The Ford Motor Company was created in 1903 by Henry Ford. The same year the first car is produced. Its cars set a land speed record of 91.3mph over a distance of 1 mile in 1903 as well.
The Ford Logo consists of a font featuring on the company’s first chief engineer’s business card and the blue oval which showed for the first time on the Model A.
Ford in history
Besides being the founder or Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford was the inventor of the assembly line and of mass production. The latter was to be applied in most industries. Being very inventive, Ford altogether created 19 car models.
In his company, Ford combined low costs for the products with high salaries for his workers thereby ensuring they could themselves afford their own goods and feeling more implicated in their work.
In 1908 the Model T was issued. The Model T was a car with left-hand driving, an enclosed engine and solidly cast cylinders. It was also very cheap which meant most American drivers at the time had learned to drive in this particular car. By 1918 half of the cars in the United States were Model T’s.
The 10 millionth Ford was produced in 1925. In 1927 however, the Model T had to make place for the Model A as sales of the former were declining. Ford sold more than 4 million Model A’s between 1927 and 1931.
Ford’s success continued throughout the 20th and 21st century with the company being the fifth largest car manufacturer worldwide in 2010.
Ford UK
Ford was introduced in the UK very early in the 20th century. In 1967 the British and German divisions of the Ford Motor Company merged together becoming Ford of Europe.
After the foundation of Ford of Europe, the first model to be launched was the Escort which was built in Britain in 1967. The Escort was followed by the Capri in 1969 and the Cortina in 1970. The Escort in its turn remained in production until the end of the 1998’s.
In 1998 the Escort was succeeded by the Ford Focus which at the time had a groundbreaking design, which resulted in its election to European car of the Year.
In 1993 Ford introduced its first city car, the Ford Ka, which was in terms of chassis and engine strongly based on the Fiesta.
Around the year 2000, Ford had successfully updated several older models including the Fiesta and the Mondeo.
Ford in sport
In 1979 Ford won the Manufacturer’s Rally with a Ford Escort RS1800.
The same rally was won by Ford once more in 2006 and 2007 however this time with a Focus RS WRC 06