In 1905, there were more than 50 companies each year trying to break into the automobile business; most of them did not succeed.1 Ford did. He had financial backers who believed the way to maximize the company's profits was to build cars for the rich, but Ford had another idea -- he believed the workers who built the cars should be able to afford to buy one themselves. He thought those workers should be able to take their families out for a spin in their cars on Sunday afternoons. Ford resisted his backer's demands and followed his own beliefs and eventually j

Ford and his investors formed the Ford Motor Company in 1901.6 The first Model A was sold within a month of the company being established. The car was built by ten workmen in a converted wagon factory in Detroit. During the next fifteen months, 1,700 Model A's were sold.7 He kept improving the car, using the letters of the alphabet for each new design. The first Model T came out of the factory in 1908; it cost $850 and 10,660 cars were sold that first year; the Model T had a top speed of 45 miles per hour and it averaged 25 miles to the gallon; it had a 20-horse-power engine, side-valve, 4-cylinders, and 18-inch wheels with cotton cord tires.8 There was no gas gauge, the driver had to check how much gas was left with a wooden stick lowered into the gas tank. Window wipers were hand operated. The sides of the car were open. The only color available was black. Still, even with what today's driver would consider a complete lack of amenities, the Model T was a perfect car for the time. The roads were bad, the population lived mostly in rural areas and there were very few repair facilities.

Mass production reached its peak in Ford's giant Rouge complex in Dearborn complex. Ford had the raw materials coming in on one end and the finished automobile came out the other end. His reasoning for the raw materials was simply that he could build the components faster and more cost-effectively than any supplier could.

The assembly line and mass production of automobiles was not the only contribution Ford made to the industry. He knew that if people were going to drive the cars they would need places to buy fuel so he pushed to have gasoline stations open everywhere. He also used his money and power to push for better roads. His efforts led to better roads, which eventually led to an interstate-highway system.

The Model T was so well engineered and so simple to repair that if anything went wrong, it took only a screwdriver to fix it. It was also a remarkably versatile vehicle. Farmers could buy tractor wheels for it that replaced the rear axle wheels. The Model T thus became a tractor that the farmer could use to haul, plow, plant and harvest. They could even use the rear axle to power mobile sawmills, electric generators, water pumps and feed grinders.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2010
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)