Bill Ford was on the TED series on NPR this afternoon. "When my great grandfather, Henry Ford, invented the Model T, he asked what people wanted. "They wanted faster horses.""
That's the way I heard it...
Over at the Ford Barn I use the quote as a signature line. Perfect in it's simplicity.
"If I asked people what they wanted they would have said faster horses."
-Henry Ford
The only rub is the lack of proof that Henry ever even said this- the Henry Ford Museum researchers have no record attributring this to Henry and call it "iffy" at best. Time seems to attribute many quotes to people who never uttered them, but as Mr. Stoddard said in the film, "When the Legend becomes fact, print the Legend."
And, was the Model T an invention?
It was an assemblage of mostly expired patents.
Here's what he did say: