Monday 6th November 1893

Born on this day, Edsel Ford, president of Ford Motor Company from 1919 to his death in 1943. As the only child of Clara and Henry Ford, Edsel showed more interest than his father in flashier styling for automobiles. He indulged this proclivity in part with the purchase of the Lincoln Motor Company in 1922. His affinity for sports cars was demonstrated in his personal vehicles: Edsel bought the first MG motorcar imported to the US. As president, Edsel Ford often disagreed with his father on major decisions and was occasionally humiliated in public by the older man Edsel managed to introduce many lasting changes. He founded and named the Mercury division. He was responsible for the Lincoln Zephyr and Lincoln Continental. He significantly strengthened Ford Motors’ overseas production, and modernized the company’s cars, such as by introducing hydraulic brakes. Edsel Ford died in 1943 at Gaukler Point, his lakeside home in Grosse Pointe Shores, at the age of 49.[2][14] His father resumed the presidency of the company. All of Edsel Ford’s nonvoting stock was donated through a codicil in his will to the Ford Foundation, which he had founded with his father seven years earlier. Each of Edsel Ford’s children inherited many shares in the Ford Motor Company, and the three sons all worked in the family business. Henry Ford II succeeded his grandfather as president of Ford on September 21, 1945.