--- title: "Which came first, Coca-Cola or the Ford Motor Company?" description: "Coca-Cola vs the Ford Motor Company: Coca-Cola came first, by 17 years — 1886 against 1903. What happened in each case." url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/coca-cola-vs-ford/ site: "At One Place" --- # Which came first, Coca-Cola or the Ford Motor Company? **Which came first, Coca-Cola or the Ford Motor Company?: Coca-Cola** 1886 — 17 years before the Ford Motor Company Coca-Cola came first, by 17 years. John Pemberton first sold his syrup at a pharmacy in Atlanta. ## Side by side | | Coca-Cola | the Ford Motor Company | | --- | --- | --- | | Year | 1886 | 1903 | | Date | 1886-05-08 | 1903-06-16 | | Category | company | company | | What happened | John Pemberton first sold his syrup at a pharmacy in Atlanta. | Ford Motor Company was incorporated in Detroit. | ## Coca-Cola Coca-Cola went on sale in May 1886 as a patent medicine, selling about nine glasses a day in its first year. Pemberton sold the rights for a few thousand dollars and died in 1888 without seeing any of it. Pepsi followed in 1893 under the name Brad's Drink, renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1898 — so Coke is seven years older, and both are older than the Ford Motor Company. ## the Ford Motor Company Ford was incorporated in June 1903, fourteen years after Nintendo and six months before the Wright brothers flew. The Model T followed in 1908 and the moving assembly line in 1913, which cut the time to build a car from twelve hours to about ninety minutes. Ford was Henry Ford's third attempt at a car company; the first two failed. ## Common questions ### Which came first, Coca-Cola or the Ford Motor Company? Coca-Cola, by 17 years — 1886 against 1903. ### When did Coca-Cola start? 1886. John Pemberton first sold his syrup at a pharmacy in Atlanta. ### When did the Ford Motor Company start? 1903. Ford Motor Company was incorporated in Detroit. ## Related pages - [the Eiffel Tower or the Ford Motor Company?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-ford/) - [the car or the Ford Motor Company?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/car-vs-ford/) - [the car or Coca-Cola?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/car-vs-coca-cola/) - [the aeroplane or the Ford Motor Company?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/aeroplane-vs-ford/) - [the aeroplane or Coca-Cola?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/aeroplane-vs-coca-cola/) - [the Ford Motor Company or the Statue of Liberty?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/ford-vs-statue-of-liberty/) - [the Ford Motor Company or the hamburger?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/ford-vs-hamburger/) - [the Ford Motor Company or the lightbulb?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/ford-vs-lightbulb/) - [the Ford Motor Company or television?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/ford-vs-television/) - [the Ford Motor Company or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/ford-vs-nintendo/) - [the Ford Motor Company or LEGO?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/ford-vs-lego/) - [the Ford Motor Company or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/ford-vs-samsung/) ## Sources - Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]