Filed under: Etc.,
Ford
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]
