The headquarter of Ford is in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. This is the place where the ex-chief engineer of the Edison Illuminating Company, named Henry Ford founded the, “Ford Motor Company”, on June 16, 1903 with a capital amount of $28,000 along with twelve other investors. The famous scientist Thomas Alva Edison was a great friend of Henry Ford and he encouraged him to go ahead with his idea and dream of establishing an automobile company which will manufacture simple and affordable car for the Americans.
At the beginning only two to three workers worked on each car. On July 23, 1903 the company sold its first produced car, Ford Model A and Dr. Ernst Pfennig a dentist from Chicago, became the first owner. Other car manufacturers made cars for wealthy people but Ford developed a design and manufacturing method that reduced the price of the Model T, which made its debut in 1908 at a price of $825. In its first year a record sale of over 10,000 cars was reached. Four years later the price dropped to $575. By 1914 Ford claimed a share of 48% of the automobile market. The car was sold like hot cakes. With the rise in demand, Ford was able to reduce the assembly time of the Model T from 12.5 hours to less than 6 hours. Ford created history and became the change maker of the automobile market.
World War 1 came to be a turning point as it changed the course of automotive history. Henry Ford was able to draw a large profit at that time. Ford Model T cars were used by the several armies for war purpose. It not only served as ambulances but also as delivery trucks, staff cars and artillery movers. As soon as America joined the war, Ford started producing ambulances, trucks, vans, tanks and submarine chasers. Ford’s Trafford Park factory in Manchester supplied the British army with 30,000 Model Ts as ambulances and transporters of troops, water and munitions carriers.
When World War II started there was a boost in Ford’s economy as they were serving both the sides. They produced roughly around 2,82,352 war Jeeps in the years 1941-1945. Ford’s bomber plant at Willow Run, located in the Detroit suburbs manufactured automobiles for war and not for public transportation. Ford V3000 ambulances were used in World War II by the Germans. Ford of Germany built a total of 80,000 trucks for the German army during the war.
Ford did not limit itself in manufacturing only cars. They also manufactured trucks, vans and tractors. In 1925 they also manufactured airplanes. They also produced some important cars in the history of automobiles apart from the Ford Model T. Ford 150 Pickup remained a best seller for almost six decades. Ford Mustang is the first American “muscle car”. Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, Lincoln Continental, Ford Thunderbird, Ford Transit, Ford Capri, Ford Escort is some of the most popular Ford cars.
Engines play a vital role in car’s success. Ford produced 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 cylinder engines till date. Some of the important engines manufactured by Ford, are Ford Model T engine, Flathead V-8 engine, Cobra Jet engine, Boss engine, Ecoboost engine, etc. The 1.0 Ecoboost is a UK-designed 3-cylinder engine which has won awards from industry judges and experts. The Ecoboost engine is developed to be more fuel saving, more Eco friendly and less costly. Ford is not only famous for producing beautiful cars, but also for producing one of the best engines and creating history in the competitive automobile market.
The Ford family is a proud owner of the company for more that 100 years. It is one of the few notable brands in the world whose ownership stayed in the family of the founder for more than a century. They take pride in producing the first ever car for the common man by breaking the idea that a car is a rich man’s property. Ford always created examples in the automobile industry. “$5 day”, is an important day in the history of mankind because around 10,000 people gave line with a desire to get employed at Ford when there was a salary hike of $5 per day. It created an impact within the society as well as in the automobile industry as the production rate and quality of Ford cars got raised after the hike.
Today Ford factories are located in the USA, Britain, Germany, India, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Russia, Spain and many more. Henry Ford is considered to not only be a car manufacturer, but a change maker who changed the fate of the automobile industry.
