The Henry Ford Company's History

This is a Non-fictional historical thesis paper about The Henry Ford Company.

The Ford Motor Company’s History 

Perseverance, innovation, and originality are what kept Ford Motor Company alive for over 100 years.  Although Henry Ford was fired from his first job and failed at starting a company twice, His Inventions changed the world as we know it (The Henry Ford Company).  The assembly line was just one of his splendid conceptions.  Throughout the years Ford Motor Company has gone through hard times, but to this day Ford is reigning.  Henry Ford’s designs were unique which made his product attractive to consumers. Their superior design and innovative styles carry their company.

            Henry Ford’s first invention was the Quadricycle. In 1896, Ford constructed the quadricycle.  It was composed of four bicycle wheels and a bench seat.  The vehicle held up to two people and it’s top speed was 20 mph.  The quadricycle was prone to failure; the cycle regularly broke down and had various problems. Although Ford’s first invention wasn’t a great success, that didn’t stop him.  Before Ford could produce the Model A, his second invention, he had to have it licensed by The Association of Licensed Automobile Manufactures.   ALAM were greedy black mailers (Henry Ford’s Motor Company).  They would keep anyone from selling cars without getting approval from them first.  Ford was determined to go up against ALAM.  To win their approval Ford raced his car against the world’s fasters car of that time. Although Ford had little to no experience with racing he won.  This gave Ford instant credibility (The People’s Tycoon).

              Now county wide known, Ford received his first four investors in 1898.  They were Mayor Maybury and a trio of business men. Murphy, one of the four investors, was the lynch pin because of his towering reputation.   As an investor, Murphy gave Ford a reassuring name to other investors.  In 1899 Henry Ford joined a group that founded the Detroit auto mobile company.  They had problems with their cars at first, but later in July 9^th of 1899 Detroit Free Press stated, “We have solved the problem of overcoming the bad gas odor by succoring perfect combustion” (The People’s Tycoon).  Although the company was off to a good start, Henry left a year later.

            Ford Motor Company was incorporated in 1903.  The company had 12 investors and 1000 shares to start out with.  By the time they sold their first model A on July 23^rd, 1903, Ford had almost spent all of its $28,000 cash investment.  That didn’t stop Ford.  By October 1^st, 1903, Ford Motor Company turned a profit of $37,000 (The People’s Tycoon).  A year before Ford introduced the scripted type face.  Chide Harold Wills designed the Ford logo.  In 1904 The Ford Company Founded its first international plant in Canada.  The building was erected in Walkerville, Ontario (The Ford Motor Company).  The company was completely separate from the original organization with its own set of stockholders. In 1908, Ford opened its first overseas sales branch in Paris. This increased their revenue and profits.

            The Model T was the second official vehicle released by Ford company.  It was immensely popular and affordable.  The Model T only cost $850.  It was also the first mass produced automobile.  At first the Model T was produced at only a few cars per day (The People’s Tycoon). By 1912 Ford Motor Company was producing over 170,000 per year. That’s over $140,000,000 per year.  Highland Park upped the ante adapting the novel manufacturing system called the assembly line in 1913 (The People’s Tycoon). By 1913 the Ford Company perfected the assembly line which drastically increased productivity (Watch Mojo).  Using the assembly line Ford Motor Company produces its first ever truck, The Ford Model TT 1917.

            In the beginning of the 1920s Ford’s Company started growing larger.  In 1920 over 1,000,000 Ford cars were produced.  Two years later in 1922 Ford Company acquires the Lincoln Motor Company (From the Model T to the Mustang).  This line of vehicles allowed Ford to sell luxurious cars with a different name.  After the 15 millionth Model T drove off the assembly line, Ford closed plants all over the world to spend 6 months refreshing factories and perfecting the design of a new car (The People’s Tycoon).  The Model A was perfected and the Ford Company began selling it in 1928.  In 1927 Ford Motor Company retired the popular Model T.

            Although Ford released many new vehicles in the 40’s and fifties, Ford Company experienced a period of loss.  In 1948 Ford introduced the 1949 Ford.  The next year Ford released the F-type truck (The People’s Tycoon).  Later in 1955 Ford started selling the Thunderbird.  The T-Bird emphasized comfort and convenience over sportiness.  A year before Ford began crash testing its vehicles.  60 years sense the Ford sense Ford has performed more than 31,000 crash tests around the world (The Ford Motor Company). Although Ford Company crash tested their vehicles, Ford failed to test impacts enough. The 1971 Pinto’s design flaw made it explode on collision.

            In 1981 Ford sold the Lincoln Town car and the Ford Escort.  The Ford Escort was one of the most successful products Ford ever sold. In 1985 Ford revolutionized the automotive design with the Ford Taurus.  The Ford Taurus was the best-selling car for four years (From the Model T to the Mustang).  Later in the 1990’s Ford introduces their sport cars and suv’s.  Ford introduced the GT as its premium sports car. The beast packed 550 house power.  Ford also produced the Ford Explorer in the 1990’s.  The Explorer became one of the most bought vehicles in Ford’s history (Ford Motor Company). 

            At the start of his enterprise Ford didn’t make the mistake of giving up because of loss of money.  He strategically released new cars throughout the years to bring in substantial profits. Ford’s insight and love for vehicles was prevalent in every walk of his life.  The assembly line changed how everything was and is produced.  From the beginning Ford’s insight was that cars could be an everyday item that could be in the reach of ordinary people (Henry Ford’s Motor Company). Ford Company affected every sector of life, from transportation to production, and engineering. Ford Company still produces cars and will for an extended period of time.

Words Cited

From the Model T to the Mustang. Watch Mojo. Youtube, 2001. Film.

The Ford Motor Company. “Ford Company Timeline.” Web. 1/10/15
Watts, Stevens. The People’s Tycoon Henry Ford and the American Century. New York:  Vintage Books A Division of Random House, Inc, 2005. Print. 50-52, 135-37. 

Reviews

[Jeremy Hiles]

Great job! This was a very interesting and very detailed summary/documentation of the history of the Ford Motor Company, as well as a great example of learning not to give up when faced with adversity, because if you can push through it, you will be rewarded for your efforts. It was also nice that you cited sources, just in case anyone wanted to look into the details more for themselves to learn even more about the subject! Great job on this! Keep up the great work!