1980 : Henry II abdicates throne
Dean Jones and Don Knotts, with Herbie, in "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo"Henry Ford II resigned as Chairman of the Ford Motor Company after naming Philip Caldwell his successor. With Ford's resignation, the era of the Ford family as an automotive dynasty temporarily ended. Henry II was, like his grandfather, a tough and formidable leader. He reorganized the company and instituted a modern bookkeeping system. His father, Edsel, had been considered a dreamer by Henry I. Edsel had spent much of his energy designing cars and improving Ford's labor relationships. He hadn't been a hard-edged businessman and often drew his father's criticism on those grounds. Like the archetypal ruling families of England, the Ford family followed its own generational legacy: Henry the Great, Edsel the Confessor, and Henry II. It sounds like Shakespeare.