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Hoist a pint of Guinness to Ford on this St. Patrick’s Day – it turns out the automaker can trace its roots to
Ireland. William Ford, Henry’s grandfather, emigrated to Dearborn in 1847, buying land next to a farm owned by another
Irishman, who would eventually become Henry’s maternal grandfather.
After successfully launching Ford Motor,
Henry visited his grandparents’ homes in Cork in 1917, and established Henry Ford & Son, Ltd to build tractors. It
later became a division of Ford Motor, and the Cork plant has the distinction of producing the very last Model T in
1928.
Tongue in cheek, Ford Ireland’s marketing director Denis McSweeney says, “For many of us, Ford is
an Irish company with a large American branch.”
[Source: Ford]