Ford Motor Company example essay topic

HENRY FORD & THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY PROF. POLLIONE ENGLISH 101 BE APRIL 28, 2002 OUTLINE Introduction: THESIS STATEMENT I. From the awesome mind of an inventor and entrepreneur came the first automobile and the revolutionary assembly line. Henry Ford was an incredible man with many talents. A. Biography 1. date & place of birth 2. early career II. The Quadricycle A. Inventing the Quadracycle 1.

The concept 2. The outcome. Ford Motor Company A. The founding and incorporation of the company. 1. growing and capitalization 2. World war II PROF.

POLLIONE ENGLISH 101 BE APRIL 28, 2002 HENRY FORD & THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY From the awesome mind of an inventor and entrepreneur came the first automobile and the revolutionary assembly line. Henry Ford was an incredible man with many talents. Born on a farm near Greenfield, Michigan on July 30th, 1863. He became a machinist's apprentice in Detroit at the age of sixteen.

At the age of twenty-eight he became an engineer at the Edison Illumination Company in Detroit. (web) Henry Ford would experiment with engines in his spare time and completed his first automobile, the Quadracycle, in 1896. The automobile was completed in a shed behind his home in Detroit, Michigan. It included a two-cylinder engine and chassis mounted on four bicycle wheels with absolutely no brakes. It reached a top speed of only twenty-five miles per hour.

He then sold the car for Two hundred dollars to finance his second car which was completed early 1898. By 1899, at the age of thirty-six, he had built two more renditions and gained recognition for his hard & pioneering work. (web) In 1899 Ford also founded the Detroit Automobile Factory, but unfortunately the company went bankrupt in 1901. Ford did not give up easy, he founded the Henry Ford Company with other investors. Due to the fact that Ford was spending too much time building race cars he was asked to resign.

That company is now known as the Cadillac Automobile Company. In 1903 once again Henry Ford now forty, and eleven investors twenty-eight thousand dollars to form the Ford Motor Company. Ford produced one thousand seven hundred and eight Model A cars that year alone, which earned the reputation for reliability. Over the next five years Ford and his engineers produced other models, some only experimental, designated with the letters B through S. The most successful of these models was the Model N, a small four- cylinder car priced at $500.

The Model K, a $2,500 six-cylinder luxury model, was a financial failure. The success of the Model N convinced Ford that the company's future was in producing cheap cars for a huge market. In 1908 Ford introduced the Model T, a powerful four-cylinder car with an attractive design and a top speed of 45 mph. Priced at $850, the car created an immediate sensation, selling more than 10,000 in the first year. To keep up with demand, in 1913 Ford introduced an assembly-line system, in which each worker did only one specific task. This new method allowed workers to build Model Ts in half the time and is still used today.

In 1914 Ford shocked the business world by more than doubling the minimum wage for his workers. He said that if his employees made more money, the company would sell more cars to them and reduce employee turnover. By 1916 Ford had lowered the price of the Model T to around $350, making the cars affordable to the average worker. By the early 1920's more than half of all cars in the United States were Model Ts. Ford had established assembly plants in Canada, Europe, Australia, South America, and Japan.

In 1922 Ford purchased the Lincoln Motor Company, a maker of luxury cars. Later on in the 1940's ford received government grants and was commissioned to produce airplane engines, tanks and other products for the military. Ford also built the first military used "Jeep" in history. After the war he want back to making automobiles for the every day consumer. (web) In 1919, Edsel Ford took over the Ford Motor Company as president in place of his father Henry Ford. Unfortunately his presidency was short lived, Edsel died in 1943 at the young age of forty-nine. Henry Ford now eighty years old took over once again as president of the company.

In 1945 his eldest grandson, Henry Ford II, took over the presidency. (web) Now we get to my favorite part, the introduction of the Ford Mustang!! More than 100,000 Ford Mustangs sold during the first four months of production in 1964, making it Ford's best early sales success since the introduction of the Model T. A vehicle from the "muscle car" aria, the Mustang's popular uniqueness included a small, fast design, excellent handling, a powerful engine, and a distinctive look. Did I mention the powerful Engine?? The car became extremely popular, with more than 418,000 sold in its first year on the market. ( web ) In the early 1980's the popularity of Japanese compact cars rose, and Ford's sales slipped. From 1980 to 1982 the company lost $3.2 billion. In 1985 the company introduced the Taurus, which became one of the top-selling cars in the United States.

In 1987 Ford bought 75 percent of British luxury sports car manufacturer Aston Martin. Two years later Ford spent $2.5 billion to acquire Jaguar, a British luxury car maker founded in the 1920's. Ford marked record profits in the late 1980's, driven in part by strong sales of its subcompact Escort (introduced in 1980) and its F-series pickup truck... (web) Ford manufactures vehicles under the name of Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Jaguar, and Aston Martin too. Plus, Ford owns Volvo and is a part owner of Japanese Mazda Motor Corporation.

Ford's subsidiaries include the Hertz Corporation, the world's largest car rental company, and Ford Credit, the world's largest provider of automotive financing. (partial source Ford Motors. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2001) From the small shed behind his house, where he first created the Quadracycle to the huge assembly plants all over the world, Henry Ford was an astonishing man. After many failures he did not give, he chose to fight for what he believed in. Ford Motor Company, which is the now, the worlds second largest car and truck manufacturer started off with only eleven investors and twenty eight thousand dollars. That's what I call endurance and perseverance!!

Bibliography

1. Henry Ford/. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2001 2. web 3. web 4. web 5. web.