William Clay Ford senior
William Clay Ford, Sr. (born March 14, 1925 in Kansas City , Missouri , † March 9, 2014 in Detroit , Michigan ) was an American entrepreneur . He was the youngest child of Edsel (1893–1943) and Eleanor Ford b. Eleanor Lowthian Clay (1896–1976) and youngest grandson of Henry Ford .
Life
His military service in World War II made Ford in the U .S. Navy Air Corps ( naval aviators ). He then studied economics at Yale and graduated in 1949 as a Bachelor of Science . Then he joined the Ford group. He mastered his first managerial tasks as General Manager of the Special Products Division , from which the Continental Division emerged on July 1, 1952 , which he also headed. His job in both positions was to develop a luxury car above Lincoln and Cadillac on a par with Rolls-Royce and Bentley . The Continental Mark II was one of the most beautiful and exclusive automobiles of its time, but it could not be sold profitably, even with an astronomical sales price of 10,000 US dollars. The project was abandoned in 1960. At that time the Ford group was in a phase of restructuring. In addition to the Continental, the even younger Edsel brand (1958–1960) ran out, the group was regrouped and the Ford Falcon was the first compact car (according to US standards; "compact" ) from Ford in the USA. He was instrumental in a successful new edition as the Lincoln Continental Mark III . This car appeared in 1968 for the 1969 model year.
William Clay Ford was the owner and chairman of the board of directors of the Detroit Lions professional football club . His total net worth was estimated by Forbes Magazine to be approximately $ 1.35 billion.
In March 2014, WC Ford Sr. died of pneumonia at the age of 88 .
family
In 1947 he married Martha Parke Firestone (* 1925), a granddaughter of Harvey Firestone , founder of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company . This marriage had four children, Martha Parke "Muffy" Ford (* 1948), Sheila Firestone Ford (* 1951), William Clay Ford Junior , Jr. (* 1957) and Elizabeth Hudson Ford (* 1961).
Others
- William Clay Ford's favorite color was honolulu blue, a light blue shade. This color was prescribed for the participants in the design competition for the Continental Mark II luxury car . His copy of the Continental Mark II Cabriolet (one of three built) was painted Honolulu blue; this shade can also be found in the club colors of the Detroit Lions.
- The motor cargo ship SS William Clay Ford , built from 1952 to 1953 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in River Rouge (Michigan) for the Ford Motor Company, was named after him. After abandoning the ship in 1987 which was bridge in the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle (Detroit) set up.
swell
Lincoln and Continental 1946-1980 - The classic Postwar Years ; Paul R. Woudenberg, Motorbooks International, Osceola WI (USA) 1993 (new edition), ISBN 0-87938-730-0 (Chapter 6)
Web links
- Detroit Lions website (accessed September 15, 2011)
- Detroit Lions statistics at pro-football-reference.com (accessed September 15, 2011)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Henry Ford's grandson, William Clay Ford Snr, dies. BBC News, March 9, 2014, accessed March 9, 2014 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ford, William Clay Sr. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ford, William Clay Sr. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American automotive manager and member of the Ford family |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 14, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kansas City , Missouri |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 9, 2014 |
| Place of death | Detroit , Michigan |