The Ford Motor Company was launched in a factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors. Henry's first attempt under his name was the Henry Ford Company on November 3, 1901, which became the Cadillac Motor Company on August 22, 1902.

During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit, Michigan.

Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies. Henry Ford was 40 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company, which would go on to become one of the world's largest and most profitable companies, as well as being one to survive the Great Depression. As one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world, the Ford Motor Company has been in continuous family control for over 100 years.

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