There's a digital billboard that makes the rounds on LinkedIn every six months or so featuring wisdom from Henry Ford that looks something like this:
This quote goes right to the heart of Henry Ford's genius: He led the American consumer into the 20th century. If it weren't for Ford, Americans would still be bumping along on dirt roads in horse-and-buggies. It's the kind of disruptive innovation modern entrepreneurs dream about bringing to market. This particular quote usually elicits 20 or so "Likes" and a couple of attaboys from appreciative LinkedIn members.
The problem with the quote, of course, is that Henry never said it. (For a good discussion, see here.) One reason he likely never said it is that he would have known it to be wrong: Karl Benz was mass-producing automobiles by 1888 and many other Europeans and Americans had joined in by 1900--well before Ford began production--all with the idea of replacing horse-drawn transportation. The automobile consumer existed well before Henry Ford, even if he and she could not yet afford one of the new contraptions.