As promised, this installment will be about the man whose name is instantly recognized by most every person in this country, Henry Ford. Recognized yes, but how much do you really know about the founder of FoMoCo? Born in 1863, Henry was the oldest of five children of his parents, William and Mary Ford. His father expected Henry to eventually take over the family farm in Dearborn, Michigan, but Henry was having none of that. Instead, he left home in 1879 to become a machinist in Detroit.
Although he briefly returned home and worked on the family farm in 1882, it wasn't so much for the farming as it was for operating and maintaining the portable steam engine. The Westinghouse company was so impressed by his ability to service this engine that they hired him to do likewise for their engines owned by others.
He married Clara Bryant in 1888 and the couple had one son, Edsel Ford, born in 1893. At the time he was married, Henry supported himself by farming and running a sawmill, but that didn't last long. In 1891 he became an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company and was promoted to chief engineer just 2 years later. It was during this time that Henry became fascinated with the gasoline engine and he began experimenting with building an automobile with the blessing of Thomas Edison. This experimentation culminated in 1896 with the Ford Quadricycle.
Now completely smitten with the automobile bug, Henry left the Edison company and started the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899. The company was not very successful and dissolved in 1901. Of course that didn't stop Mr. Ford, with a lot of the same backers, he started the Henry Ford Company later in the same year. Although much more successful than his previous business, Henry's personal success was not to be at this time.
Enter Henry Leland, who you may remember from our last installment, formed a little company named Cadillac. Mr. Leland was brought into the Henry Ford Company as a consultant by Ford's backers, but this did not sit well with Henry. So he left the company bearing his name in 1902. With Ford gone, the company was renamed to Cadillac and you pretty much know what happened to that company.
Still, Henry was not quite through with the automobile business, with a new partner (Alexander Malcomson), they formed Ford & Malcomson, Ltd. in October of 1902, and went to work designing an inexpensive automobile. Unfortunately, their parts supplier, John and Horace Dodge (yep, they started making their own cars later on as the Dodge Brothers company), demanded payment for $160,000 worth of parts, which left Henry no alternative other than to make them partners and reorganize once again.
So, on June 16, 1903, the Ford Motor Company was formed and eventually Henry managed to buy out all of his partners to solely control the company. He remained in control for most of his life, even though he installed his son, Edsel as president of the company in 1918. Henry assumed the presidency again briefly in 1943 after the death of his son, but ceded the position to his grandson, Henry Ford II, in 1945 due to ill health. Henry died in 1947 at the age of 83 from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Did You Know?
The Ford Motor Company was never audited under Henry's administration, he didn't believe in accountants.
Henry was credited with "Fordism", which is basically the mass production of large numbers of inexpensive automobiles using the assembly line, coupled with high wages for his workers.
The Model T was produced from 1908 to 1927, the final total production was 15,007,034. The price for the car in 1908 was $825, and the price fell every year.
Ransom Eli Olds invented the basic concept of the assembly line, but Henry Ford improved it to the point where he is often mistakenly credited with it's invention.
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