--- title: "Which came first, the Ford Motor Company or McDonald's?" description: "the Ford Motor Company vs McDonald's: the Ford Motor Company came first, by 37 years — 1903 against 1940. What happened in each case." url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/ford-vs-mcdonalds/ site: "At One Place" --- # Which came first, the Ford Motor Company or McDonald's? **Which came first, the Ford Motor Company or McDonald's?: the Ford Motor Company** 1903 — 37 years before McDonald's the Ford Motor Company came first, by 37 years. Ford Motor Company was incorporated in Detroit. ## Side by side | | the Ford Motor Company | McDonald's | | --- | --- | --- | | Year | 1903 | 1940 | | Date | 1903-06-16 | — | | Category | company | company | | What happened | Ford Motor Company was incorporated in Detroit. | Richard and Maurice McDonald opened a restaurant in San Bernardino. | ## 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. ## McDonald's The brothers opened in 1940 as a barbecue drive-in and reinvented it in 1948 with the Speedee Service System — a tiny menu, no waiters, food assembled on a production line. The company itself dates its founding to 15 April 1955, when Ray Kroc opened his franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois. Both dates are defensible and the corporate one is not the restaurant one. ## Common questions ### Which came first, the Ford Motor Company or McDonald's? the Ford Motor Company, by 37 years — 1903 against 1940. ### When did the Ford Motor Company start? 1903. Ford Motor Company was incorporated in Detroit. ### When did McDonald's start? 1940. Richard and Maurice McDonald opened a restaurant in San Bernardino. ## Related pages - [the Eiffel Tower or the Ford Motor Company?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-ford/) - [India or McDonald's?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-mcdonalds/) - [Fanta or McDonald's?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/fanta-vs-mcdonalds/) - [the car or the Ford Motor Company?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/car-vs-ford/) - [the aeroplane or the Ford Motor Company?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/aeroplane-vs-ford/) - [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] - Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)