ABSTRACT
Henry Ford (1863-1947) launched his ‘horse-less buggy’ in Detroit in 1893. In 1908 he launched the Model T Ford and initiated the first mass production assembly line shortly afterwards. His rate of expansion was prodigious: in 1909 the Ford company made 10,600 cars per year at a profit of $3,000,000; in 1914 they made 248,000 cars per year and profits soared to $25,000,000. By 1925 Ford had sold over 15,000,000 cars, his factory was producing 10,000 cars every twenty-four hours and he was probably the richest man in the world (Canning 1965: 283). Since then the car has had a major impact on all areas of human existence, and while its effect on towns, planning, health, economics and the environment are well known, its impact on human sexuality is less well charted.
