The man who started it
all Although Henry Ford started with steam by bolting an
engine to the bottom of an ordinary horse buggy, he soon
gave up. To be seated on a high pressure engine which might
explode is not a pleasant thought, he said before taking a
safe job with the Detroit Edison company. but the itch to
build a petrol engine vehicle remained.
When he finally took a water cooled twin with belt drive out he discovered he had forgotten to fit a reverse gear. Not for another three years was his next car completed. it had wire wheels and solid tyres as well as a reverse gear.
Disregarding his father's advice to stick with a regular job and to stop tinkering with cars, Henry scraped together all the money he had and with the help of friends formed the Detroit Automobile company. Their small amount of capital soon vanished in experimental work and the firm was reorganised as the Henry Ford Motor Company.
He then went into racing cars where he was successful. However he had to sell out in 1900. Undeterred he staged another comeback in 1903 as the result of the popularity of his racing cars.
This time he was successful with the first Model A which had a Ford designed two-cylinder which cranked at the side, two forward speeds, plush leather seats and gleaming brass headlights. it was called the ford mobile and 1,700 were sold.
Henry was now on the road to success. His first four-cylinder, the Model B had the engine in the front with planetary two speed transmission. It was followed by the six-cylinder K. These were all expensive cars and Ford was soon convinced that the secret was not high price but high volume.
In 1906 he undercut Oldsmobile with a four-cylinder Model N and sold 8,432. The company made a million dollars and became the world,s largest manufacturer, even before the immortal Model T was announced in 1907.
In 1908 the first Model T was sold and by 1914 the Ford Motor Company was turning out 750,000 "Tin Lizzies" a year. it continued in production until 1929, having topped the 15 million mark.
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