The founder of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford, was born on this day 149 years ago near Detroit in Michigan. He left home at the age of 16 to become an apprentice machinist, and was later hired by Westinghouse to service their steam engines. He became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company in 1891, and chief engineer in 1893, while working on personal experiments to create a self-propelled vehicle.
In 1896 he created his first car, the Ford Quadricycle. After more experiments he founded the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899, but that company failed to produce cost-effective cars, and was dissolved in 1901. Another company which he co-founded later in 1901 became the Cadillac Automobile Company. After leaving that company, Ford co-founded a third company which became the Ford Motor Company, aiming to produce low-cost cars.
The Model T car was introduced in 1908. It was simple to drive and easy to repair. Ford used an extensive advertising and publicity campaign to market his car, and developed the concept of assembly-line manufacturing to produce the vehicles in the fastest possible time at the lowest possible cost. The profitability of the business enabled Ford to pay high rates to his workers, which in turn attracted the best mechanics and resulted in increased productivity.