Celebrate The Heritage of Ford CELEBRATE FORD | THE BEGINNING A Legendary Founder HENRY FORD LEFT A LEGACY OF EFFICIENCY, INNOVATION IN CARS ew people have changed the world as much as the Ffounder of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford. EARLY LIFE 1885 — Ford was the first to fig- Born in Michigan in 1863, Ford ure out how to produce cars at a had a knack for working with gigantic scale, offering the auto- mechanical things at an early mobile to the masses instead of age. He built his first small just the wealthy. machine shop by age 12 and had constructed a steam engine by age 15. MASS PRODUCTION If he hadn’t taken an interest in It was Ford’s innovation the automobile, Ford would have — mass production — that likely had a very successful career would truly change how the as an engineer. After working as a world moved. machinist’s apprentice and But, believe it or not, Ford repairing Westinghouse steam didn’t own his own company out- engines in Michigan, he was right in the beginning. He found- hired as an engineer at the ed Ford Motor Company on June Edison Illuminating Company. It 16, 1903 using other people’s cap- took him just 28 months to rise ital, owning just 25.5 percent of to the position of chief engineer the stock at first. It took him at Edison. three years to become the con- Fortunately for the automotive trolling owner and an additional world, Ford’s ambition would 13 years — and nearly $106 mil- lead him elsewhere. lion — to buy the company out- right with his wife, Clara, and his son, Edsel. FIRST CAR Constantly tinkering at home, Ford’s work would take him he built his first internal com- down many more paths, from bustion engine on his kitchen charcoal briquettes to aircraft table in the winter of 1893 and production with the Ford Tri- used it to power his first car in Motor airplane, but his legacy 1896, which was little more than will always center around bring- a motorized, four-wheeled bicy ing cars to the masses. cle. - Today, William Clay “Bill” Ford While Ford wasn’t the first per Jr. — Henry Ford’s great-grand- son to build a car — that honor - son — carries on the family lega- went to Germany’s Carl Benz in cy as executive chairman of Ford Motor Company. CELEBRATE FORD | BREAKTHROUGH The Car That Started It All FORD’S MODEL T REVOLUTIONIZED WITH QUALITY, AFFORDABILITY magine if more than half the world’s cars were nearly identical — the same color, the same style, the same parts. employees were producing I around 300,000 cars per year. In comparison, 299 other Well, that’s exactly what the companies with a combined car world was like in the mid- 66,350 employees only man- 1920s, when Ford’s popular aged to produce around Model T ruled the roads. The 280,000 vehicles. Model T was the world’s most - The Model T went on to dominant car, by far, for near become one of the most pop- ly two decades in the early ular cars ever built, with 20th century. more than 15 million pro- Why was it such a hot sell- duced. It remains beloved by er? It came down to quality classic car enthusiasts to this and cost. day. MANUFACTURING Before the Model T, cars “I will build a car for the were essentially built by hand great multitude. It will by skilled craftspeople. Many individual parts had to be be large enough for the custom fabricated, which was family, but small enough expensive and time consum- for the individual to run ing. and care for. It will be Thanks to Henry Ford’s constructed of the best constant perfection and improvement of the moving materials, by the best success. men to be hired, after assembly line, though, the Model T was produced So was its cost. the simplest designs that extremely efficiently and was When the Model T was first able to use interchangeable introduced, it sold for a mod- modern engineering can parts, a development that we devise. But it will be so est price of $850. And as take for granted today. Henry Ford discovered ways low in price that no man If a part on your Ford broke, to build it faster and cheaper making a good salary instead of having a local on the assembly line, the will be unable to own craftsperson repair it or fabri- price eventually dropped to cate a new part from scratch just $260, making it affordable one – and enjoy with — with questionable quality to virtually everyone. his family the blessing — you could order a replace- of hours of pleasure in ment part from Ford that was built to the factory specifica- EFFICIENCY God’s great open spaces.” tions. That advancement was By 1914, Ford’s 13,000 — HENRY FORD CELEBRATE FORD | SPEED a huge part of the Model T’s Passion for Performance MUSTANG INSPIRES GENERATIONS OF MUSCLE-CAR LOVERS he Ford Model T brought transportation to the masses by the 1920s. Four decades later, the Ford Mustang would do the same thing for Tperformance cars. Before the Mustang, sports cars were generally expensive, surpassing everyone’s expecta- impractical and sold in small tions for the new car. That batches. The soldiers who original 100,000 sales target enjoyed European sports cars was surpassed in just three during and after World War II months. brought their tastes for fast cars back to the states, but not everyone could afford the FUN PERFORMANCE pricey imports from compa- While it might not sound nies like Jaguar, Porsche and impressive by today’s stan- Mercedes-Benz. dards, the Mustang was a quick, enjoyable car to drive in General Motors had success with the Corvette in the 1950s, 1964. Its base engine was a V6 but its two-seat layout and that made 101 horsepower, small dimensions kept it from but two V8 engines were having mass-market appeal. where the real fun was at. The Mustang would change A 260-cubic-inch V8 made that. 164 horsepower, while a 289-cubic-inch V8 made 210 As the brainchild of Donald Frey and Lee Iacocca — the horses. And with a more nim- same man who would become ble feel than most cars from a household name for turning the era, along with a back seat around Chrysler’s fortunes in for practicality, the new the 1980s — the Mustang was Mustang appealed to a huge sporty, practical and very number of drivers who want- affordable, which was a revo- ed a sporty car. lutionary concept at the time. It was the right car at the right time, and it would go on to change the world. SALES SUCCESS When it first went on sale, the Ford Motor Company esti- LEGACY TODAY The Ford Mustang contin- mated just under 100,000 ues today with an all-new gen- Mustangs would sell in the eration that builds on the first year. original Mustang’s timeless But they were wrong. formula. With classic good It turns out the Mustang looks and muscle-car perfor sold 418,000 copies in the first - mance, the new Mustang car year alone, breaking all kinds - ries on with the same spirit as of sales records and wildly the original. CELEBRATE FORD | TOUGHNESS Decades of Truck Leadership FORD F-SERIES HAS BEEN DOMINANT PICKUP LEADER FOR MANY YEARS ith its aluminum body, LED lighting and sophisticated new features, today’s Ford F-150 pickup is one of the mostvations such as: F-150 looks to continue its — LED side-mirror spot- lights that illuminate the side innovative trucks ketplace.on the road. predecessors’ success after its of the vehicle. The F-150 has long been a introduction in 2015. truck line continued to evolve — A remote tailgate release W sales success, becoming the While its aluminum-inten- That should come as no and expand for decades, grad- that lowers the tailgate at the best-selling pickup in sive body structure generates surprise, seeing how Ford ually getting more refined and push of a button. America for 43 years and the headlines, it’s far from the trucks have a long legacy of capable with each passing — A fully integrated tailgate best-selling vehicle of any only innovation on this truck. raising the bar for tough, generation. It also spawned a step that makes loading cargo kind for the past 32 years. In fact, it’s the most patented range of speciality trucks such easier. hard-working machines. It’s a long-term track record vehicle Ford has ever created. as the Eddie Bauer edition, Ford says there were more — The BoxLink cargo man- Harley Davidson edition, SVT that no other vehicle in the THE BEGINNING than 100 patents or patent agement system that uses Lightning sport truck and SVT world can match. applications for the new-gen- lockable, die-cast aluminum The Ford F-Series was first Raptor off-road machine. eration truck, covering inno- tie-down cleats. sold in 1948, and it’s been TODAY’S TRUCK — Methods for spot weld- offered continuously ever SALES CROWN The all-new generation of ing, hydroforming and using since then to become one of adhesives to build the first-of- Perhaps like nowhere else, the world’s longest running its-kind pickup. nameplates. the F-Series’ greatest- success From the very start, the has come in the mar F-Series has always offered a wide range of configurations to meet customers’ needs.