1924 Ford Opening the Highways to All Mankind Advertisement 0003-6981

This is an original Ford Motor Company advertisement from 1924, not a photograph: a painted illustration above a block of institutional prose under the title Opening the Highways to All Mankind.

What Is in This Advertisement?

A family stands on high ground in the left foreground, a woman holding an infant, a child beside her, a Model T behind them on the rise. Below and beyond, a valley opens out into a hazy landscape of factories, chimneys, ships and roads, painted in soft blues and warm ochres on a cream ground. The title runs across the base in spaced Roman capitals, followed by two columns of text and the Ford Motor Company script signature.

What Was Ford Saying?

The copy makes no mention of price, model or specification. It argues that the motor car is a means of making life easier and pleasanter for more people, that profit is the reward for service rendered, and that Ford's growth has funded the factories, mines, timber lands, sawmills, coke ovens, power plants, railways and ships listed in the small type at the foot. This is corporate philosophy sold as product advertising.

Where Does It Come From?

Opening the Highways to All Mankind belongs to a series of sixteen institutional advertisements Ford ran across 1924 and 1925 in the Saturday Evening Post and Country Gentleman, documented in the collections of The Henry Ford. The series is among the earliest large-scale examples of a manufacturer advertising its values rather than its vehicles, and the illustration style, closer to mural painting than commercial art, was chosen to match that ambition.

Who Is This Print For?

This 1924 advertisement suits collectors of early Ford material, advertising and graphic design collectors, Model T owners, dealership showrooms and study interiors. Period advertising documents how Ford spoke to its own customers, which gives it a different kind of interest from a photograph of the car itself. Choose framed print, stretched canvas, ChromaLuxe metal or Giclée.

Advertisement Details

• Type: Institutional print advertisement
• Title: Opening the Highways to All Mankind
• Advertiser: Ford Motor Company
• Date: 1924, part of a series of sixteen running through 1925
• Published in: Saturday Evening Post and Country Gentleman
• Archive reference: 0003-6981

This archival advertisement is made available through Fordimages.com, the official Ford archive imagery licensee operated by Richard Weedn LLC. Each image is digitally restored before printing and handcrafted to order.

Available as:

• Framed Print — museum-quality paper, archival inks, Acrylite glazing, hanging hardware included
• Stretched Canvas — hand-stretched over 1.25-inch pine bars, heavy cotton poly matte finish
• ChromaLuxe Metal Print — image infused directly onto sheets of alloy metal for maximum vibrancy and durability
• Giclée Art Print — 260gsm satin finish paper, finest archival inks, white border

Made in the USA or Europe depending on your location.

About the Artwork

Artwork in this collection comes from the Ford Motor Company Archives, The Henry Ford Museum, the Carroll Shelby Archives, and the collections of acclaimed photographers and painters from around the world. Reproduction rights are reserved by the respective copyright owners.

Our framed prints feature a black, hand-stained solid wood frame with a white mat, museum-quality paper, archival inks, Acrylite glazing, and hanging hardware. The frame features a slim 0.8-inch face and projects 1.3 inches from the wall, creating a clean, contemporary shadow-box effect. Made in the USA or Europe, depending on your location.

Our stretched canvas prints are produced on acid-free, pH-neutral, and fade-resistant canvas. Each canvas is hand-glued to solid wood stretcher bars and stretched over 1.25-inch-thick pine bars. Mounting brackets are included. Made in the USA or Europe, depending on your location.

Our Giclée prints are produced using premium 200gsm semi-gloss paper and high-quality archival inks. Each print includes a white border around the perimeter.

For the 40 x 60 size, we use 250gsm museum-quality archival paper with an off-white, uncoated finish.

The listed size refers to the overall paper dimensions. The image is printed proportionally within the selected paper size. Made in the USA or Europe, depending on your location.

ChromaLuxe prints use a state-of-the-art coating process that infuses the image directly onto sheets of alloy metal. The result is photography with an exceptional combination of vibrancy, clarity, and durability.

Each print arrives ready to hang. An alloy subframe on the back allows the artwork to float away from the wall for a sleek, modern appearance. This is the finest-quality print we offer. Made in the USA.

All images are digitally restored before printing. Production location varies by product and destination. Shipping is calculated at checkout.