Initially, Ford’s cars would sat on the ground throughout the building process, and mechanics would source parts and build the car from the chassis upwards. The moving assembly line also had feeder lines that would supply the right parts at the right time. This was crucial for the success of the whole idea of moving assembly lines.
One of Ford’s interests was developing an engineered wood. He was convinced that “better wood can be made than is grown.” Ford proved farsighted, as the world later invented plywood and particle board.
In 1929, Ford brokered a deal to help develop the first automobile plant in Soviet Russia. The Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (GAZ) was established in 1932 and is operational to this day.
Incredibly, one of the big fans of Ford’s cars was none other than the notorious outlaw Clyde Barrow! While he was on the run around the countryside with Bonnie Parker, Barrow famously wrote to Ford, thanking him for his incredible cars, which were proving so useful during bank robberies. Safe to say it’s not quite the celebrity endorsement you can boast about in polite society.
The original Ford Model A is the first car produced by the Ford Motor Company, beginning production in 1903. Ernest Pfennig, a Chicago dentist, became the first owner of a Model A on July 23, 1903;[4] 1,750 cars were made in 1903 and 1904 at the Ford Mack Avenue Plant, a modest rented wood-frame building on Detroit's East Side, and Ford's first facility. The Model A was replaced by the Ford Model C during 1904 with some sales overlap.
The Quadricycle was Henry Ford's first attempt to build a gasoline-powered automobile. It utilized commonly available materials: angle iron for the frame, a leather belt and chain drive for the transmission, and a buggy seat. Ford had to devise his own ignition system. He sold his Quadricycle for $200, then used the money to build his second car.
Henry Ford documented the evolution of steam power with a large collection of historically and personally significant steam engines. Here is a selection—from the oldest known steam engine to one Ford had operated as a teenager—from The Henry Ford.
Ford also founded the Ford Airline Company during World War I due to his interest in the aviation industry. However, lackluster sales prevented the company from becoming successful.
In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson did persuaded Henry Ford to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate as a Democrat. Ford was hesitant but agreed to run, stipulating that he would not actively campaign. Despite his lack of campaigning, Ford only lost by a relatively narrow margin of 4,500 votes to his opponent, Truman Newberry. This election is notable because it demonstrated Ford’s popularity and the influence of President Wilson at the time. Ford never ran for public office again after this election2.
Clara Ford, wife of Henry Ford, drove this Detroit Electric. In the years before World War I many women chose electric cars because they started instantly without hand cranking and had no difficult-to-shift transmission. The superintendent of the Detroit Electric factory employed his daughter, Lillian Reynolds, to sell to women -- including Clara Ford, who drove this car into the 1930s.
Pocket watches were the first mechanical devices to catch Henry Ford's fancy. He made his first successful repair at the age of 13, when he removed the casing on schoolmate Albert Hutchings's watch and extracted a sliver from the works. Hutchings's family donated this watch, believed to be the original, to the Henry Ford Museum in 1933.
Ford Motor Company manufactured charcoal from wood scraps produced by its lumber operations in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The scraps were burned, mixed with starch and compressed into compact briquettes. Ford sold the charcoal to the public through its network of auto dealerships, as well as through conventional hardware, sporting goods and department stores. It was a prominent example of Henry Ford’s commitment to reducing and reusing waste.