The abilities of Henry Ford lay more in the successful imitation rather than in the work of engineering development. Some time later the small team moved into a shed behind the Ford's city apartment. Ford's first actual engine was a two-cylinder with approx 10 liters of capacity and had a bore of 63 mm and the unbelievable stroke of 162 mm! This was only able to produce 3 kW (4 hp). At least one could, (before starting off) choose one of the two gear-speeds and through shortening or lengthening the distance between the two pulleys, even had a clutch of sorts. Unfortunately, such cars, which came into the workshop as single parts, had to leave the shop as a complete unit. So, it turned out, before the first test run, that the door-opening was too small and had to be made larger by force. In the same night and for the first time, the streets of Detroit were threatened by this vehicle ...
The so-called 'Quadricycle' had only two seats and did not even have a steering wheel, indeed it managed to reach the speed of 30 kmh and could travel 100 kms if the 12 liter tank was full. It's difficult to imagine that Henry Ford was thus, for a long time, the only automobile driver in Detroit. After all, it's a city that today, is the second largest in the USA. In fact, it seemed that nowhere else in the USA was a roadworthy vehicle with a petrol driven engine either. We are after all, talking about the year 1895, at which time there were already several manufacturers of such automobiles in Europe, one year after the first motor car race.
Ford on the other hand, had his hands full, keeping the public from using his vehicle and needs towards the police even a kind of license. However, there is now a presentable vehicle, and the Henry Ford used to excite investors for his cause. He is truly not clumsy therein and so succeed the founding of the Detroit Automobile Company already end of 1899, incidentally, the first in a long line of manufacturers and suppliers.
Ford's talent may be seen from the fact that the most important participator next to William Murphy, a friend becoming rich by timber trade, is the Mayor Maybury and of course a few other notables. $ 150,000 plus Ford's skills have come together to build a car for production. Nothing seems to stand in the way a successful realization of Ford's dreams.
And yet the company exists only over a year, then the investors lost their money and are wiser by experience. Henry Ford has not created a suitable for series production vehicle. He avoided the therewith associated problems. His staff got him to face disproportionately short. Curiously, Murphy is not really miffed about him, even though he has probably suffered the greatest loss.