Liceul Teoretic “Grigore Moisil”

Lucrare de Atestat
la Limba Engleza
“The History of Ford - an American
Car Company”

Profesor coordonator: Iulia Perju Elev: Căpățîna Teodor

Clasa: a XII-a F

An școlar: 2018-2019
 Contents
1. Introduction - A warm welcome into the world of transportation...............................page 3
2. Why Ford?................................................................................................................... page 5
3. Henry Ford – a revolutionary...................................................................................... page 6
4. Ford Motor Company.................................................................................................. page 7
5. Ford facing bankruptcy............................................................................................. page 10
6. Contribution to automobile engineering.....................................................................page 11
7. Where does Ford Motor Company stand now?..........................................................page 12
8. What does the future hold for Ford?...........................................................................page 13
9. Biography..................................................................................................................page 14
Introduction - A warm welcome into the
world of transportation
Automobiles, we see them every day, yet we never ask ourselves what is the real reason
behind the existence of the automobile, a mere mean of transportation for some and for others the
passion of their lives.

So when did the need for a self-powered 4 wheeled vehicle arise? Since the beginnings of
time people have been trying to ease their life through ingenious inventions like the wheel, textiles,
shoes and ceramic, but it was only until the 18th century when they first managed to create a reliable
way of human and cargo transportation through the “Swansea and Mumbles Railway”, originally
known as the Oystermouth Railway. It was initially built in 1804-1806 and used horse-drawn
vehicles to carry limestone between Swansea and Oystermouth in South Wales, UK. In the USA,
by 1869 they managed to create the first transcontinental railroad which linked the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts.

It was a major achievement towards the economic growth of the US, yet people didn’t stick
to trains and still tried to develop a more efficient and cheaper way of transportation, one that was
capable of traveling on soil without the need of rails. Even though railroad based transportation
was winning, there were some people such as François Isaac de Rivaz who designed the first car
powered by an internal combustion engine fueled by hydrogen in 1808. It took another 62 years
for the gasoline engine to be invented by Siegfried Marcus.

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 The first records of automobiles date bate to 1769, when the very first car, powered by a
steam engine was capable of human transportation. It was built by a french military engineer
named Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot.

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot alongside his creation

The 19th century brought little progress towards building the car as we know it today
although innovations such as the hand brake, multi-speed transmission and better steering were
being developed at that time.

The 20th century is characterised by mass production. Industries are born now, thus
products become cheaper and shops start filling up with more and more merchandise each day that
passes and as Stephen Gardiner said: „The Industrial Revolution was another of those
extraordinary jumps forward in the story of civilization”. Industrialisation left it’s mark on every
major artery of the economy including the automobile branch thus, in the end, every consumer’s
life was improved thanks to lower prices and the ability to choose from a larger variety of goods
and, implicitly, from a wider array of automobiles.

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Why Ford?
The biggest American companies on
the automobile market of the 20th century
were Duesenberg Motors Company, General
Motors Company (the inventors of the
famous Chevrolet Corvette), Packard Motor
Company, Oldsmobile which later became a
division of General Motors, Chrysler and the
most notable, Ford.

Ford managed to change the way we

look at cars in the present and that definitely
First Corvette ever produced by the
took it’s toll on it’s creators as the Chevrolet division of General Motors
competition was fierce with as many as five
other big competitors on the market. They all
fought in the same direction, that of
conquering the market, and did their best in
order to convince the buyer that their product
is superior. General Motors introduced the
muscle car into the game. Chrysler made the
Jeep which was lightweight and suitable for
rough terrain. Duesenberg had the most
luxurious car in the world in 1928 which was
Model SJ
represented by the Model SJ.

Despite all of it’s competitor’s ingenious ideas, Ford managed to stay on top of the market
by considering an audience that was never taken into account when constructing and selling an
automobile. Ford Motor Company wanted to adress the people that represented the working class
and they did it through the one and only, Henry Ford, a visionary that started the industrialisation
of automobiles. This has later influenced all Ford’s competitors to change their views hence they
all adopted Ford’s course of action. This is the main reason why I consider Ford one of the most
important players in the automotive industry, therefore here begins the story of Ford Motor
Company seen through a subjective view.

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Henry Ford – a revolutionary
His story begins on 30th of July 1863, when
he was born in disctrict Wayne, Michigan.
Even though he was the son of two irish
farmers, Mary and William Ford, work on the
field didn’t bring him any satisfaction as he
later wrote: „I never had any particular love for
the farm”.

Ford left the farm at the age of sixteen to find

a job in Detroit. He was hired as an apprentice
mechanic thus gaining valuable knowledge
about internal combustion engines that would
later prove to be the key to his succes.

He then returned to his family back in

Dearborn where he opened his own car
workshop. The time he wasn’t spending doing
agriculture he invested into creating his first gasoline engine and by 4th June, 1896 he assembled
a vehicle he named the “Quadricycle”. Little did he know that the four-wheeled self-powered
vehicle was the starting point of “Ford Motor Company’s” epopee.

Henry Ford riding the “Quadricycle”

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Ford Motor Company Ford’s logo (1903-1907)

Henry Ford carried on with his passion for constructing cars which he later sold and after
two failed tries he finally managed to create the car constructing company which we now know as
“Ford Motor Company” with the help of some investors in 1903.

Henry Ford proved invaluable not only to his family and the company he owned, but to the
whole concept of industry as he is considered to be the founder of the automotive industry
worldwide and the author of a new way of organising production on an industrial level known by
the name of “Fordism”.

Cars in the 19th century were a luxury thus they were not affordable by the majority. That’s
until 1908 when Henry Ford designed the Model T which was intended to appeal the masses. It
was quick, reliable and powerful.

The Model T

It had so much success that Ford Motor Company could not keep up with the demand on
the market so Henry Ford had to think of a way through which he could mass produce the Model
T quickly and with low costs.

In 1913 he came up with the solution through a revolutionary motorized assembly line
which was capable of lowering the price of the Model T from 850$ to 300$. This marked the
beginning of the automobile industrialisation.

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 Assembly line 1913

Ford Motor Company proved that the Model T did appeal to the masses through it’s
extraordinarily low price. After nineteen years of constantly producing it the company had have
reached approximatively fifteen million Model T’s. This meant half of the entire production of
cars worldwide.

Ford did not stop at the Model T and with it’s success came progress in the direction of
manufacturing new cars. Some of the most notable designs made by Ford are:

 In 1927, Ford replaced the Model T with the Model A

which was the first car with safety glass in the
windshield.

 In 1947, the F-series was born through the fabrication of

the first post-war truck design from Ford: the F-1.

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  In an attempt to compete with General Motors' mid-
priced Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick, Ford created
the Mercury in 1939 as a higher-priced companion
car to Ford.

 The 1955 Continental Mark II.

 The famous Ford Mustang was introduced in April

17, 1964 during New York World's Fair.

 The Ford Fiesta was introduced in 1976.

The American economy in the 20th century was flourishing thanks to rising stock market
and low combustible prices. That reflected upon Ford Motor Company as well, thus it continued
to sell automobiles on a large scale.

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Ford facing bankruptcy
Ford’s ascension was brought to end along with the new century. Legacy health care costs,
higher fuel prices and an unstable economy left their mark on the car manufacturing company
through falling market shares, declining sales, and overall reduced profits.

Things weren’t looking too bright on Ford’s side in 2005 and that’s when William Clay
Ford Jr. comes into play. He decided it was time for a radical change so, as chairman, he asked
Mark Fields, the Ford Americas Division President to develop a plan to return the company above
the profitability limit.

Mark Fields developed a plan he named “The Way Forward” and it came with great
sacrifices. As many as 30 000 people lost their jobs along with the closure of fourteen factories.

It took another 4 years for Ford to get back on it’s tracks so 2009 was a new start for Ford,
being the first year to generate positive income.

As the graph shows later years brought Ford positive incomes with a great spike in 2011
when the net income of Ford Motor Company exceeded the 20 billion dollars line, thus ending the
dark period Ford had to face during for approximatively three years. This episode of Ford’s history
proved that they are not only capable automobile engineers, but are also skilled in handling delicate
matters like facing an economical demise.

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Contribution to automobile engineering
Besides the revolutionary motorized assembly line Henry Ford created in 1913, Ford Motor
Company brought us many other commodities we now consider normal, but where just as
ingenious to them back in the 20th century as it is now for us a completely autonomous car.

The first car with safety glass in the windshield (Model A) was introduced by Ford. They
launched the first affordable automobile with a V8 engine in 1932. Ford was always concerned
about safe driving and besides creating fast and long-lived cars they also took interest into creating
the safest car on the market, so in 1956 Ford offered the “Lifeguard safety package” which
included innovations such as a standard deep-dish steering wheel and, a premiere in the automotive
industry, rear seatbelts. Ford didn’t stop at the “Lifeguard safety package” and in 1957 they
introduced child-proof door locks. The same year Ford brought us the first retractable hardtop on
an industrially-produced car with six seats, thus the first "coupé convertible" from Ford was born.
The seat belt reminder light which we find in every modern automobile was also introduced by
Ford in 1965.

Ford’s first “coupe convertible” – a 1957 Thunderbird

The innovations Ford Motor Company came up with might not seem of great importance.
It is a proven fact that we are living in the most prosperous and technologically advanced times,
thus it comes natural that in the present people have developed a sense of tolerance to these new
technologies. Considering this fact it is easy to take these inventions for granted. So it is important
to realise that the modern concept of an automobile might not have been possible without the
contribution of Ford Motor Company.

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Where does Ford Motor Company stand
now?
Ford’s logo (2003-present)

Ford Motor Company is now a long way from the automobile workshop Henry Ford started
just out of passion in the late 19th century. It is one of the largest American automaker, being on
the second place right behind General Motors. Based on 2015 vehicle production Ford Motor
Company is on the fifth place in the world, behind Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai-Kia and General
Motors. In 2017 Ford cashed in global revenues of about 156.7 billion dollars. In 2008, Ford’s
production was 5.532 million automobiles, it had about 90 plants and facilities worldwide and
according to this “Statista” graph the approximate number of employees was around 201 000:

The statistics mentioned above show clearly that Ford Motor Company is counted amongst
the most important companies ever built. It’s history teaches us many valuable lessons. The
assembly line started out just from an idea. It’s power was immeasurable and combined with the
perseverance of Ford’s owners which they proved back in 2005 we deduce two of the most
important aspects in understanding the way of how a successful company is built and maintained
so that it never stops evolving.

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 What does the future hold for Ford?
The recent state of Ford Motor Company was characterised by stagnant stock prices and
rising production costs, thus Ford needs a change for a better future. They consider that Mark
Fields is the one at fault for the issues Ford faces, so since 2017 Ford Motor Company has a new
CEO in the person of Jim Hackett. He considers that the battle against competitors, in what regards
sedans, is lost, thus Ford will sacrifice the production of cars such as the iconic Ford Focus, Ford
Taurus and Ford C-Max in favour of electric and autonomous automobiles. They’ve already took
steps in this direction and planned an 11 billion dollar investment into Team Edison’s research and
production, the group responsible for the electric department of Ford Motor Company.

Ford Focus
Ford C-Max

Ford Taurus

Ceasing the production of Ford’s sedans is a very sad departure which all passionate car
drivers will definitely miss dearly, but Jim Hackett’s progressive ideas might actually be what Ford
needs in order to remain a profitable company. Life teaches us nothing is everlasting and Ford has
to adapt it’s policies to the current state of the consumer’s needs. People need electric cars for a
cleaner environment and a better future for us all.

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Biography
• https://ro.pinterest.com/pin/263038434462511177/?lp=true
• https://www.railserve.com/stats_records/railroad_firsts.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_automobile
• https://alchetron.com/Nicolas-Joseph-Cugnot
• https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry Ford
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Quadricycle#/media/File:FordQuadricycle.jpg
• https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford#/media/File:1910Ford-T.jpg
• https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford#/media/File:Ford_assembly_line_-
_1913.jpg
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_A_(1927%E2%80%9331)#/media/File:19
28_Model_A_Ford.jpg
• https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2009/04/Western-Jewel---1939-
Mercury/1794788.html
• https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/10/22/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1956-
continental-mark-ii-3/
• https://www.classicdigest.com/cars/ford/mustang/144014
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Clay_Ford_Jr.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08jzG5qrkZ0
• https://www.remaxproducts.com.au/hubfs/2015_images/Blogging/new_car_showroo
m.jpg
• https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/most-innovative-american-cars-20th-
century
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Fiesta#/media/File:Ford_Fiesta_MK1_front_2007
1023.jpg
• https://www.statista.com/chart/9419/number-of-people-working-for-ford-2016/
• https://www.dividend.com/how-to-invest/the-complete-history-of-ford-f/
• https://www.cars.com/research/ford-taurus-2016/
• https://www.motortrend.com/cars/ford/c-max/2018/
• https://www.cars.com/research/ford-focus-2018/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_F-Series_(first_generation)

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