Ford Model T
Muscle · Ford
Ford Model T: The Car That Put America on Wheels
The Ford Model T is the car Ford built from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927, and it's generally regarded as the first car middle-class Americans could afford. Ford sold more than 15 million, a record that stood until the Volkswagen Beetle passed it in 1972.
Three engineers did most of the design work: Joseph A. Galamb, the main engineer, along with Eugene Farkas and Childe Harold Wills, with Henry Ford supervising. The car used a front-mounted 2.9-liter (177 cubic inch) four-cylinder making 20 hp, good for a top speed of 42 mph, and Ford quoted 13 to 21 mpg. It was built to run on gasoline but could also burn kerosene or ethanol. Its ignition ran off a low-voltage magneto in the flywheel, so it didn't need a battery to start. You cranked it by hand, since electric starting wasn't offered until 1919. The car got electric lights in 1915.
Driving one took some learning. The planetary transmission was sold as a "three speed," but one of those was reverse, so it was really a two-speed. Three floor pedals handled low gear, reverse, and the brake, a lever beside the seat worked with the left pedal, and the throttle was a lever on the steering wheel. The right pedal worked a brake inside the transmission, because there were no brakes on the wheels. The Model T was rear-wheel drive, and Ford also built a heavy-duty Model TT truck chassis with a worm-gear rear end.
Ford's moving assembly line started on October 7, 1913, and it kept pushing the price down, from $780 in 1910 to $290 in 1924. By 1925 Ford was building 9,000 to 10,000 a day. Henry Ford's line that buyers could have "any color" as long as it was black dates to 1909, but early cars actually came only in gray, green, blue, and red, and the black-only policy didn't start until 1914. Over its life the car used more than 30 kinds of black paint. People called it the "Tin Lizzie." Henry Ford watched the 15 millionth roll off the line at Highland Park, Michigan, on May 26, 1927, and its replacement was named Model A to signal a fresh start. In 1999 the Model T was named Car of the Century, ahead of the original Mini, the Citroën DS, and the Volkswagen Beetle.
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