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很多人有自己的偶像，发明了T型车的亨利•福特也不例外，他的偶像是发明了电灯的爱迪生。在他的博物馆里至今还保存着爱迪生最后的呼吸。 By Dylan Littlebrumble Ford grew up on a rural un-electrified farm, and as a young man he followed Edison’s meteoric career as the inventor rose to become a national icon.1 Edison was Ford’s role model and as a young man Ford took a job at the Edison Illuminating Company working his way up to chief engineer. In 1896 Ford was thirty-three and, though still working for Edison Co., had created his first experimental automobile the Ford Quadricycle2 during his off-time. At an Edison company party in New York Ford had his first chance to meet his hero Edison, and even able to explain his new automobile to the prolific3 inventor. Edison was impressed. Edison is said to have slammed his fist down and shouted “Young man, that’s the thing! You have it! Your car is self-contained and carries its own power plant.”4 Edison himself had been working on the idea, but had only been considering electricity as the power source, so the idea of a gas engine was a new and somewhat novel5 one. The words comforted Ford tremendously, who immediately set out building a second prototype which was to become the Model-T.6 The two men became fast friends and would go on camping trips together along with naturalist John Burroughs, botanist Luther Burbank, creator of the Russet Burbank Potato, Harvey Firestone of Firestone tires and occasionally, President Harding.7 | 
