HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ford

Visit www.findagrave.com and you will discover a link that leads to photos of Henry Ford and his well-kept burial site outside St. Martha's Episcopal Church in Detroit.

Below the photos are testimonials — some salutory, some spiteful — from cyberspace travelers, a sub-culture unimaginable when the budding inventor launched Ford Motor Co. 100 years ago this month.

The sentiments, many rife with misspellings, are attributed to names such as “Bonzo” and “Dragon” — oddly informal to be associated with a man rarely depicted without a suit and tie. On the subject of monikers, “Nisson (sic) Driver” poses: “Is there a more famous name than ‘Ford?’”

Not likely.

Later this year — precisely when won't be known until production schedules are confirmed — the 300 millionth Ford vehicle rolls off the line at one of 107 plants in the auto maker's global manufacturing network.

The familiar Ford script, copied from Henry's own hand and featured inside the auto maker's celebrated blue oval, has already been inscribed on 100 million V-8 engines — a milestone marked this spring.

Significant signposts in their own right, these achievements take on profound meaning in the context of vision. While the automobile was still in its infancy, Henry Ford looked beyond the invention itself, to a methodology so robust it survives today.

The process, on the cusp of another frontier as Ford adopts flexible manufacturing, is not far removed from its humble beginnings in a converted Detroit wagon factory. Little wonder Ford Motor Co. has withstood military conflicts, economic collapses and pressure from competitors, all of whom owe a debt of gratitude to its founder.

As the auto maker enters its second century, it has few peers. Of the Fortune 100, just 25 have been in existence for 100 years. And only three — Ford, DuPont and Walgreen's — still count members of their founding families among their executive ranks.

Ford is to America what the House of Windsor is to Great Britain. Both are regal institutions that endure the harsh glare of public scrutiny.

But despite the considerable reach of genuine royalty, its influence is dwarfed by that of Ford Motor Co. In addition to “putting the world on wheels,” as the cliché goes, the auto maker has employed generations of workers around the world.

Today, its payroll includes more than 350,000 people on six continents. “From Henry Ford and his original vision to Henry Ford II and the Whiz Kids and then to the strong leadership of the 1980s and 1990s, Ford has stayed true to the idea of building great cars and trucks with high quality at an affordable price,” says Chairman and CEO Bill Ford Jr., the founder's great-grandson.

Accessible transportation was the mantra of HF1. And this focus is not lost on the cyberspace travelers, whom the founder would likely embrace today.

Says “Boomer:” “Thank you for your vision and service to our country … overall you did good.”