Why didn't Henry Ford achieve a monopoly on cars?

Henry Ford might have made a cheap and easily mass-produced car. But he didn't make a “good” one. The controls were completely bonkers, to get neutral you had to take the handbrake half off, the brake was a pedal on the right and the throttle and ignition timing were controlled by levers behind the steering wheel. read more

" I would offer the idea that if Henry Ford focused on becoming a monopoly he would not achieved his success. read more

While slow by today’s standards, compared to the other cars of the period the flathead allowed an ordinary working class citizen to command the road as if he were driving a much higher-priced car and demonstrated - as had the Model T before it - the democratizing power of the mass produced car. read more

And now the gods of destiny smiled on Henry Ford. With the three-judge federal appeals court, he finally won vindication. The case opened on November 22, 1910, and the judges handed down their decision on January 9, 1911. They ruled that the Selden patent was valid, but only for cars made to its specifications. read more