Henry Ford

Net Worth

$200,000,000,000

Born in (City)

Michigan

Born in (Country)

United States of America

Date of Birth

30th December, 1863

Date of Death

07th December, 1947

Mother

Mary Ford

Father

William Ford

Children

Edsel Ford

About

Henry Ford, an American industrialist and a business magnate who was the founder of the Ford Motor Company is also an Engineer and philanthropist. His company has built their first car Model A followed by Model N in 1907 which was around $600. Keeping the middle-class Americans in his mind, He has created the first automobile that they could afford which has positively impacted the landscape of the 20th-century ’s auto-mobile industry. With the introduction of Model T, he was made one of the richest and well-known people of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Early Life

Henry Ford was one of the eight children of William and Henry ford. He used to help his father with the harvest and when he is not, he attended a one-room school for eight years. At the age of 16, he walked to Detroit, then almost 2 miles east from his place, to find work at machine shops. Three years later, for the first time, he was introduced to the combustion-engine which made him set up his own little machine shop. He had eventually built a small tractor for his farming which has an old mowing machine as a carriage and for power, a homemade steam engine. Nine years later he married Clara Bryant and had returned to Detroit. He was the chief engineer who is responsible for maintaining a 24 hours electric service at Detroit Edison Company. But he was working all along on his first working gasoline engine, which was completed by the end of 1893. He had also constructed his so-called “Quadricycle”, a horseless carriage that is on four bicycle wheels. The next seven years had been tough for him, various offers who wanted his vehicle abandoned him as they wanted a passenger car on the market where he tried to convince them that it was not ready yet. During these years, he has also built many racing cars which some of which have even speeding records. He left Henry Ford company in 1902 which was later called Cadillac motor Car company.

Road to Success

In 1903, he was finally ready to release the automobile into the market. With the help of his friends and with his previous dealings, cash of $28,000 was put in and the Ford Motor Company was incorporated. He said “I will build a motor car for the great multitude” while releasing the Model T in 1908 where 19 years later this model has sold 15,500,000 cars in the United States and around 1,000,000 more in Canada and 250,000 in Great Britain which indicates half of the sold cars worldwide. According to his vision, his car was built in the ordinary man’s utility which has bought him such huge profits. The car was considered as one of the most influenced things in the lives of common people in less than two decades. This has helped with the lives of farmers where they were no longer left isolated on remote farms. The people of that decade have clearly seen the change from horse carriages to the usage of cars which has impacted the agricultural revolution. This has impacted the economy of America along with developing many sectors of the country. He was also considerate towards daily workers which made him announce in 1914 that Ford Motor Company will increase the wage to $5 a day when the average pay was $2.34. He also decreased the working hours from nine to eight resulting in a three-shift-a-day working method. This had led him to become an overnight celebrity all over the world. He also decreased the Model T rate to $290 by the year 1927 in order to capture the widest possible market. This revolution made the company produce a car every 24 seconds.

Challenges

But he faced the company’s first obstacle within the first five weeks, threatened to put it out of the market as he is not a licensed Automobile Manufacturer. He thought invention should be a matter of evolution and so he was glad to fight for the issue, even though that brought millions of loss to his company. Fighting for almost six years, he finally won the case in 1911 where this victory had a huge impact on the market and made him so much popular. Overheating engines and disintegrating brakes were among the many problems that faced the early Ford Motor Company. But Couzens (Vice president), known for his hard-nosed approach was not persuaded. “Stop shipping, and we go bankrupt,” said Couzens, and so they shipped. Henry Ford, one of the most celebrated entrepreneurs in American history, may not have been the success he was without Couzens, who forced him to ship.

Failures

A journey doesn’t always go smoothly. In December 1917 the court ruled in favor of Dodges who sued Ford, claiming for his reckless expansion and for reducing prices of the company’s products. Unlike last time this time he lost. The court stated that his empathy towards his employees and customers was nice but business is all about the profits of stockholders. He had resigned as president in December 1918, in favor of his son, Edsel, and in march 1919 he announced a plan to build cars cheaper than Model T. The Dodges were being problematic in every step he took which left Ford stating that if he was not master of his own company, he would start another.

Achievements

Ford was awarded Franklin Institute's ‘Elliott Cresson Medal’ in 1928.|In 1938, Ford was awarded Nazi Germany's ‘Grand Cross of the German Eagle,’ a medal given to foreigners sympathetic towards Nazism.|He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1946.|In 1975, Ford was posthumously inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame.|He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1996.

Quotes

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.
If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.