The story of Ford’s 1st trophy. Where is it now?

The first search 10 years ago came up empty.  This time, we hope, will be different.

When Henry Ford won his debut race on Oct. 10, 1901, beating Alexander Winton in what turned out to be a match race at the Detroit Driving Club in Grosse Pointe, Mich., Ford was awarded $1,000 and a cut-glass punch bowl. For more than 50 years that trophy has been missing and the Ford family would like to get it back.

“The story is that Clara, Henry Ford’s wife, had it in the house and then when she died, it was sold at auction without people realizing what it was.   We made an attempt to find more information about it, but thus far have not been able to locate it,” said Edsel B. Ford II, great grandson to Henry Ford, and now a Ford board member.  “It would have had a really nice meaning, especially as we celebrated the 100th anniversary of Ford Racing.”

Now, 10 years later, Ford Racing is in the midst of its 110th anniversary, and the program has resumed its effort to track down the elusive bowl.

The fact this item has become such a treasure to the Ford family is based in part by the way it was won.  In 1901, Henry Ford had twice failed in his attempts to start an auto company, and was having trouble finding investors to get his latest project off the ground.  He decided to compete in a 25-lap race that October day with a hand-built race car he called “Sweepstakes” in the hopes his product and ideas would attract some interest.

There were 8,000 fans in attendance, including many newspaper writers to document the event.  The main race of the day was ultimately shortened to 10 laps because the other, earlier events had gone longer than expected, and the field was narrowed down to just two when mechanical issues forced other entrants to withdraw.

The two competitors were Ford and Winton, who was a well-established automobile builder from Cleveland, Ohio, and a man recognized as one of the top racers in the country.  In fact, Winton’s team was so confident of winning that day that the punch bowl was purposely chosen by his sales manager, who convinced organizers to help him select the trophy because he wanted something that would look good in the bay window of Winton’s Cleveland home.

That thinking appeared accurate when the race started and Winton’s pronounced 50 horsepower advantage allowed him to sprint to a big lead, but Ford’s lightweight, 26-horsepower car was built for endurance and reliability.  About halfway through the race, Ford began to close the gap.  When Winton’s engine began to smoke and sputter on lap seven, Ford was able to catch and pass him in front of a cheering grandstand en route to winning by a wide margin.

Ford’s win did exactly as he hoped.  Investors began lining up and helped support the effort that eventually led to the formation of Ford Motor Company 20 months later in June, 1903.

The trophy, one of Ford’s prized processions, sat in the dining room of his Fairlane Estate in Dearborn, Mich., until sometime after his death in 1947.  When Clara died three years later, many of the family possessions were sold at auction in New York City, including the punch bowl.  Records have been found that show the punch bowl in the auction program and the price paid, but it does not list the buyer’s name.  And attempts to locate a name have come up short so far.

 And so the search continues.

“A footnote of history is that sometimes it gets away from us.  Frankly, the punch bowl has meant a lot to me personally,” said Edsel Ford.  “I was hopeful that a few years ago we were actually on our way to finding it, but that didn’t happen.  We would love to find it, because of what it meant to Henry and our family.”