firewood. He was not interested in farming and use his extra time on experimenting with steam
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and gasoline engines. In 1891 he left the farm for an engineering job in Detroit. Ford built a
small house on the land and made a small salary by selling wood. He was not interested in
farming and instead he used his free time experimenting on steam and gasoline engines.
‘Henry Ford on April 11, 1888, at the age of 25, married Clara Bryant and a couple years
later moved back to Detroit to find work’. ‘The Fords became the parents of their only child,
Edsel, in 1893’. In the year of 1889 Henry Ford established the Detroit Automobile Company
with the support of a group of investors. This was the first Company organized in Detroit for
making cars. The company soon went out business by turning out twelve unreliable vehicles and
in the Fall of 1900 it went out of business. After that Ford then moved to auto racing and
constructed a race car to gain a bigger and wider reputation. The success of his racer revived the
enthusiasm of former stockholders and resulted in his firm's reorganization as the Henry Ford
Company in November 1901. The firm was capitalized at $60,000, of which more than half was
paid in stock. Dissension broke out between Ford and the promoters, and in 1902 Henry M.
Leland was brought into the firm as a consulting engineer. Ford resigned, and the firm was then
reorganized as the Cadillac Motor Car Company.
Ford didn’t invent the automobile, but however he developed design concepts and
production techniques. Which allowed the mass manufacturing of automobiles at affordable
prices. Henry Ford’s business philosophy rested on three fundamentals: low prices for the
consumer, increased productivity, and better working conditions for the laborer. In order to
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maintain a high rate of productivity necessary to roll out Model Ts in high volume. Assembly-
line production required laborers who were familiar with the assembly process and
could carry out repetitive tasks over long hours without variation. To entice workers to persist in
such mind–numbing work, Ford initiated the $5 day. Ford’s $5 day program could not survive
wartime inflation and collapsed by 1919. Ford also stirred up controversy in setting the standard
for higher wages in the auto industry, paying more than double the going
wage rate in order to attract and keep skilled labor.
The higher wages in turn created disposable income that workers eventually spent on
consumer goods, including cars, which resulted in the further growth of the company. Many
social critics, however, contend that the higher wages were more than offset by the demanding,
high-production work that the moving assembly line was created. While the social consequences
of mass production are debatable, there is no doubt that the Model T changed America. Henry
Ford's ingenuity as a designer was embodied in the "Tin Lizzie," a car that helped make
Ford Motor Company an enduring automobile empire. Henry Ford using the the principles of
Taylorism, or scientific management, Ford’s designers vastly improved the efficiency of the
assembly line on the Model T by making it movable. So, no longer did the workers have to move
from car to car instead the car would be going to them. The moving assembly line was often
called “Fordization”. The down fall was that it displaced artisanship and created worker
alienation, fatigue, and boredom.
The Model T revolutionized American society. The Model T was a simple design, tough,
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and a affordable vehicle. This vehicle was in production throughout the year of October 1908 -
May 1927. Nearly 15.5 million Model Ts were manufactured and a astonishing 75% were still
being driven when it was out of production in 1927. The price for a new Roadster Model T in the
year of 1925 was $260 and a good used Model T could be bought for $50. This car was featured
with a four-cylinder engine, rear-wheel brakes, and a pedal-controlled planetary transmission
with two forward speeds; on a good and flat road it might reach 45mph. There were four
different body styles available. The two most popular body styles was the 5 passenger touring car
and the 2 passenger roadster. They did have colored paints, but it required several applications
and also took two weeks to dry.
To cut shipping costs, parts were shipped from the main plants in the Detroit area and
assembled into cars at branch plants. Henry Ford built his first car in a little shed behind his
home. It had a two cylinder engine over the rear axle that developed four horsepower, a single
seat fitted in a boxlike body, an electric bell for a horn, and a steering lever instead of a wheel.
During WWI and WWII his company was a major producer of war materials.
‘Over all, Ford lived a life trying to help many middle-class people, while everyone else
only served the elite class, in hopes of earning more money. Ford tried many different ways to
bridge the growing rift between traditional and industrial living. He also professed to believe in
an almighty, all-knowing God. This is clearly obvious in his statement “I believe God is
managing affairs and that He doesn't need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe
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every thing will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about?”2 He also
showed an understanding of the Bible and Biblical prophesy because he believed the Jews would
return to Palestine and have their own country back, which few during his time believed.
Unfortunately, though he denied that wealth could give security , he thought that real security
comes from human wisdom and knowledge instead of from a personal walk with his all-knowing
God. Again, his quote shows his opinion, “The only real security that a man can have in this
world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability’.” 3
