HENRY FORD

Santiago Mayaudón Rodríguez

GENERAL DATA
Born: July 30th, 1863 (Michigan)

Died: April 7th, 1947 (Michigan)

"ONE OF THE
GREAT
INDUSTRIALISTS
IN THE WORLD"
He grew up on a prosperous family
farm and was educated in a school
with only one class, where he was
soon noted for his interest in
mechanics. This interest gradually
transformed into genius.

HIS FIRST VEHICLE

The culmination of his experiments was the
construction of a self-propelled vehicle - the
quadricycle - in 1896. The first Ford engine
began its history in the kitchen of his home at
58 Bagley Avenue. His next design, which
consisted of an engine mounted on a frame
supported by four bicycle wheels, quickly
followed - the first Ford vehicle.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
After resigning his position at Edison in
1898, Henry founded the Detroit
Automobile Company in 1898 .
Unfortunately, the company went
bankrupt. Far from giving up, he began
to design racing cars, driving the
"Sweeptakes" to victory, defeating the
American champion, Alexander Winton, on
October 10, 1901.
THE FORD MOTOR
COMPANY
In 1903, the Ford Motor Company was
founded,
The first vehicle built by the company was
sold in July of that same year and Henry
became President, becoming the owner of the
company three years later.

A NEW GENERATION
In 1919 Henry and his son, Edsel,
acquired the interests of all minority
shareholders,
fact that made them become sole
owners of the company..

THE RETIREMENT
In 1945, Henry announced his retirement and
was replaced by his grandson, Henry Ford II.
The following year, his contributions to the
motor industry were recognized by the
American Automotive Golden Jubilee. During
the course of the same year, the American
Petroleum Institute recognized him for his
enormous contribution to the well-being of
humanity.

THE LEGACY
Henry Ford transformed the lives of many
people with his vision to make accessible a car
that was as practical as it was affordable. His
development of the mobile assembly line and
mass production techniques set a world
standard during the first half of the 20th
century.