Birthday Quote 30th July

Henry Ford
Henry Ford was born on a farm. His father gave him a pocket watch in his early teens and at 15, Ford dismantled and reassembled the timepieces of friends and neighbours dozens of times, gaining the reputation of a watch repairman.

In 1879, Ford left home to work as an apprentice machinist. In 1882, he returned to work on the family farm, where he became adept at operating the portable steam engine. He was later hired by Westinghouse to service their steam engines. During this period Ford also studied bookkeeping at a business college in Detroit. In 1888 he married Clara Bryant and they had a child in 1893.

In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company. After becoming Chief Engineer in 1893, he began to devote attention to his experiments on gasoline engines. By 1896, Ford had completed a self-propelled vehicle which he test-drove on June 4 before designing and building a second vehicle, completing it in 1898. Ford resigned from the Edison Company and founded the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899.However, the automobiles produced were of a lower quality and higher price than Ford wanted. Ultimately, the company was not successful and was dissolved in January 1901.

Later, Ford and a friend formed a partnership, "Ford & Malcomson, Ltd." to manufacture automobiles. Ford began designing an inexpensive automobile, and the duo leased a factory and contracted with a machine shop to supply over $160,000 in parts. Sales were slow, and a crisis arose when the suppliers demanded payment for their first shipment. Malcomson brought in another group of investors and convinced the suppliers to accept a portion of the new company. Their company was reincorporated as the Ford Motor Company in 1903. Ford then demonstrated a newly designed car, driving 1 mile in 39.4 seconds and setting a new land speed record. Convinced by this success, the race driver Barney Oldfield took the car around the country, making the Ford brand known throughout the United States.

The Model T was introduced in 1908. It had the steering wheel on the left, which every other company soon copied. The car was very simple to drive, and easy and cheap to repair. It was so cheap at $825 in 1908 ($21,990 today) that by the 1920s, a majority of American drivers had learned to drive on the Model T.

Ford created a huge publicity machine to ensure every newspaper carried stories and ads about the new product. Ford's network of local dealers made the car ubiquitous in almost every city in North America. Sales rocketed and several years posted 100% gains on the previous year. Always on the hunt for more efficiency and lower costs, in 1913 Ford introduced the moving assembly belts into his plants, which enabled an enormous increase in production.

Born 30th July 1863 in Greenfield Township, Michigan, U.S.
Died 7th April 1947 in Fair Lane, Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.

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