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Ford motor Company is 106 years old today !

In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company and after promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893, he focused on personal experiments on gasoline engines. These experiments culminated in 1896 with the completion of his own self-propelled vehicle named the Ford Quadricycle. In 1896 Ford attended a meeting of Edison executives, where he was meet Thomas Edison. Edison approved of Ford’s automobile experimentation; encouraged by Edison’s approval, Ford designed and built a second vehicle, which was completed in 1898.Backed by the capital of Detroit lumber baron William H. Murphy, Ford left Edison and founded the Detroit Automobile Company on August 5, 1899. the company was later dissolved.

With the help of C. Harold Wills, Ford designed, built, and successfully raced a twenty six horsepower automobile in October 1901. With this success, Murphy and other stockholders in the Detroit Automobile Company formed the Henry Ford Company in November 30, 1901, with Ford as chief engineer.Murphy brought in Henry M. Leland as a consultant. As a result, Ford left the company in 1902. and renamed the company the Cadillac Automobile Company.Ford received the backing of an old acquaintance, Alexander Y. Malcomson, a Detroit-area coal dealer , formed a partnership, “Ford & Malcomson, Ltd.” to manufacture automobiles. Ford went to work designing an inexpensive automobile, and the duo leased a factory and contracted with a machine shop owned by John and Horace E. Dodge to supply over $160,000 in parts. With slow sales a crisis arose when the Dodge brothers demanded payment .