The Rise and Fall of the Infamous Automobile Tycoon, Henry Ford

Wheels Begin to Turn

Ford had to understand how the watch worked. So what do you do when you want to know how a piece of machinery works? You take it apart and put it back together again, and that’s exactly what Ford did. By the age of 15, the future car company owner was disassembling and reassembling watches for his neighbors and friends.

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Photo by Everett Collection / Shutterstock

Before long, Ford was known as the watch repairman around town. The second significant event in Ford’s life as a 12-year-old was when he saw a live Nichols and Shepard road engine. This was the first time Ford had seen a vehicle that was not pulled by horses. After seeing this farm machine, the wheels in his head began to turn.

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