Ford: then and now

1896-1908 

Ford is arguably one of the most well known car manufacturers in the world. Ford's journey began when Henry Ford, the founder of Ford, built his first vehicle - the Quadricycle in 1896. It was built on four bicycle wheels, and powered by a four horsepower engine. The vehicle also had no steering wheel, but instead had a tiller, and only two forward gears with no reverse. Henry Ford then went on to establish the Ford Motor Company a few years later in 1903, and their first car, the Model A, was built at the same time. Then, their infamous Model T was introduced to prospective buyers in 1908, and was a huge success. 

1908-1925

Ford sold 15 million Model T’s until 1927, making it one of the best selling cars at the time. During this period in time, a lot of the cars on the roads were built for luxury, whereas Ford built the Model T for practicality and reliability.

Ford then introduced the assembly line. So, rather than workers having to work their way around the car and build it up from the chassis, the moving assembly line helped to reduce the production time of the Model T from 12.5 hours to just 1.5 hours.

Ford then introduced yet another innovation in 1914; the “$5 day.” Ford Motor Company decided to increase the wage for factory workers by double, and reduced the work day to eight hours in an effort to increase employee retention.

Between 1917 and 1925, Ford also manufactured the Model TT truck, which was based on the Model T car, as well as anti submarine patrol boats to aid in WWI, and tri-motor airplanes. 

1927-1965

In 1928, after Ford had stopped the production of the Model T, they unveiled a new car - the Ford Model A. This was a tribute to the original Model A built in 1896, and featured a safety glass windshield, as well as the iconic oval blue Ford logo.

Around the 1940’s, Ford ceased the production of their civilian vehicles, and instead worked on building tanks, planes and aircraft engines for the military to use in WWII. 

In 1948, Ford then came out with the F-Series lineup of trucks. Instead of being built on the chassis of a car, these trucks had been manufactured on a completely new truck platform instead.

Some of Ford's most famous cars were then released during the following years, including the 1949 Ford, the Thunderbird (1954), the Ford Mustang (1964) and the Ford Transit (1965). 

1966-1990

Ford continued to innovate and take the world by storm from here onwards. 1966 saw Ford break Ferrari’s six year winning streak at the 24 hours Le Mans - and became the first American manufacturer so far to win the race.

In 1976, Ford debuted the now-famous hatchback, the Ford Fiesta, and with the release of the Explorer in 1990, the company entered the rapidly growing SUV market and helped make SUVs the go-to vehicle for many consumers.

1993-2021

The Ford Mondeo, which debuted in 1933 and received numerous accolades, was followed in 2009 by the infamous Ecoboost engine line. Few other manufacturers were able to compete with these petrol engines because they produced more power and had better fuel economy.

Entering the world of electric power has been Ford's next natural step in recent years. They unveiled the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV in 2019, followed by the all-electric E-Transit in 2020 and the F-150 Lightning in 2021.