Had it not been for three very timely orders (and payments!), the Ford Motor Company may well not have survived beyond July 1903. Development costs had been steep and the money had run out. Fortunately, three individuals decided to demonstrate their faith in the fledgling new company by placing orders for the Model A - Ford's first production car. Their deposit money kept the company afloat, production began - and the rest is motoring history...  Chassis #30 was one of those three cars , and it is the only-known survivor of that auspicious day when an automotive giant took its first steps.

On the car's centenary in 2003, in the hands of its then owner, Mike Timms, chassis #30 took part in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, and its story was told in the event programme for that year - see below or download the PDF here.

In 2007 chassis #30 returned to the country of its birth, when it was acquired by an American collector. And, in 2012, the car literally returned 'home', when William Clay Ford, Jr., executive chairman of the board for Ford Motor Company and Henry Ford’s great-grandson, bought the car for the Ford family (see photo above), making it one of the stars of the Henry Ford 150th anniversary celebrations that same year.