That is how much Ford’s stock has appreciated in 2009. Back in February 2009 the stock hit $1.63. It was at the trough of American automaker woes. GM and Chrysler were at the brink of collapse (and arguably still are), and it was unclear where Ford stood. The general consensus amongst investors was to stay away from all automotive stocks, particularly those of the Detroit “big” three.

It was at this time that FordMuscle co-founder Jon Mikelonis asked me if Ford (F) was a good investment. Heck, he reasoned, a thousand shares would cost a mere $1500 and perhaps there was nothing but upside. I follow the market more than he does, and I perhaps suffered a bit of “paralysis by analysis”. Rather than pull the trigger on a relatively low-risk (in hindsight) investment, I said there was still lots of uncertainty if these companies would survive.

I regret that advice. Six months later Ford emerges as the only US automaker to not have taken government bailout money. Last quarter they saw an 18% sales growth, with F150 sales starting to pick back up (perhaps a sign that the overall economy is improving as small business owners and tradesman go back to work.) The stock has improved over five-fold from that weak $1.63 to $7.44 today. That $1500 would now be about $7400.

Of course playing hindsight with the market is useless. In the end it comes down to your confidence in the company. I should have had more faith in Ford. They do make great cars, and the Quality is now on par with, or even superior to the foreign automakers (see the new Fusion Hybrid).

I now have confidence that Ford will emerge as the premier, and profitable, US automaker within the next several years. They have made a commendable turnaround in how they run their business, cut costs and develop fuel efficient yet exciting new vehicles.So, with that being said, today I bought 500 shares of Ford at $7.27.