Henry Ford and Ford

SECONDARY If he really believed history was bunk, Henry Ford would probably be astounded that, almost 50 years after his death, books were still being written about him; yet this self-educated engineer almost single-handedly determined the shape of things to come in the twentieth century. His Model T automobile, launched in 1908, proved to be 'a car that would change the world'. For the first time millions of people could afford cheap reliable transport. Michael Pollard's book provides a fascinating profile of a man with a vision and the determination to realise his ambition. Already middle-aged when the first Model Ts were built, he went on to instigate many production and marketing innovations. He was the first car manufacturer to employ assembly line mass production methods. Also, shrewdly, he realised the value of a network of dealers selling only Ford cars. Ford could be a hard and sometimes insensitive employer. Some of his working practices did not meet with universal approval and his refusal to allow unions into his factories ended in violent confrontation. From these sometimes shaky foundations, however, the company has since grown into a multinational enterprise.