Editing Henry Ford (section)

====Model A and Ford's later career====
By 1926, flagging sales of the Model T finally convinced Ford to make a new model. He pursued the project with a great deal of interest in the design of the engine, chassis, and other mechanical necessities, while leaving the body design to his son. Although Ford fancied himself an engineering genius, he had little formal training in mechanical engineering and could not even read a blueprint. A talented team of engineers performed most of the actual work of designing the Model A (and later the flathead V8) with Ford supervising them closely and giving them overall direction. Edsel also managed to prevail over his father's initial objections in the inclusion of a sliding-shift transmission.<ref name="Sorensen1956p223">{{Harvnb|Sorensen|1956|p=223}}.</ref>

The result was the [[Ford Model A (1927-1931)|Ford Model A]], introduced in December 1927 and produced through 1931, with a total output of more than four&nbsp;million. Subsequently, the Ford company adopted an annual model change system similar to that recently pioneered by its competitor General Motors (and still in use by automobiles today). Not until the 1930s did Ford overcome his objection to finance companies, and the Ford-owned [[Universal Credit Corporation]] became a major car-financing operation. Henry Ford still resisted many technological innovations such as hydraulic brakes and all-metal roofs, which Ford automobiles did not adopt until 1935–1936. For 1932 however, Ford dropped a bombshell with the [[Ford flathead V8 engine|flathead Ford V8]], the first low-price eight-cylinder engine. The flathead V8, variants of which were used in Ford automobiles for 20 years, was the result of a secret project launched in 1930 and Henry had initially considered a radical X-8 engine before agreeing to a conventional design. It gave Ford a reputation as a performance make well-suited for hot-rodding.<ref>Nevins and Hill (1957), 2: 459–478.</ref>

Also, at Edsel's insistence, Ford launched Mercury in 1939 as a mid-range make to challenge Dodge and Buick, although Henry also displayed relatively little enthusiasm for it.<ref name="King 2003"/>