My Life and Work

kewise." What I am trying to emphasize is that the ordinary way of doing business is not the best way. I am coming to th

all cash discounts, putting our profits back into the business, and maintaining a large cash balance. We entered cars in all of the races. We advertised and we pushed our sales. Outside of the simplicity of the construction of the car, our main difference in design was that we made no provision for the purely "pleasure car." We were

was only a trifle and that I hoped before long to make a thousand a day, they were inexpressibly shocked and I understand seriously contemplated court action. If I had followed the general opinion of my associates I should have kept the business about as it was, put our funds into

ire and retain control. It was, however, no part of my plan to do anything of that sort. I regarded our progress merely as an invitation to do more-as an indication that we had reached a place where we might begin to perform a real service. I had been planning every day through these years toward a universal car. The public had given its reac

high-powered six. I thought the foreign cars had smaller and better parts than we knew anything about. After the wreck I picked up a

him. "That is the kind of materi

That was another problem. Vanadium requires 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The ordinary furnace could not go beyond 2,700 degrees. I found a small steel company in Canton, Ohio. I offered to guarantee them against loss if they would run a heat for us. They agreed. The first heat was a fai

were vanadium. Vanadium was used wherever strength and lightness were required. Of course they are not all the same kind of vanadium steel. The other elements vary according to whether the part is to stand hard wear or whether it needs spring-in short, according to what it needs. Before these experiments I believe that not more than four different grades of steel had ever been used in automobile construction. By further experiment

emselves because some parts are weaker than others. Therefore, a part of the problem in designing a universal car was to have as nearly as possible all parts of equal strength considering their purpose-to put a motor in a one-hor

rs breaks down I k

ne end-a car that would meet the wants of the multitudes. All my efforts were then and still are turned to the production of one car-one model. And, year following

est, and most lasting of steels. It forms the foundation and super-structure of the ca

ration-because the ma

n sufficien

d uses to which the cars would be put and the

placement. This is one of the reasons why Ford cars are "always going," wherever and whenever you see

e crowded streets of the city or on dangerous roads. The planetary transmission of the Ford gave this control and an

iving; the lighter the weight, the lighter the expense of operation. The light weight of t

axle. All of these were easily accessible and they were designed so that no special skill would be required for their repair or replacement. I believed then, although I said very little about it because of the novelty of the idea, that it ought to be possible to have parts so simple and so inexpensive that the menace of expensive hand repair wo

omplex an article, the easier it is to make, the cheaper i

view the various models, because "Model T" was the last of the models and the policy which it brought about took this bus

he largest cylinders were those of "Model B." The smallest were in Models "N," "R," and "S" which were 3-3/4 inches in diameter with a 3-3/8-inch stroke. "Model T" has a 3-3/4-inch cylinder with a 4-inch stroke. The ignition was by dry batteries in all excepting "Model B," which had storage batteries, and in "Model K" which had both battery and magneto. In the present model, the magneto is a part of the power plant and is built in. The clutch in the first four models was of the cone type; in the last four and in the present model, of the multiple disc type. The transmission in all of the cars has been planetary. "Model A" had a chain drive. "Model B" had a shaft drive. T

as no guessing as to whether or not it would be a successful model. It had to be. There was no way it could escape being so, for it had not been made in a day. It cont

t year, built 1,708 cars, and had one branch house. In 1908, the factory space had increased to 2.65 acres and we owned the building. T

essful, and which sold at $700 and $750. But "Model T" swept them right out. We sold 10,607 cars-a larger number than any manufacturer had ever sold. T

with styles and to spoil a good thing by changing it. The salesmen were insistent on increasing the line. They listened to the 5 per cent., the special customers who could say what they wanted, and forgot all about the 95 per cent. who just bought without making any fuss. No business can improve unless it pays the closest possible attention to complaints and suggestions. If there is any defect in service then that must be instantly a

e future we were going to build only one model, that the model was going to be "Mod

painted any colour that he

y decided opinion that lowering the sales price would hurt sales, that the people who wanted quality would be driven away and that there would be none to replace them. There was very little conception of the motor industry. A motor car was still regarded as something in the way

be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low i

eived not without pleasur

e will be out of bus

at we needed a new factory. We already had a big modern factory-the Piquette Street plant. It was as good as, perhaps a little better than, any automobile factory in the country. But I did not see how it was going to care for the sales and production that were

will For

only because of the failure to grasp that a principle rather than an indiv

plant. The extra money might in each case have been had by borrowing, but then we should have had a continuing charge upon the business and all subsequent cars would have had to bear this charge. The price of all the models was increased $100, with the exception of the roadster, which was increased only $75 and of the landaulet and t

verage number of employees from 1,908 to 4,110, and the cars built from a little over six thousand

seems, in great production.

ed hickory he fashioned them, with the help of a draw shave, a chisel, and a supply of sandpaper. Carefully was each handle weighed and balanced. No two of them were alike. The curve must exactly fit the hand and must conform to th

alance. They are all alike-and every one is perfect. Modern methods applied in a big way have not only brought

l themselves of it. In this way a single individual may prove, through his idea or discovery, the nucleus of a business. But the creation of the body and bulk of that business is shared by everyone who has anything to do with it. No manufacturer can say: "I built this business"-if he has required the help of thousands of men in building it. It is a joint production. Everyon

cycle had not been suited to English uses it was taken for granted and made a point of by the distributors that no American vehicle could appeal to the British market. Two "Model A's" found their way to England in 1903. The newspapers refused to notice them. The automobile agents refused to take the slightest interest. It was rumoured that the principal co

ales in England. In that same year Ford taxicabs were placed in London for the first time. In the next several years the sales began to pick up. The cars went into every endurance and reliability test and won every one of them. The Brighton dealer had ten Fords driven over the South Downs for two days in a kind of steeplechase and every one of them came through. As a result six hundred car