Ford Model T

The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie and also the Flivver) was an automobile produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from 1908 through 1927. The Model T set 1908 as the historic year that the automobile came into popular usage. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, the car that "put America on wheels"; some of this was because of Ford's innovations, including assembly line production instead of individual hand crafting, as well as the concept of paying the workers a wage proportionate to the cost of the car, so that they would provide a ready made market.^[1] The first production Model T was built on September 27, 1908, at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.

There were several cars produced or prototyped by Henry Ford from the founding of the company in 1903 until the Model T came along. Although he started with the Model A, there were not 19 production models (A through T); some were only prototypes. The production model immediately before the Model T was the Ford Model S,^[2] an upgraded version of the company's largest success to that point, the Model N. The follow-up was the Ford Model A and not the Model U. Company publicity said this was because the new car was such a departure from the old that Henry wanted to start all over again with the letter A. As it happens, the first Plymouth car (1928), built by competitor Chrysler Corporation, was named the Model U.

The Ford Model T was named the world's most influential car of the twentieth century in an international poll. ^[3] Henry Ford said of the vehicle:

I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one - and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces.

Design changes

There were few major changes throughout the life of this model; early ones had a brass radiator and headlights. The horn and numerous small parts were also brass. Many of the early cars were open-bodied touring cars and runabouts, these being cheaper to make than closed cars. Prior to the 1911 model year (when front doors were added to the touring model), U.S.-made open cars did not have an opening door for the driver. Later models included closed cars (introduced in 1915),^[13] sedans, coupes and trucks. The chassis was available so trucks could be built to suit. Ford also developed some truck bodies for this chassis, designated the Model TT. The headlights were originally acetylene lamps made of brass (commonly using Prest-O-Lite tanks),^[14] but eventually the car gained electric lights.

The Model T originally employed some advanced technology, for example, its use of vanadium steel. Its durability was phenomenal with many Model Ts and their parts still in use 80 years later.

[edit] Colors

Henry Ford is commonly reputed to have made the statement "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black." Actually, Model Ts in different colors were produced from 1908 to 1914, and then again from 1926 to 1927. It is often stated that Ford chose black because the paint dried faster than other colored paints available at the time, and a faster drying paint would allow him to build cars faster since he would not have to wait as long for the paint to dry.

Over thirty different types of black paint were used on various parts of the Model T.^[15] These were formulated to satisfy the different means of applying the paint to the various parts, and they had distinct drying times, depending on the part, the paint, and the method of drying. Ford engineering documents suggest black was chosen because it was cheap and durable.

Price

The standard 5-seat open tourer of 1909 cost US$850 (about £180 at the time, equivalent to $20,300/£9,000 today),^[21] when competing cars often cost $2,000-$3,000 (equivalent to $48,000-$72,000 today);^{[citation needed]} in 1913, the price dropped to $550 (equivalent to $12,000 today), and $440 in 1915 (equivalent to $9,300 today). Sales were 69,762 in 1911, 170,211 in 1912, 202,667 in 1913, 308,162 in 1914, and 501,462 in 1915.^[22] In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.^[19]

By the 1920s, the price had fallen to $300 (equivalent to $3,200 today) because of increasing efficiencies of assembly line technique and volume. Henry employed vertical integration of the industries needed to create his cars. He specified how to make the wood crates that outside suppliers used to ship him parts. Then he disassembled the crates and used the preformed wood pieces in the bodies of his cars. He also used wood scraps to make charcoal and sold it under the brand name Kingsford, still a leading brand of charcoal.

[edit] First world car

The Ford Model T was the first automobile built by various countries simultaneously since they were being produced in Canada and in Manchester, England starting in 1911 and were later assembled in Germany, Argentina ,^[23] France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico and Japan.^[24]

Criticism

In a Time article by automotive critic Dan Neil, the Model T is listed as one of the 50 worst cars of all time. Neil blames the consequences of mass-produced automobiles on the Model T, including heavy pollution and war in the Middle East. Specific criticisms for the Model T itself are "blacksmithed body panels and crude instruments" and Neil refers to it as, "The Yugo of its day."^[27]