News on Screen

Ford Motor Company entered the business world on June 16, 1903, when Henry Ford and 11 business associates signed the company’s articles of incorporation. In 1908, the Model T was born. In 1925, Ford Motor Company acquired the Lincoln Motor Company, thus branching out into luxury cars, and in the 1930’s, the Mercury division was created to establish a division centered on mid-priced cars.

Henry Ford II’s keen perception of political and economic trends led to the global expansion of FMC in the 60’s, and the establishment of Ford of Europe in 1967.

Henry Ford achieved success with the Model T Ford, but he was not content to limit himself to cars. He was the son of a farmer and started work on a tractor for farm use. A prototype, called an "automobile plow", was built in 1907. He set up a separate company, "Henry Ford and Son Company" referring to him and his son Edsel to produce tractors under the Fordson name. Later, when Ford assumed complete control of Ford Motor Company in 1920, the two companies were merged. Mass production of Fordson model F started in 1917.

Fordson Model F’s were made in the U.S. between 1917 and 1928. They were produced in Cork, Ireland between 1919 and 1932 before production was consolidated at the Dagenham, factory in England, which built Fordsons between 1933 and 1964. Tractors bearing the Fordson name were produced in England until 1964 when they became simply Fords. During the 1950s and 1960s, Ford sponsored the cinemagazine, Fordson Newsreel, to promote this side of the business.

Ford films were distributed by their own library, the Ford Film Library, which closed at the end of 1974.

Sources

http://www.ford.com/en/heritage/history/default.htm; Accessed 22/5/2006: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordson_tractor; Accessed 22/5/2006: NoS Number 349904; Fordson Newsreel Number 48; Date released 1962.