Henry Ford!!! Henry was born on July 30 th, His parents names were Mary and William. He was born in Dearborn Michigan

 Henry lived on a farm in Dearborn, Michigan.  Dearborn is very close to Detroit which is close to my Great Grandparents and Uncle’s house.  It is also about 5 hours away from my Great Aunt and Uncles and my second cousins that live in Traverse City.

 Henry was one of six kids on a farm.  He was the oldest child.  His middle name is James.  His brothers names were John, William, and, Robert.  His sisters names were Margaret and Jane.  Henry’s Mom was an orphan and met her husband because he worked on her adopted parents farm.

 As a child Henry enjoyed going to look at birds in a tree with his Dad and brother John.  He liked listening to the birds songs and looking at it’s nest.  Henry was an unusual kid. He liked to take apart toys and rebuild them.

 As a teenager Henry worked for the Edison Illuminating Company.  While a teen Henry worked part time for the Westinghouse Engine Company.  At the age of 19 he worked for the Detroit Dry Dock company. Here he worked on ship engines.

 Henry married Clara Bryant on April 11 th,  They lived happily together and had a son named Edsel.  Edsel married Eleanor Clay, had a son Henry Ford the second, and later inherited the Ford Motor Company.

Ford’s first car was the Quadricycle. It has four wheels. For the Quadricycle’s first test run Henry took it out in the middle of the night. At first people were not buying the quadricycle because they didn’t know who Henry was. But, there was a solution..

Ford needed more publicity so he built a racecar, the 999. Henry raced his car against Alexander Winton’s car the Bullet He had hired a man named Barney Oldfield to drive his car. They were racing 5 miles. The 999 car took 5 min. 28 seconds, the world record time, beating the Bullet.

Henry’s friends helped him turn a wagon shop into the Ford Motor Company. Henry made a new car that costs $850. Another racecar was built to give Ford even more publicity. He drove the car across a frozen lake, a mile wide, in only 36 seconds.

 Ford later invested in a man named Alexander Malcomson.  Using the $175,000 he got he expanded his company.  His newest car he sold at his new plant was the Model N for $600.  Henry then sold a record number of cars, 8,243, in the next year.

Ford made the model T in his experimental room. Before assembling the Model T Henry predicted, “It will be large enough for a family but small enough for an individual to run and take care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, but it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one.”

 Farmers liked it because it had sturdy flexibility and was strong enough to pull plows and wagons.  It only costs $850  People gave the Model T the nickname “the Tin-Lizzie.”  It could go up steep hills and through deep puddles.  Ford even had to hire more workers so cars were made quicker because there were so many orders for them.

 Ford needed a faster way to build cars, so he invented the assembly line.  On the line each worker would do one or two things to the piece of the car. The piece would eventually end up at the end of the line and would be put into the car.

 The assembly line sped up production with many cars.  It used to take 12 ½ hours to build the Model T, but with the assembly line it only took 5 hours and 50 minutes.  It had about a 6 hours difference!!!  In the following year it took only about 93 minutes per car!

 The Model T made a lot of money, Ford said, “Every time I reduce the charge for our car by one dollar, I get a thousand new buyers.”  He kept lowering the prices from $590 to $440, to $390.  He was making so much money he was becoming a multimillionaire!

 Workers at the Ford Motor Company were getting tired and exhausted from all of their hard work everyday.  They were all starting to quit their jobs when Henry raised their minimum wages from $2.50 to $5.  With doing this many people wanted to work for Ford. Men that worked for him would wear their badges all over town, just to show off to their neighbors that they worked for Ford.

 WWI was starting in Europe at this time.  Henry sent diplomats or spokespeople to try to bring peace to Norway.  His attempt failed, but people still respected him for trying.  The townspeople ran him for Senate and he came out with 5,000 votes winning the election.

 After the Model T was old Ford built his last car at the age of 64.  The Model A came in 4 different colors and 17 different body styles.  The Model A then covered most of the roads.

 Henry in his older ages wanted to show people a true picture of the development of our country. That’s the only history that is worth preserving.  Greenfield Village has many historic buildings like the lab that Thomas Edison made the incandescent light bulb and the courthouse where Abraham Lincoln once practiced law.  Greenfield Village is located next to the Henry Ford Museum, which I will tell you about in a little.

 Edsel then took over the Company.  Three years later Edsel died and his son Henry Ford II took over.  On April 7 th, 1947 Henry Ford died of a stroke in his sleep.

 “It will take a hundred years to tell whether he helped us or hurt us, but he certainly didn’t leave us where he found us.”, says comedian Will Rogers, when the Model T was in style.  His cars are oldies but goodies still today and millions of Ford cars are still on the road. The cars that Ford has now are much nicer and more efficient than the older cars.

 This coin has the model T on it.  This particular coin is worth $10.00!

 My uncle currently works for Ford. He is an engineer that develops steering and suspension systems.  My Great Grandfather used to work for Ford. While he worked their his job was being a controller for the engineering at the company. My great grandfather controlled all of the money for the engineering. He worked there for 45 years. He used to give my mom and all of her brothers and sister tours on the floors of the factory.

My Great Grandfather sent my grandfather this . I am going to read it to you. His mom sent a thank you letter to Henry Ford for taking her sons on a tour. Henry Fords secretary sent this letter back to her.

  We are going to watch 2 videos that show us technology in cars today.  The first video is on the My Ford Touch and the second video is on Adaptive Cruise control and Collision warnings. I think that the Cruise control and Collision warnings video is really cool!!  Enjoy!!!!

 I think that cars going green are really cool. They save you money and they help the earth.  Check this out!  vehicles/?searchid=~ bg-blue vehicles/?searchid=~ bg-blue

“There are no big problems, there are just a lot of little problems.” “No man living can not do more then he thinks he can.” “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” “You cant learn in school what the world is going to do next year.” “There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something. Read more: com/quotes/authors/h/h enry_ford_3.html#ixzz1Nyh qjPHX com/quotes/authors/h/h enry_ford_3.html#ixzz1Nyh qjPHX  “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”  “Before anything else, getting ready is the secret of success.”  “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”  “It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.”  “Money is like an arm or leg - use it or lose it.”  “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.”

 Without him we wouldn’t be making cars as fast as we do. It would still take 12 ½ hours.

 1. What is Henrys middle name?  2. What was the last car that he built called?  3. How many kids did he have and what was it(s) name?  4. What was the Oskar II?  5. Why did Henry raise his employees minimum wages?  6. What were his parents names?