Last week, Ford announced that, for the first time in 16 years, it had captured the number one spot among mainstream brands in JD Power's 2026 Initial Quality Survey, up from tenth last year. The automaker credits the rise, in part, to the contributions of the rehired gray beards. But before you get too excited about the triumph of these modern-day John Henrys over the machines set out to replace them, don't forget what ultimately happened to that folklore hero: He was still replaced by the steam engine. Galhotra said the rehired specialists -- some former Ford employees, others drawn from ind