10 People Who Made the Ford Motor Company What It Is Today

Intro

The Ford Motor Company has been around for over 120 years. Tens of thousands of people have worked for, or been directly involved with, the company during that time. There have been many, many people that have helped shape Ford into what it is today. Listing all of them would be nearly impossible. But picking just ten people that made Ford into what it is today is not that hard. The challenge is to not simply list ten CEOs. Sure, the CEO sets the direction of the company, but it would be a rather boring list and a bit of a cop-out if we just did that. While we did list a few Ford CEOs we tried to come up with a more varied list that includes some people you may have never even heard of. Nonetheless, everyone listed here had a hand in the growth and direction of Ford Motor Company.

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10. McKinley Thompson Jr.

Does the name McKinley Thompson Jr. not ring a bell? Well, for Bronco fans it should. He was a Ford designer who helped pen the first-generation Bronco. He drew up a design called “Package Proposal #5 for Bronco,” on July 24, 1963. That design would influence the look of what would ultimately be the first Bronco. Thompson Jr. also holds another distinction. He was the first African American designer hired at Ford Motor Company, and he ended up shaping one of the most beloved models in the history of the company.

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9. Frank Galpin

Frank Galpin founded Galpin Ford in San Fernando, California in 1946. The showroom held three vehicles and in the first year of business sold only 46 vehicles. But that simple start grew into something much bigger. By 1989 Galpin Ford became the number one volume Ford dealer in the world for cars and trucks. A title that it has held every year since. Galpin was known for providing as much comfort and individuality as possible in his vehicles. His dealership was the first to sell custom conversion vans. Some of his special paint and accessory packages were eventually adopted by Ford.

Image: Galpin Motors

8. Childe Harold Wills

Childe Harold Wills might be another name that you are not familiar with, but you have seen his work on every Ford vehicle for over one hundred years. He used his grandfather’s stencil set in 1907 to design the Ford logo. The familiar Ford oval was not featured for another 20 years when it debuted on the 1927 Model A.  

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7. Edsel Ford

A lot of people correlate Edsel Ford with the car that would bear his name, but Edsel was much more than that. In fact, he had nothing to do with that car. After his father resigned as president of Ford, Edsel took over in January 1919. Under his leadership the company purchased the Lincoln Motor Company and created the Mercury Division. Edsel Ford set the design language for many of the cars of the era and was instrumental in the development of safety glass in 1926. Edsel Ford led that company to great success. In May of 1943 he died from stomach cancer at age 49. The car named after him was released over a decade later.

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6. Bob Lutz

Bob Lutz shaped many automotive manufactures. During his career he held senior positions at GM, Chrysler, and Ford. His accomplishments are extremely impressive, even when focusing on just what he did at Ford. While serving as a Ford board member, Lutz was behind the development of the original Ford Explorer. The Explorer changed the way Americans travelled. It was one of the original SUVs and since it debuted in 1991, close to 9 million examples have been sold.

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5. Henry Ford II

Henry Ford II was the oldest son of Edsel Ford, and affectionately known as “the Deuce.” On September 21, 1945, Ford II took of the role of president of Ford Motor Company. He would lead the company for 34 years. When he took over the company was losing as much as $10 million per month. The company was facing a government takeover. Ford II assembled a team of “Whiz Kids” to reorganize the company.  During his time at the helm, he increased Ford sales from $894.5 million to $43.5 billion by 1979.

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4. Carroll Shelby

When you think of high-performance Ford vehicles, what name immediately comes to mind? For most, it is Carroll Shelby. He began his Ford relationship by installing Ford 260/289 V8 engines in a British sports car called the AC Ace. With Ford V8 power the car became known as the Cobra and is one of the most recognizable, valuable, and successful sportscars in history. Shelby was asked if he could then work on turning the new Mustang into a true performance car. We then got the GT350, GT500, GT500KR, and so on. Oh, and did we mention his involvement with the Le Mans winning GT40? To this day when you see the name Shelby on a Ford product you know it is the highest performing version available.

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3. Alan Mulally

Mulally served as president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Company from September 2006 to June 2014. And while his tenure may not be as long as some other Ford leaders, his accomplishments were just as impressive. When he took over Ford was once again fighting for survival. The company just posted a $12.7 billion loss. Yet thanks in part to his focus on in-vehicle technology, and his “working together” principles, Ford was the only one of the “big three” auto firms who didn’t request a government bailout in the financial crisis. The man saved the company, and the accolades rolled in. He was listed as number 3 on Fortune’s “World’s Greatest Leaders” list, one of the 30 “World’s Best CEOs” by Barron’s magazine, “Industry Leader of the Year” by Automotive News magazine, one of “The World’s Most Influential People” by TIME magazine, and more. The last ten years of great Ford products that we have been able to enjoy may have never existed without Mulally.

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2. Lee Iacocca

Like Lutz, Iacocca is a man with ties to several automotive companies. He brought the Chrysler Corporation back from the dead, thanks in part to him bringing the minivan to market. But we are here to talk about Ford, and Iacocca had some big moments there as well. Most notably he was the man behind the Ford Mustang. A model that just celebrated its 60th birthday. It has gone on to become won of the most successful sportscars of all time. He was also instrumental in getting Ford back into racing.

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1. Henry Ford

The number one person on the list today, and always, must be Henry Ford. Entire books have been written about this man. We will only scratch the surface here. Ford started building automobiles as early as 1893. The first Ford car, the Quadricycle, was completed in June 1896. After a couple of failed enterprises, he founded Ford Motor Company on June 16, 1903. He created the Model T in 1908 and by 1927, 15 million of them were sold. Ford created the moving assembly line which made it possible for the Model T to be produced every 90 minutes. Beyond just cars, Ford had a dramatic impact on the American worker. He introduced the “$5 Day” plan in 1914, which was roughly double what a factory worker was earning at the time. We also have Ford to thank for the five-day, 40-hour work week, which he implemented in 1926.

Like him or not, Ford was the most influential man in the history of the company, and one of the most influential in American history.

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