Henry Ford, the son of farmer, was born in Greenfield, Michigan on July 30th, 1863. He (a)…left …..school at 15 to work on his father’s farm, but in 1979 he moved to Detroit where he (b)…became…..an apprentice in a machine shop. He returned to Greenfield after his father (c)…gave…..him 40 acres to start his own farm. He hated farming and returned to Detroit to work as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company. He (d)…spent…..his spare time trying to build a petrol-driven motor car. In 1896 he (e)built……..his first car in the garden. He named the car Thin Lizzie, and it (f)…had…..no reverse gear or brakes. Ford started two companies that ended in failure. Finally, in June 1903, he (g)…found…..12 people ready to invest $28,000 in a new company. He (h)…began…..production of the Model A car. The car (i)…sold…..well, and by 1907 the profits reached $1,100,000. In 1909 Ford decided to manufacture only one type of car, the Model T. At first it (j)…took…..14 hours to assemble a Model T car. Ford reduced this to 1 hour 33 minutes. This (k)…cut…..the overall cost of each car and between 1908 and 1916 the selling price of the Model T (l)…fell…..from $1,000 to $360. In the 1920s the Ford Motor Company (m)…grew…..rapidly, and in 1925 Ford produced 60 per cent of America’s total output of cars. Henry Ford died on April 7th, 1947.
