Ford Cars and Trucks by Year

1903 Ford

1903 Ford - Over 10,000 Remarkable Cars and Trucks at RemarkableCars.com

1903 Ford

1903 Ford

To adequately describe the 1903 Ford requires a brief portion of the history that preceeded it. Details will be left for our pages on the history of the Ford Motor Company but these few facts will be covered here.

In 1899 some wealthy Detroit businessmen invested money with 36-year old Henry Ford to create the Detroit Automobile Company. Due to indecision or whatever, production always seemed to be close to being ready but was never started. In Novenber of 1901 the backers formed a new company named the Henry Ford Company but again, production never got underway. By March of 1902, the disgruntled investors brought in a consultant by the name of Henry Leland. This infuriated Ford to the point that he abruptly resigned, taking a settlement of $900 and a promise by the main stockholders not to use the Ford name henceforth. Under Mr. Lelands guidence the company produced its first car in 1903 and named the company and the car "Cadillac".

Ford had setup shop for himself and with the help of a new investor. In July of 1903 the first Ford Model A runabouts were ready for delivery and in the next 15 months his new company built an inpressive 1,700 cars.

What is interesting about the 1903 Fords is that Ford hired the same coachbuilder to make the body for this car that his former company, now Cadillac, had used to build the bodies for their new car. The results are that the two cars are almost identical in appearance. The tonneau, or back seat attachment, could be removed by its owner, giving the advantage of owning one vehicle with three body styles: a roadster, utility vehicle and family car. Passengers entered the rear compartment through a back door and could either sit facing forward or to the side.

The Model A Tonneau featured a 2-cylinder, horizontaly-opposed, 8-hp, 105-cid engine. The price of the car was $850.

Production of the 1903 Ford Model A (a model designation that would be repeated in 1928) totaled 1708. There were several colors from which to choose and the vehicle was easy to operate. Model A production continued into early 1904 when work started on the Model B.

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1903 Ford - Over 10,000 Remarkable Cars and Trucks at RemarkableCars.com