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The Ford Motor Company shaped the automobile industry with affordable and reliable cars. Read about how it started with the first Ford: the 1903 Model A.
Ford Before the Model T
It’s Ford’s 120th year and we’re taking a look at the vehicle that started it all—the 1903 Ford Model A. Born of an American industrialist and a handful of investors, the Model A became the spark that would ignite the company’s success and make it the forerunner in affordable and reliable mass-produced automobiles. We’ve already given you 10 Weird Facts You Didn’t Know About Ford, but today we’ll take you back to the beginning.
Try, Try Again
It’s the turn of the century and after years of experimenting with gasoline engines, producing his self-propelled vehicle called the “Quadricycle,” and even building several race cars, Henry Ford was ready to transport Americans to a new era. He just needed to figure out how to make a profit doing it.
Not everything Ford had attempted up until that point had been successful. His Detroit Automobile Company was founded in August of 1899 but by January 1901 it had folded without going into production. His second attempt was the Henry Ford Company, and in March of 1902 he was pushed aside by his investors and replaced by Henry Leland, a manufacturing expert who reorganized the enterprise as the Cadillac Motor Company.
Humble Beginnings
But those failures didn’t stop a then 40-year-old Ford from trying again. In June of 1903 he assembled a group of twelve stockholders, led by Detroit coal dealer Alexander Malcomson, to form the Ford Motor Company.
One of the stockholders, Albert Strelow, owned a simple factory building on Mack Avenue in Detroit at the Michigan Central rail line that he rented to Ford Motor Company. The Mack Avenue plant was more like an assembly shed, having no serious manufacturing facilities, and the assembly room where production would take place measured 250 by 50 feet.
Partnering with the Dodge Brothers
Along with his design team, Ford had developed a crackerjack car with a two-cylinder, 8-horsepower engine and other advanced features. What they were missing was the manufacturing experience and production tools to make their design a reality. Ford and his investors sought the expertise of a Detroit machine shop to produce the vehicle’s major components including the engine and chassis.
Already producing for Oldsmobile and other automakers, the Dodge Brothers Company, operated by John and Horace Dodge, entered a partnership with the Ford Motor Company, taking a 10 percent share in the company in exchange for receiving Ford’s manufacturing business.
Investors had more confidence in Ford’s latest car, soon to be known as the Model A, and designed primarily by Ford’s assistant, C. Harold Wills. They went to work figuring out how to get it into production with their limited capital and resources. Their business plan in the summer of 1903 broke down unit costs for all components of the car including the engine and chassis (from the Dodge brothers), body, wheels, tires, and upholstery, all manufactured outside of the company and assembled at the Mack Avenue Plant.
The car had a retail price of $750, leaving a profit of $150 per car. The goal was to build and sell 650 cars, requiring all the capital the company had, so that Ford and his investors would net close to $100,000—a small fortune in that day and equivalent to $3.4 million today.
A Momentous Day
On July 15, 1903, the first order came in from a Chicago dentist, Dr. Ernst Pfenning, for a Model A with tonneau for $850. Just over a week later, Dr Pfenning’s car was delivered.
The Model A had a 1,250 lb. curb weight and was powered by a two-cylinder engine producing 8-horsepower and enabling it to reach speeds of 28 MPH. It was paired with a two-speed transmission and included a reverse gear which was an early Ford signature that would be made famous by the Model T.
The Model A had a 72-inch wheelbase, could accommodate two people on a bench seat, had no top, and all were painted red. Ford included options to drive up profits including a rear tonneau with two seats, a rear door, and a rubber or leather roof.
When the first Model A was sold, Ford Motor Company had spent nearly all of its entire $28,000 initial investment funds with only $223.65 left in the bank.
Dr. Pfenning’s order would be the first of many from around the country, generating a profit for Ford and making this Henry Ford’s first successful business. Within two months the company sold 215 Fords, and by the end of that first year, the Mack Avenue plant produced around 1,000 cars.
Growth, Growth, and More Growth
Just nine months after the Model A launched, in April of 1904, the Ford Motor company began the construction of a new plant on Piquette Avenue. Ford would grow quickly and go on to develop twenty different car models (not all went into production), eventually taking aspects of each to begin developing the Model T, Ford’s first automobile mass-produced on moving assembly lines and marketed to the middle class.
The launch of the Model T in 1908 would send Ford soaring to the top of the automobile industry and keep it there until the end of its production in 1927. Ford would go on to release the second Model A that same year and it would remain in production until 1932.
