Ford Versus Lincoln
This is a tale of two Henrys. Henry Leland was a genius machinist, a gunsmith, and a supplier to early auto companies who could make parts consistently within tolerances (0.001 inch) unheard of at the time. He envisioned a high-end auto that would run like a dream. Henry Ford, on the other hand, was a design innovator but, at the time, lousy at manufacturing. And at the turn of the past century, in his second company, Ford couldn’t produce the low-end, roughly $1,000 models he was hired to make—and had no interest in fancy, $3,000 cars. So, in 1902, Leland was brought in by the investors who controlled the Henry Ford Company to fix things. Ford, no longer running Ford, walked. Leland began focusing on high-end models and renamed the company Cadillac. Leland later sold Cadillac to GM, regretted it, and revived the idea for a standalone luxury car brand in 1917. Being an admirer of a certain U.S. president, his new luxe car was named Lincoln. Ford would have the last laugh, though, buying Lincoln out of bankruptcy in 1922. This year, Lincoln celebrates its 100th anniversary, the legacy of two great entrepreneurs who didn’t always get everything right.