Austria -

" CARS ~ HENRY FORD ~ 100 YEARS OF FORD."

MNH ~ Miniature Sheet !

Ford Model T 1908-1927 and Ford Ka: Henry Ford's visions and ideas formed the basis of modern private transport.

He spent a lifetime trying to make cars affordable for everyone and not just a luxury item for a small segment of society. On June 16, 2003 the Ford Motor Company celebrates its 100th anniversary. Two innovations successfully implemented this social commitment in particular.

Firstly, his choice of black, which was used for the first time on the legendary Model T. The reason for his choice was both simple and a stroke of genius: black dried more quickly than other colours, thus permitting faster and, more importantly, cheaper production. The result was entirely in line with Henry Ford's aim of producing a car for people of limited financial resources.

His second innovation not only significantly reduced production costs, but also revolutionised the entire industry. Henry Ford was, in 1908, the first to use a production line for the manufacture of cars, thereby signalling the start of the age of industrial mass production. From then on, there was no holding back his company.

The legendary black Model T was followed in 1928 by the faster Model A. In 1948, Ford launched the Taunus, the leisure car of the post-war generation. At the end of the 1960s and in the 1970s, Ford was even able to win over the anti-industry flower power generation with the Ford Capri.

The last 100 years have thus passed for the Ford Motor Company just as Henry Ford intended when he founded the company on June 16, 1903. He always wanted more than "just" to make cars, his ambition being to use his inventions and innovations to make quality cars available to really everyone.

And as our roads today show, he more than succeeded ... 

Year: 2003.

(A2)