Henry Ford

Henry Ford

a. How was the first car different from the cars of today?

b. Could the middle-class people afford to buy cars?

c. What idea did he have when he visited a meat packing factory?

Henry Ford was born in 1863 in the state of Michigan. He grew up on a farm but he did not want to become a farmer. He left school when he was sixteen. He wanted to make cars so he went to work as a mechanic.

In 1896 Ford built his first car. This car was very different from the cars of today. For example, its wheels were bicycle wheels.

In 1902 Ford built a car that won an important race. This car was the fastest car that had ever been built. It went seventy miles per hour. By then Ford had enough money to start the Ford Motor Company.

At this time cars cost a lot of money. Only very rich people bought cars. Ford had a dream. He wanted to build a car that many people could afford. Ford was sure that, if people could afford cars, they would buy them. He said, "everybody wants to be somewhere he isn't."

Ford's plan was to make all his cars the same. Cars that are all the same take less time and less money to make. Then Ford could charge less money for these cars. In 1908 Ford produced his famous Model T Ford. The Model T sold for $850. This was much cheaper than other cars but still more than most people could pay.

One day Ford visited a meat-packing factory. There he saw beef carcasses being moved from one worker to another. Each worker had a particular job to do when the beef carcasses reached him. Ford realized that he could use this assembly line method to build cars.

It took less than two hours to build a car on the assembly line. Before, it took fourteen hours. Ford was able to drop the price of the Model T to $265.

Ford's dream had come true. The Model T was now now a car that many people could afford. By 1927, when Ford stopped making the Model T, over 15 million of these cars had been sold.