FROM THE VAULT: DECEMBER 1, 1947

An unassuming heir gets behind the wheel at a faltering Ford Motor Co.

When henry Ford II returned home from World War II, he found himself entering another ravaged land: the family empire.

The Ford Motor Co. was losing $9 million a month (some $130 million in current terms) after years of mismanagement under Ford’s father, Edsel, whose death in 1943 thrust Ford behind the wheel of his famous grandfather’s company. Ford, 28, was an amiable, crew-cut man who seemed unprepared for the role, his experience extending no further than his Navy service and a few years as an average student at Yale. But his management saved the company from bankruptcy, partly because he freely admitted he didn’t know everything. He carefully stocked the automaker’s executive ranks, eventually adding a group later known as the Whiz Kids, a collection of ten Air Force veterans who included future Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.

By the early 1960s, Ford Motor, healthy and profitable once again, was pulling in over $4.8 billion in sales (close to $40 billion today). And although Ford’s tenure included the Edsel’s much-derided failure, it also introduced stalwart models such as the Thunderbird and the Mustang, which was created by another young Ford hotshot, Lee Iacocca.