The History of Ford

The American corporation Ford Motor Company has long been on the list of the world's leading automakers. For more than a century of history, Ford is in fourth place in terms of car sales, and their models are popular on all continents of the planet. Today we will dive into the history of Ford's origins and development, and find out why the company was able to achieve such heights.

The history of the Ford company dates back to the end of the 18th century, when Henry Ford founded the Detroit Automobile Company. Even then, serious competition was seen in the car market between manufacturers, which DAC was not able to withstand.

In the history of Ford's development, the year 1901 is considered historic, when the Henry Ford Company was officially created. But even here, success was not achieved because of many disagreements with investors, which led to the departure of Henry Ford from the company. At the same time, he had the rights to the name, and with the available capital of 900 U.S. dollars, the entrepreneur registered a new company.

The history of the brand Ford Motor Company began in the summer of 1903, when Henry Ford managed to convince twelve investors in the profitability of the project. At that time the investors owned 1,000 shares of the company, while Ford himself owned 255 of them. The plant was housed in a Detroit van plant, which at the time was idle and not functioning.

Investors were wary of Henry Ford's ideas, remembering his unsuccessful attempts to gain a foothold in the automobile market earlier. But despite the skepticism of allies, as early as October of that year, Ford made its first-ever big profit of $37,000.

Ford's development history briefly describes that the first cars were produced exclusively to order. The company faced a serious shortage of skilled workers who could manually assemble the models. Henry Ford solved the problem simply - he standardized the parts, which simplified the assembly process even for an inexperienced employee.

The first cars produced in Ford's history were three models - the Model A, Model S, and Model K. The last of this list of models, released in 1906, is the first car of the American brand, which was equipped with a 6-cylinder engine. This gave the car 40 hp and earned it the nickname gentleman's roadster.

The Ford Model K was priced at $2,800 on the market. The Model K never became a success in the history of Ford, because the quality for such money left much to be desired. Already two years after the release of the 'Model K' ceased production - this, as well as a complete failure with the 'Model B', which, like the series 'K' was counted on wealthy customers, forced Henry Ford to analyze its own approach to the production of model ranges.

A new stage in the development of the history of the company Ford was the owner's decision to focus on the production of cars of a cheaper segment. In 1908, the novelty 'Ford Model T' not only made the young company famous, but also became the first Ford model, which was put into mass production. The car was powered by a 2.9-liter four-cylinder engine, working in tandem with a 2-speed gearbox (planetary type transmission). The Ford Model T also had the first use of foot pedals for shifting gears, and the cylinder block had a separate cylinder head. Do not forget to use Ford VIN decoder in order to avoid potential problems when buying a used car.