Improvements on Henry Ford's first car

After the trial run of Henry Ford first car, through the expanded door he was forced to build on his shed, Ford worked on improvements for his first car. He invented a type of radiator to circulate water around the engine and keep it cool. Ford also refined and improved, and modified, and experimented, trying to get his first car ready for the public.

After three years, a new automobile company in Detroit asked Henry Ford to design some experimental cars for them. Henry Ford got to work but before his designs were completed, the auto company had already gone bankrupt.

Now Henry Ford had no backers, no money, and lots of ideas waiting to be born. Finally, Henry Ford came up with an idea. Auto racing had recently become a popular sport, and it was a good way to make money and gather support. Henry Ford decided to build a racing car, enter it in a race, and hopefully win. If he did, Henry Ford believed he could convince people to finance the building of his motorcars.

The racecar Henry built had a 26 horsepower engine, a new carburetor and sparking system called spark plugs. Henry Ford took it to a racecourse at Grosse Point, near Detroit, where a crowd of 8,000 people had gathered to see the famous Alexander Winston perform.

Alexander Winston was a former prize winner, a man who was hard to beat under the best of circumstances. Today no one expected much of a contest. Alexander Winston had showed up with his latest design, a sleek racer with a seventy-horsepower engine that many experts would have sworn to be unbeatable.

Henry Ford's First Car Competing in a Race

Other competitors took one look at Alexander Winston and his car, and dropped out of the race. But Henry Ford stayed. When the starting gun went off, Alexander Winston and Henry Ford were on the track alone.

The cars took off, each one with a mechanic hanging from its running board, for balance. Alexander Winston took off ahead of Henry Ford and stayed there for several turns around the track. Then suddenly there was smoke rising from the track. Everyone craned their necks to see - was it Winston or Ford?

It was Winston! Henry Ford kept going, never taking his eyes from the track ahead of him. Henry Ford passed Winston and shot through the finish line. The crowd rose to its feet, cheering. The race hadn't been predictable after all.

From that day on, racing his cars became one of Henry Ford's favorite hobbies. Once, to prove the excellence of a new model he'd built, he announced a race, by himself against time, on a frozen lake. A large crowd gathered to watch, sure that no car could race under such hazardous conditions.

Henry Ford’s First Car is a post from: Biography Help

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