The Ford legend

]. In 1917, Ford introduced its first truck, the Ford model TT. Also in 1919, Henry Ford's son, Edsel took over as the president of the company.

In 1922 Ford made its first major acquisition taking over the Lincoln Motor Company, started by Henry Leland. This also signalled the entry of Ford into the luxury market. By 1926, The Model TT had captured over 51 per cent of the American truck market. Also another major development that took place during this time was the introduction of the Ford Tri Motor airplane for airline services.

In 1928 the Model A was introduced and was an instant success. By the time production ceased in 1932, more than five million vehicles had been sold. Meanwhile in 1929, Ford crossed another milestone with an annual payroll of 300 million dollars.

The year 1931 was a bad year for Ford with production plummeting to 615,455 allowing Chevrolet [ Images ] to become first in the US market. The Ford V-8 was introduced in 1932 with the intention of boosting its flagging sales. In 1938, a new division Mercury was started in order to bridge the gap between the luxury Lincoln class and the economical ford class.

In 1941, Ford made its first foray into defence production, making general purpose jeeps for the military. By 1942, all production of civilian vehicles were halted, completely diverting  factory capacity to producing B-24 Liberator bombers, tanks, and other products for the war effort.

1943 saw the demise of Edsel Ford whereupon Henry Ford assumed the Presidency temporarily till 1945 when Henry Ford II stepped into his grandfathers shoes. In 1948 the Ford F1 truck was introduced and 1949 saw the introduction of all new post war era vehicles such as the "Woody" station wagon and the luxury car Thunderbird.

The idea worked as by 1953, the sales of Ford were only 100,000 cars behind Chevrolet. This year marked another milestone being the 50th anniversary of Ford. All cars produced this year have a special anniversary emblem incorporated in them.

The year 1957 saw  the re emergence of Ford as the top selling brand with the sale of 1.68 million automobiles and the introduction of the Skyliner model with an all steel hardtop  capable of changing into an open convertible at the touch of a button. An automatic folding mechanism retracted the top into the rear deck.

Despite being one of the most expensive models of Ford till then, the Retractable sold around 21 000 pieces before production stopped in 1959. 1959 was a remarkable year for Ford marking the production of 50 million cars. This year also saw the start of the Ford Credit Corporation, created with the purpose of automotive financing.

1964 saw the introduction of the Mustang. 1 million Mustangs were built within the first two years itself. This year also saw the start of production in South Africa [