Edsel Bryant Ford was an American business executive and philanthropist, the only child of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford and Clara Bryant Ford. He served as president of Ford Motor Company from 1919 until his death in 1943, working to expand the company beyond the Model T with more stylish and comfortable cars suited to changing consumer tastes. He championed the 1927 Model A and later founded the Mercury division, while also overseeing the Lincoln-Zephyr and Lincoln Continental and pushing for hydraulic brakes and stronger overseas production. Beyond the automobile business, Ford was a major benefactor of the arts in Detroit and helped fund Admiral Richard Byrd's polar expeditions. He died of stomach cancer in 1943 at age 49.
Facts
FAQs
How did Edsel Ford come to create the Lincoln Continental?
A 1938 trip to Europe led Edsel Ford to have Bob Gregorie design it on a Lincoln Zephyr chassis.
The idea began with a trip that Edsel Ford and his wife Eleanor made to Europe in 1938. Edsel was impressed by the design and elegance of the European cars he saw, and on his return he challenged the designer Bob Gregorie to create a new and stylish Lincoln. The team used the existing Lincoln Zephyr chassis as its basis, and Gregorie designed a special convertible coupe, with drawings ready by October 1938. The Lincoln Zephyr Continental was introduced in October 1939, and 404 were built in the first model year.
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Sources
1. Edsel Ford (Wikipedia)
Infobox, Born
November 6, 1893
Lead paragraph
Edsel Bryant Ford (November 6, 1893, May 26, 1943) was an American business executive and philanthropist, who was the only child of pioneering industrialist Henry Ford
Lead paragraph, nationality
was an American business executive and philanthropist
In Group: Automobile Company Founders and Executives, Lead sentence
Edsel Bryant Ford (November 6, 1893, May 26, 1943) was an American business executive and philanthropist, who was the only child of pioneering industrialist Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Jane Bryant Ford.
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