Lego Day! In last year’s video, I asked if I could tour the Lego Archives in Billund, Denmark and guess what? It happened thanks to their great team of Historians and Archivists! My trip included visits to the Archives, Lego Idea House and then Lego House. It was an amazing experience and I treasure my Lego House exclusive sets. I will be celebrating Lego Day today by building a Ford GT 40 Mark II to add to my collection. #Lego #InternationalLegoDay #FordGT40

The greatest centerfielder of all-time.

What happens when two archivists from 100+ year old companies get together? They talk shop, or in this case dependable, durable clothing made for the people who have worked the Ford Assembly lines or do hard work with our great vehicles. Dave Moore, the Archivist for Carhartt is good friend of mine and stopped by with a 1936 Ford branded Carhartt coverall. We traded the shared history of our great companies. I promise I let Dave out of the Ford Heritage Vault! #FordPro #WeAreFord #FSeries #Carhartt #FordHeritageVault

@KOnocomment @Mike_kim714 The absolute best on social for insights. I wonder if you could ever get him to do a virtual class with you at UGA?

@Mike_kim714 So appreciate your fresh and honest perspective, Michael.

My thoughts: -I’m actually surprised at the amount of “penalties” that Brooks has to take on. It was the better decision to welcome him back. Most of the “anger” comes from feeling like we missed out but that’s not a place to make smart decisions from. -I think it was a big deal to the tour that Brooks didn’t wait until his contract with LIV ended, and said no to prob a lot of money to come back to the tour. -Some guys are pissed but ironically, I think the top guys are more ok with it. I get why some guys are mad but in the end, the tour has to make decisions that are better for the tour overall and Brooks coming back is good. -For me personally, I’m not mad or happy he’s back. We knew it was coming for a while and my job doesn’t change. I’m trying to win this tournament and play the best that I can this yr. That’s it.

@KOnocomment Poor kid is going to end up a Raider after his performance, the last two games. He has to be the first quarterback off the board.

Wow.

The Denimachine is such an amazing story and is really a time capsule of the 1970s youth culture. It was a cooperative venture to celebrate the US Bicentennial in 1976 with three iconic American companies, The Coca-Cola Company and Levi’s with Hot Rod Magazine as the media partner. The vans were featured the Red, White and Blue branding of all three companies and have become a collector’s item. From my days at the Coke archives, I knew someone who had one and knew I needed to get one for the Ford Heritage Fleet as part of America 250. I love this story, nothing beats a van with shag carpeting, baby! #Denimachine #FordHeritageFleet #TheCocaColaCompany #Levis #Bicentennial #America250 #Shagcarpeting #AustinPowers

My son went there and we had a T-shirt that said "Sam not Stan"

How much cash did Henry Ford have on hand when he died? There are a few rumors out there, so I began to research and the real story is more interesting than the internet stories you may have seen. The answer is $ 1.7 million, but check out the story From the Vault. #FromTheVault #FromTheRoad #InternetRumors #WeAreFord

The Hall of Fame Era Committee meets this Sunday, December 7th. Dale Murphy needs 12 of 16 votes. You never know who will see this and their vote may be the one that puts Murph over the top. Please retweet if you love Murph and believe he deserves to be honored in Cooperstown.

As you prepare for your weekend cars and coffee, check out this video I made of the car show at the opening of our new World HQ last Sunday. I got to talk to the owners of five pretty cool cars about why they love their ride. Edsel, Torino, Mustang, Cougar and a Bronco. Each had a great story. #Edsel #Mustang #Cougar #Torino #1972BroncoSport #FordWorldHQ #WeAreFord

Mustang Immersive is about to open! The install is underway and I am on my way to LA tomorrow. It is looking amazing! The dark blue Mustang you see being pushed into place was used on the Mary Tyler Moore show! MustangImmersive.Com #Mustang #MaryTylerMoore