FORD MOTOR COMPANY

millions of Roads some are paved super highways many are dirt tracks some lead to Great cities others crawl through dark jungles there are roads that wind through Mountains and the clouds and Roads that cross arid desert basins but the thing to remember is this if you follow any road far enough persistently enough you will eventually find yourself on the one road that goes around the [Music] world our story Starts Here Dearborn Michigan the address number one the American Road these men are professional drivers two of the best in the business the tall fellow on the right is Danny Ames his partner is Phil Remington their assignment to drive this car around the world to head east and continue East on the one road that would eventually return them to their starting point the road to New York was was a Turnpike Road to England was a ceiling ahead of them 3 months of driving through 16 different countries and over 15,000 M of road the road LED first to London an immense sprawling City the size of New York and with the same kind of traffic problems Trafalgar Square is as busy and bustling As Time Square but there the similarity ends because in London centuries of tradition rest like an invisible cloak on landmarks that are world famous like the buildings of parliament directly ahead most easily identified by Big Ben named for sir Benjamin Hall the Tower of London built by William the Conqueror over 800 years ago and Buckingham Palace official residents of the royal family constructed in 1703 it's a rather new building by by English standards from Buckingham Palace the road around the world led directly into a British cargo plane for the short half across the English Channel to the continent of Europe and Europe's brightest Jewel Paris some people say Paris is the most beautiful city in the world certainly no other city has so wide a variety of architectural Treasures like the great Cathedral of notredam the sakur which overlooks the city from a top the M Mar and the imposing Arctic Triumph final resting place for France's Unknown Soldier Paris is a city where a visitor could spend weeks unless he were traveling a road around the world and for Danny and Phil the road now headed south and east to the country that is the geographical center of Europe the proud little Republic of Switzerland [Music] 200 years before the birth of Christ during the Second Punic War Hannibal's armies crossed the Alps by elephants and swept into the po valley to storm the gates of Rome the Romans later built fine roads through the Alps to make possible the conquest of [Music] Switzerland it was on these ancient Roman Road roads widened and modernized by the industrious Swiss the Dany and Phil wound their way through Switzerland toward the old Roman [Music] border Beyond The Swiss Italian border Danny and Phil discovered little storybook Coastal fishing towns like Pino on the leguan [Music] sea they drove through Pisa whose famous leaning tower has been a tourist attraction since the 1300s and finally to the capital of the most powerful of the ancient empires Imperial Rome the great Roman Coliseum which held 880,000 Spectators in the days of the Caesars was originally covered with fine white marble over the years the marble facing was removed slab by slab to decorate palaces and churches one can't pass through Rome without stopping here St peters's the largest church of the entire Christian world or here the Romantic Spanish Steps which lead to the pat DP north of Rome the road led to Venice one of the most remarkable cities in the world the road became a network of canals and the only means of transportation a gondola for an afternoon Dany and Phil relaxed pass passengers for a change they glided along the Grand Canal and under the historic Bridge of size so-call because a thousand years ago prisoners were LED across this bridge from the palace to the dungeons later they wandered in the shadow of the Basilica at the Piaza San Marco two tourists among hundreds of others from all over the world but for danan Phil the time for sightseeing was over a road was waiting a road that would take them to a country less well known Yugoslavia the word means land of the South slaves until now Dany and Phil had thought of Slavic countries as being cold and dark but Yugoslavia proved to be mild and sunny with Scenic beauties that could be sampled just by stopping asking and walking a few steps these are the spectacular plit vicha Falls in southern Yugoslavia is the city of Dubrovnik founded in the 7th Century by Greek refugees for a thousand years it was an independent republic that stood off or bought off the Turks Romans venetians and Slavs today dubnik is a popular seaside resort where two men in a blue and white car from Dearborn paused to ask directions then continued on their way on the one road around the world Southward that road led to the historic Fountain Head of Western Civilization Greece dominating the city of Athens like a crown at top the Rocky Hill of the Acropolis is the fabulous Parthenon these ruins survive as a magnificent Monument to the Golden Age of Greece the Glorious three centuries that began over 2,500 years ago which created the foundations for the Arts and the Sciences the architecture and the theater we know and live with today in Turkey the road arrived at the Gateway to Asia estanbul once known as Constantinople and before that banum it's the only city in the world as stride two continents on this Bank of the bosis is Europe on the other side a Asia for the short trip between the two continents the road now led to a ferry most of turkey is in Asia Anatolia or Asiatic turkey is one of the oldest inhabited regions in the world people were growing wheat and grazing sheep and rearing Children Here centuries before for the invention of the wheel now the road seemed to move backward in time as it led Eastward through space and into the valley of gur gur is one of the most tim- haunted places on Earth a forgotten region where the clock of History stopped 2,000 years ago only days before Dany and Phil had passed through the modern cities of Istanbul and Ankara now they saw families threshing and wind winnowing their wheat the same way it was done in biblical times the farmers of gour store their wheat in rooms which were carved out of these Natural Stone pillars by the early Byzantine Christians who found refuge in this Valley the walls of the Chapels built during that period still are covered with reminders of the faith which survive the catacombs of gour and for Dany and Phil gour was one more example of the kind of friendly Hospitality they were receiving at every stop Hospitality that knows no [Music] nationality 3 days later they cited Mount Ararat according to the Old Testament it was on this peak that Noah's Ark finally came to rest that night they pitched camp near its base they had come to the end of Noah's Journey but only the halfway point of their own in Iran which borders turkey on the East a camel is primarily a means of transportation when Danny and Phil sighted their first Caravan plotting its way across the Persian desert they did what any Westerner would do they stopped to take a look soon a camel train would seem as common place to Dany and Phil as a freight train is to us they were really in Asia now and everything they saw and felt let them know it the air was dry and hot the distance is vast ahead of them lay Teran seat of the ancient Persian Empire here and later in the holy city of Isfahan they visited the sacred mosques the temples of the mlim Faith few westerners realize that the intricate geometric shapes that dominate the decoration of Muslim mosques take this form because the Quan in its injunction against idol worship forbids the drawing or sculpting of living things a few miles outside Teran the road LED past a stream where Priceless Persian rugs from the most prominent homes and palaces in Teran are washed in its mineral water and then carried up the Steep Bank to dry in the hot Iranian [Music] Sun the road that links Iran and Afghanistan parallels the old Caravan Roots over which Marco Polo in the 13th century carried the silks and the spices the rugs and the rubies of the East to Venice and then to the rest of the Western World it pushes on through sand and heat and desert toward the mountains of the Hindu Kush at the rim of the world and with each mile grows drier dustier rockier crer at times they ran out of Road alt together and were forced to navigate by compass and intuition and even then they weren't sure of their Direction the camel which they had laughed at 2 weeks ago was having the last laugh the return of the road signaled a return to civilization and water the most precious commodity of all in this part of the world and in dry countries where there is water there is a village where friendliness is a way of life no man man is a stranger Dany and Phil were greeted like returning Heroes instead of visitors from a far away place called Michigan there are proud people The Afghani proud to work and live in the tradition of their ancestors and trained almost from birth in the skills of their fathers the marketplace of mazour is Sharif was a happy Oasis of color and warmth today as it has been for centuries a welcome change for travelers following the Stark and ancient Caravan route across the desert but travel along this route has not always been peaceful the road now led to baman today a quiet little town but with its own tragic page in the history of man's inhumanity to man for it was here that the soldiers of gasan defaced this giant Stone Buddha after killing every man woman and child in the once great City it is a tale still told by The Village [Music] storyteller the Mongol conquerors themselves renamed baman mubali the city of [Music] Soros for centuries the road between Afghanistan and Pakistan has served as the principal trade route between central Asia and the vast subcontinent of India linking the two countries is the kyber one of the most important mountain passes in the world through this pass have marched the armies of Alexander the Great and the soldiers of invading Persians tartar Mongols and [Music] Afghans to this day the kyber is never left unguarded detailed to give the alarm in the event of an invasion and to assist Travelers are the huzzle DARS members of a civil defense core [Music] and the cracked kyber rifles immortalized by rogard Kipling still Train by performing the ancient kotk war [Applause] [Music] dances once through the pass the road continued on across Pakistan toward that point on the indis River where Alexander the Great was finally stopped his Eastward march to conquer what was then all of the Civilized world was brought to a halt on this Riverbank nearly 2300 years ago the atok bridge enabled Dany and Phil to do what Alexander the Great failed to accomplish crossed the Indus River [Music] Alive 5 hours later they entered the city of lore the capital and Cultural Center of West Pakistan few places in the world can match the sparkling Fairyland beauty of Lor's shalomar Gardens shalomar was created some 300 years ago by the same man who built the Taj Mahal the Mogul ruler sha [Music] Jahan these girls incidentally are not professional dancers they are the daughters of prominent local families dedicated ated to keeping alive Pakistani Traditions like these classic [Music] dances and when the dance is over it schools out which prompts the same reaction in any [Music] language India colorful Majestic strange a land of endless Fascination for the Western visitor in New Delhi capital of India Danny and Phil arrived just in time to watch a review of the president's personal Honor [Music] Guard the occasion was the commemoration of Mahatma Gandhi's birthday prime minister Neu who led the observance is one of the leading SYM of the new India south of New Delhi was an impressive symbol of the old and Vanishing India this is one of the Palaces of the fabled Maharaja of xur the maharaja's hunting elephants were outfitted as they would be for a traditional tiger shoot it was all part of the reception organized by the young prince of renwall for the pre-arranged visit of Dany and Phil [Music] What followed was a typical example of how times have changed even in xur the prince turned out to be as interested in this new American car as any Western Sportsman and suggested changing places with Danny for an hour Dany was too polite even to hint that the prince's Hospitality was too much to handle the next step in fabulous India was benarus on the Ganges holy city of the Hindus city of the gold and red temples over a million religious pilgrims come each year to Benares from all over India to bathe in the sacred Waters of the Ganges before their Road took them out of India Danny and Phil saw new Indian use of a river one that breaks with tradition and points to the Future at konar they visited the big new hydroelectric Dam erected to furnish the area with power and irrigation and to control floods it's one of many similar projects completed or planned for the new forward-looking India of today India's free neighbor the young Republic of Burma is a happy melding of the great civilizations of India and China at the Monumental Schon Pavilion in rangon Dany and Phil had a chance to see how deeply the gentle Buddhist religion affects the people Buddhism preaches that all the world's Sorrows are caused by selfishness and that Brotherly Love is the answer to the problems of life [Music] the road now crossed over in Mala where it cut through hundreds of miles of rubber plantations raw rubber is tapped from the trees in much the same way new englanders tap sugar from Vermont Maples [Music] in malo's Island City of Penang is the Chinese temple and Monastery of aaram the only one of its kind outside of China and Tibet the statues represent the Four Winds crushing under their feet The Vices of the world and the evils which stand in the way of Brotherly Love in the temple Courtyard is the unique well of the snapping turtles tradition has it that a long life awaits those who feed the [Music] turtles the end of the long road through Asia was coming closer and changing with every mile it crossed the Malayan border into Thailand long known to the world as Siam and entered the capital city of Bangkok [Music] from Thailand the road swung East again into Cambodia and became literally one road the only Road as it plunged into the Asian jungle [Music] every struggle has its reward and this was no exception just as they were beginning to wonder if their Road Through the Jungle had an end they came out to face one of the most awe inspiring sites of the entire trip the fabled ruins of Anor wat built by the vanished civilization of the Kim Empire more than a millennium ago the commer were destroyed in battle and for nearly 500 years Anor watt was lost even to Legend not until the 19th century were the buildings seen Again by The Eyes of man today the jungle temple is a national monument and the Royal Ballet of Cambodia performs traditional dances against the background of its ruins on all religious and national holidays [Music] Saigon the Vietnam capital city on the South China Sea was the last stop in Asia for Dany and Phil this was the end of the unknown part of the road from Saigon East there was only a boat Crossing then 4 days of driving on familiar American American turnpikes from San Francisco to Dearborne behind them were all of the exciting and wonderful things they'd seen the landmarks of 16 countries and hundreds of cities the symbols of the great civilizations of History The Monuments to man's genius and ideals they'd seen the Milestones of the past and the promises for the future and behind them were the people they'd seen along the way thousands of people all kinds of people friendly hardworking and peaceloving from them Danny and Phil had learned that regardless of what they wear how they earn their daily bread or where they worship people are more alike than different on the one road that leads around the world a road that you too someday May travel