Editing Henry Ford (section)

====Model T====
The [[Model T]] debuted on October 1, 1908. It had the [[steering wheel]] on the left, which every other company soon copied. The entire engine and [[Transmission (mechanical device)|transmission]] were enclosed; the four cylinders were cast in a solid block; the [[Car suspension|suspension]] used two semi-elliptic springs. The car was simple to drive, and easy and inexpensive to repair. It was so inexpensive at $825 in 1908 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|825|1908|r=-1}}}} today), with the price falling every year, that by the 1920s, a majority of American drivers had learned to drive on the Model T.<ref>Richard Bak, ''Henry and Edsel: The Creation of the Ford Empire'' (2003), pp. 54–63.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/ |title=The Life of Henry Ford |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011005164558/http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/ |archive-date=October 5, 2001 |access-date=November 28, 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Ford assembly line - 1913.jpg|left|thumb|Ford assembly line, 1913]]

Ford created a huge publicity machine in Detroit to ensure every newspaper carried stories and ads about the new product. Ford's network of local dealers made the car ubiquitous in almost every city in North America. As independent dealers, the franchises grew rich and publicized not just the Ford but also the concept of car local [[motor club]]s sprang up to help new drivers and encourage them to explore the countryside. Ford was always eager to sell to farmers, who looked at the automobile as a commercial device to help their business. Sales skyrocketed—several years posted 100% gains on the previous year. In 1913, Ford introduced moving assembly belts into his plants, which enabled an enormous increase in production. Although Ford is often credited with the idea, contemporary sources indicate that the concept and development came from employees [[Clarence Avery]], [[Peter E. Martin]], [[Charles E. Sorensen]], and [[C. Harold Wills]].<ref>Nevins (1954), 1: 387–415.</ref> (See [[Ford Piquette Avenue Plant]].)

Sales passed 250,000 in 1914. By 1916, as the price dropped to $360 for the basic touring car, sales reached 472,000.<ref>Lewis 1976, pp. 41–59.</ref>

By 1918, half of all cars in the United States were Model Ts. All new cars were black; as Ford wrote in his autobiography, "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black."<ref name="Ford_Crowther_1922_p72">{{Harvnb|Ford|Crowther|1922}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4K82efXzn10C&pg=PA72 p. 72].</ref> Until the development of the assembly line, which mandated black because of its quicker drying time, Model Ts were available in other colors, including red. The design was fervently promoted and defended by Ford, and production continued as late as 1927; the final total production was 15,007,034. This record stood for the next 45 years, and was achieved in 19 years from the introduction of the first Model T (1908).<ref>{{Cite news |title=Beetle overtakes Model T as world's best-selling car |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/beetle-overtakes-model-t-as-worlds-best-selling-car |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref>

Henry Ford turned the presidency of Ford Motor Company over to his son [[Edsel Ford]] in December 1918. Henry retained final decision authority and sometimes reversed the decisions of his son. Ford started another company, Henry Ford and Son, and made a show of taking himself and his best employees to the new company; the goal was to scare the remaining holdout stockholders of the Ford Motor Company to sell their stakes to him before they lost most of their value. (He was determined to have full control over strategic decisions.) The ruse worked, and Henry and Edsel purchased all remaining stock from the other investors, thus giving the family sole ownership of the company.<ref>Nevins and Hill (1957), vol. 2.</ref>

In 1922, Ford also purchased [[Lincoln Motor Company|Lincoln Motor Co.]], founded by Cadillac founder [[Henry Leland]] and his son Wilfred during World War I. The Lelands briefly stayed to manage the company, but were soon expelled from it.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lincoln Motor Company Plant |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/lincoln-motor-company-plant.htm |website=National Park Service |access-date=July 1, 2021 |date=August 29, 2018}}</ref> Despite this acquisition of a premium car maker, Henry displayed relatively little enthusiasm for luxury automobiles in contrast to Edsel, who actively sought to expand Ford into the upscale market.<ref name="King 2003">{{harvnb|King|2003}}.</ref> The original [[Lincoln L series|Lincoln Model L]] that the Lelands had introduced in 1920 was also kept in production, untouched for a decade until it became too outdated. It was replaced by the modernized [[Lincoln K series|Model K]] in 1931.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Edsel Ford and the Lincoln DNA |url=https://corporate.ford.com/articles/history/edsel-ford-and-the-lincoln-dna.html |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=Ford Corporate |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[File:1924-1925 Ford - T Roadster, Coimbatore (1).jpg|thumb|A 1926 Ford T Roadster on display in India]]

By the mid-1920s, [[General Motors]] was rapidly rising as the leading American vehicle manufacturer. GM president [[Alfred Sloan]] established the company's "price ladder" whereby GM would offer an automobile for "every purse and purpose" in contrast to Ford's lack of interest in anything outside the low-end market. Although Henry Ford was against replacing the Model T, now 16 years old, Chevrolet was mounting a bold new challenge as GM's entry-level division in the company's price ladder. Ford also resisted the increasingly popular idea of payment plans for cars. With Model T sales starting to slide, Ford was forced to relent and approve work on a successor model, shutting down production for 18 months. During this time, Ford constructed a massive new assembly plant at River Rouge for the new Model A, which launched in 1927.<ref>Nevins and Hill (1957), 2: 409–436.</ref>

In addition to its price ladder, GM also quickly established itself at the forefront of automotive styling under [[Harley Earl]]'s Arts & Color Department, another area of automobile design that Henry Ford did not entirely appreciate or understand. Ford would not have a true equivalent of the GM styling department for many years.{{citation needed|date = June 2021}}