The next venture that Ford undertook was far more successful, but in order to attract backers he had to do something bold. Ford built a race car in secret to help build publicity for himself. On 10 October 1901, Ford took on famous racing driver Alexander Winston in a one-on-one sweepstakes race. Ford had no money or reputation to hire a real driver, so he put himself behind the wheel. It was a risky venture, to be sure, but Henry Ford was never afraid to take the risks necessary to succeed. He also didn’t fear the potential failure; in fact it seemed to drive him on. On the sixth lap, Ford closed the gap and his rival’s engine overheated; Ford won by nearly a mile. It was as a result of this spectacle that Ford was able to forge the Ford Motor Company.
The journey started with Ford & Malcomson Ltd., which was a partnership he formed with coal dealer Alexander Y. Malcomson. The two leased a factory and made a deal with the Dodge Brothers, John and Horace, and Ford began work on designing his inexpensive automobile. After some shifting around of investors, the company would be rebranded on 16 June 1903 as the Ford Motor Company. Ford managed to get the then famous racing driver, Barney Oldfield, to drive his Ford 999 model across the country, which is what it took to get a brand recognised at the turn of the twentieth century. Ford would also find good promotion in backing the early days of the Indianapolis 500 race in the coming years. The Ford Model N was introduced to the marketplace and sold for two years from 1906 for a price of $600 ($15,127.50 in today’s terms). The relative success of this car emboldened Ford and he went back to work, developing an even better model for the masses.
Henry Ford was driven, and sure of his own vision, but not everyone felt the same way. He duped backers by producing parts for cars he never intended to build. Ford used their money and time instead to work on perfecting his magnum opus, the Model T. He had no time for investors or their ideas, in fact he blamed the investors for the past issues he had had. Ford harboured a hatred for the rich and for his own investors.
In 1907 Henry Ford walled off a corner of his factory, wide enough only for the chassis of a car. There was one door that remained locked at all times. Ford put his engineers and team in the secret room to have them develop a new suspension system and engine. Ford himself wasn’t shy about getting his hands dirty and worked side by side with his men. His passion and drive took centre stage, far above any position or prestige that he held at the time. It wasn’t until later in life that his ego would inflate to a dangerous level.
Ford kept introducing new car models into the marketplace. The Model K was too heavy and expensive, the Model N was lighter, but had an engine in four pieces instead of one block. He kept working his way through the automobile alphabet, working towards the T, where he would finally realise his vision for the people’s automobile, something that would connect the country and close the gaps in society.
In October of 1908, after two years of intense development, the Ford Model T would emerge. The car featured new innovations such as a four-cylinder twenty horsepower engine, a much-improved transmission, and a magnetic generator that powered the ignition and lights. The Model T also featured an open top design at first, with an optional add-on cover. The original colour scheme of the car was green, but that would soon change to only black. The Model T weighed 1,200lbs and could reach speeds of up to 40mph. The old horse-drawn carriages could take up to ten hours or more to travel forty miles, so the mobility that the Model T offered was vastly improved. Wells Fargo and Company was one of the more well known stagecoach companies that would transport people across the often dangerous territories, but even those could only travel an average of 5mph with teams of four to six horses. The official Wells Fargo website also adds that the drivers had to stop every twelve miles to change out the horses and every forty-five miles to allow the drivers and passengers to eat.
It was with the introduction of the Model T in 1908 that Ford began to really solidify his position in the marketplace and in the history of the automobile in America. The Model T featured the very first left-side steering wheel, among other innovations that made it the first mass-purchased automobile. The Model T helped to revolutionise the marketplace, primarily because it was so easy to drive and to repair. The four-cylinder vehicle would cost the consumer a whopping $825, which would presently translate to $20,392 (or £14,128) in today’s market. This was the first time that a mass market of consumers in America could actually afford their own automobile. Prior to that it was a privilege frill of the wealthy citizens, with the average cost of a vehicle running around $2,000, which is $53,225.79 (£42,189.75) in today’s money. The average annual salary in the United States at the time was only around $450, or about $10,000 (£7,900) today, so the price of a car made all the difference. ‘I’m going to democratise the automobile,’ Ford is said to have declared in 1909. ‘When I’m through, everybody will be able to afford one, and about everybody will have one.’ It was thanks to this great attitude towards the public that so many could finally realise their dreams of mobility. The Ford Model T gave the citizens the ability to travel outside of their own towns and opened up the country in a way that it hadn’t been previously. The added control it gave people over their lives and locations made a huge impact, but if automobiles were going to become the norm, they would need to keep dropping in price to meet the needs of the consumer. Not only did the price start low, but Ford kept dropping it year after year, bringing the cost of the basic touring car down to only $360, or $8,572 (£5,939) today. The sales rose to 472,000 units by 1914, making the Model T so prolific that most Americans of the era actually learned to drive in it.
The Ford Model T would remain the industry giant with a total number of over 15 million cars produced by the time it was discontinued in 1927, to be replaced by the Model A. The burgeoning film industry would adopt the car as a comedic device, often using the Ford Model T in their chase scenes. The inclusion of the vehicle in the movies would help to put the car in front of a large number of Americans and would help to solidify it as a staple in the marketplace. The Model T held the record for the most produced car until it was dethroned in 1972 by the Volkswagen Beetle. The irony that the Beetle was Adolf Hitler’s version of an accessible car that the German people could afford is one that will be clear by the end of this chapter.
Among the innovations that Henry Ford was responsible for, the modern assembly line and the way that his workers were treated were the most notable. Henry Ford is often credited with the invention of the assembly line concept, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, assembly lines have been used throughout history, as seen in the fourteenth century Venetian shipbuilding complex. The Venetian production system was unmatched for the era, because their process could build a large merchant ship in just one day. Ford took the concept and modernised it for the industrial age. On 1 December 1913, Ford opened the first assembly line system to mass-produce his automobiles. Determined to always be in the lead of the automobile industry, Ford reduced the time that it took to produce a vehicle from twelve hours to only two and a half hours. His goal was to produce 1,000 cars per day. The parts could be created quickly enough, but assembly was time consuming. Ford’s assembly line concept made his dream a reality. The idea of each person doing a dedicated task helped the workforce become specialised, and therefore more efficient, in his or her job. This took the skillset of each worker down to one specific job, instead of many, which affected them when, and if, they chose to move on and work somewhere else. There were some that felt the assembly line removed the skill from the process and served to dehumanise the worker. The turnover rate in Ford’s factory was high, because the work was so repetitive. The cost to retrain and make a worker efficient was so high that Ford needed to take drastic action to maintain his process and costs.