“There is one rule for industrialists and that is: make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.”
-Henry Ford
The Ford Motor Company was incorporated on June 16th, 1903 by Henry Ford. The story of Ford is a story of the American dream come to life, as the world’s fourth largest automaker was originally founded with an investment of only 28,000$. Henry Ford’s assembly line technique was the first of its kind in 1903, but by 1914 assembly lines were known world wide as “Fordism”. The Ford family has continued to run the company until today, making it one of the largest family run companies in the world, as well as one of the longest running, with the Ford family now boasting some 106 years of experience running an automaker. One of the family’s proudest moments had to be in 1999, when the iconic Ford Model T was named Car of the Century at the Frankfurt Motor Show by an international voting body as well as the general public.
Ford is probably known best today for their trucks and SUVs, in fact the Ford F-150 has been the best selling vehicle in the US for the last 27 consecutive years. That being said, Ford is no stranger to motorsport. In 1963, an attempt to purchase Ferrari fell apart and bad blood caused Henry Ford II to begin designing a car to end Ferrari’s dominance of Le Mans. The Ford GT-40 was released in 1965 and Ferrari’s dominance ended - the GT-40 won the next four straight. It is to this day the only American car to win overall at Le Mans in the GT1 class. Ford has also supplied engines to F1, and the cars bearing them have gone on to win some 176 Grand Prixs. Ford Engines have also won 17 Indycar Grand Prixs. Ford also has 9 builders titles at NASCAR and 3 at WRC.