What Is Henry Ford Giving American Cars

Finn McAllister

Honors 10

Mr. Hemery

February 21 2023

Henry Ford: Giving Americans Cars

It is almost impossible to imagine an America without cars on the road. This essential and almost ubiquitous part of American life is the result of the work of Henry Ford. Ford was born in 1863 just outside of Detroit. When he was a young man, he left his family to work on machines. After a few years of hard work, Ford finished his first car called the Quadricycle. He later started an auto company and released the Model T automobile which was built using practices that were very different from the ones used in other automobile companies (“The Life of Henry Ford | American Experience”). Before Ford and his Model T, cars were a luxury reserved for the rich,

Ford's innovations in the auto industry allowed him to create cars for the average middle class American at a price many could afford. Demand for Ford’s cars grew at a rapid rate. Henry Ford's new found success allowed him to improve the conditions of his workers, revolutionize the way factories run, create cheap, reliable cars for common people, and set industry standards. Henry Ford's business practices which started with the Model T, set industry standards that positively improved people’s quality of life in the 1920s and still are prevalent today.

Ford’s love of machines started at an early age and eventually led him to build a successful automotive business. At age sixteen, Ford left his family farm to pursue a career in machinery. His first job was working in the Flowers Brothers Machine Shop where he made brass valves for $2.50 a week. He continued working on machines and eventually built his first engine. By 1896, he

In Ford’s factories, he implemented policies that would shorten the work week and increase minimum wage. These policies had long reaching effects on the industry. In other factories, business owners now had to pay their workers similar wages and offer similar benefits, or risk losing all their mechanics and would be forced to succumb to Ford's reign over the automobile industry. In 1922 Ford made the decision to reduce the workweek from the standard six days a week to five days (“Ford factory workers get 40-hour week”). Ford reduced the work week down to five days because he wanted his employees to spend more time with their families. More importantly however, Ford wanted his workers to be well-rested when they came into work to minimize the amount of workplace injuries that could occur. The five day work week quickly became an industry standard, with many manufacturers adopting the policy of a Monday-to-Friday work week (“Ford factory workers get 40-hour week”). This shows that Ford's practice of a five day work week was influential as it was the most widespread policy to shorten the workweek and had many factories throughout the world follow suit. Even today Ford’s impact can be seen in how people still follow his practice of the work week being for five days, with the weekends off to allow people to have time for themselves and