After the race, A. Y. Malcomson, a Detroit coal dealer, became interested in Henry Ford and his automobiles. The two men became partners in a new venture and Henry Ford began work on a “pilot model” for a new car. During the early months of 1903, more investors were found. By spring, a new company was organized to carry out the plans of Ford and Malcomson.
In June, 1903, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated. In addition to Malcomson, the original stockholders included James Couzens, an employee of Malcomson; John and Horace Dodge, the owners of a machine shop; Albert Strelow, a contractor; John S. Gray, a banker; Vernon E. Fry, a real estate dealer; Charles H. Bennett, an air rifle manufacturer; C. J. Woodhall, a clerk; Horace H. Rackham and John W. Anderson, lawyers; and Henry Ford. Together, they had raised $28,000 to start the new venture.
The new company rented a building on Mack Avenue in Detroit for $75 a month and prepared to manufacture its automobiles. The new factory was 250 feet long by 50 feet wide. This was adequate space, since the new company did not attempt to make any of the parts for its cars. The Dodge brothers, who owned a large machine shop, made the Ford chassis, a carriage company built the body, and the wheels were purchased in Lansing. Once the parts were brought together, a dozen men assembled, adjusted, and tested the completed car—the early model A Ford. Soon this car, which sold for $950 f.o.b. Detroit, was advertised as the “boss of the road.” Its two cylinders gave it a maximum speed of thirty miles per hour.
Although Henry Ford’s first two ventures into automobile manufacturing had not been successful, this third attempt showed great promise. At the end of the first year, the Ford Motor Company had sold over seventeen hundred automobiles.
The year 1903, which marked a turning point in the life of Henry Ford, now forty years of age, was an interesting year for all Americans. The first successful transcontinental automobile trip was completed in August. A telegraphic cable was completed across the Pacific to Manila in the Philippines. In Washington, Theodore Roosevelt was clearing the way for the building of the Panama Canal, and in New Jersey, the Edison studios completed the first full-length motion picture, called “The Great Train Robbery.” Finally, in December, Orville and Wilbur Wright flew an airplane successfully at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. During the next few years, those who marveled at progress in 1903 saw even greater changes in their way of living brought about by improved transportation and communication. The twentieth century had started off well.
The Ford Motor Company was also experimenting with changes. Models B, C, and F appeared. When the Mack Avenue plant was no longer adequate to house the activities of the company, a new building was erected, ten times larger than the first one. By 1906, the company announced models N, S, and R, as well as a six-cylinder K. Experimentation went beyond the building of different models of automobiles; for example, a tractor was planned and constructed, but never sold.
During this time, changes were also made in the ownership of the plant. Some of the stockholders sold out, and Henry Ford became the major owner of the Ford Motor Company.
A real danger to Ford and his company during these early years was the threat of a patent suit. Back at the time of the Times-Herald race in 1895, George Selden, a lawyer in Rochester, New York, had patented a “self-propelled vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine.” Although he never built an automobile, all those who did were threatened with infringement suits. This fact made it necessary for the makers of automobiles to pay royalties to the patent holder. The Ford Motor Company refused. The result was a long and involved battle in the federal courts, lasting until 1911 when the case was finally settled in favor of the Ford Motor Company.
The farmhouse where Henry Ford was born in 1863 stands today in Greenfield Village ...