Last week's puzzler was a terse little tidbit about Henry Ford. An interesting fact, this puzzler. Here we go. 

When Henry Ford ordered parts from his suppliers, he specified the exact size of the boxes that they should come in. And we asked why.

What I didn't say was a detail about the boxes themselves. Everyone has a mindset about what boxes are. When you think of boxes, you think of cardboard. We all do. Because we all think that all boxes are made out of cardboard, but not in Henry Ford's day. On Henry Ford's day, the boxes are made out of wood.

The reason he wanted the boxes to be a specific size was that he used the wood from the shipping box to build the cars! 

The floors of the cars used to be made out of wood. That is why we call the floor of a car 'floorboards.' You hear this expression nowadays, of course, it's meaningless. Just like 'dial someone' on the telephone, because we don't dial anymore, we still use the phrase. 

Back in the old days, the floorboards were, in fact, made out of oak, in most cases.

So Henry Ford would say, "Send me those gears and put them in an old box. Make sure it is as big as the floorboards for my new cars..." 
What a clever guy, huh? Also, a cheapskate!