GMs rival Ford congratulated them with a very classy move by strategically leaving the blinds open in certain offices at its World Headquarters in Dearborn. The effect was a building sized birthday card congratulating its cross town competitor, General Motors, on making it 100 years in the automotive business.
Ford celebrated its 100 years some years back, so knows how much fun it is to complete a century. Did you know that GM almost bought Ford back in the day? The man responsible for making GM what it is today, Billy Durant, made Henry Ford an offer of $8 million to buy his six year old car company on October 5, 1909 and Ford accepted. Unfortunately, Ford demanded $2 million up front, preferably in gold, and Durant couldn’t get the loan approved by New York banks. The two automakers’ paths verged from there, but obviously never completely separated.
Source – Autoblog
