July 23: Ford delivers its first car on this date in 1903

Henry Ford made many gambles in his life, not all of which paid off. One that almost went bust was the Ford Motor Company itself, which was down to $223 when it received the first three orders for its original Model A. On July 23, 1903, Ernest Pfenning of Chicago became Ford's first owner, and Ford would go on to sell 1,700 Model A copies at a base price of $750. Two years ago, the only surviving Model A from the original three failed to sell at auction after bidding reached $325,000.