The Tin Lizzie put ordinary American families behind the wheel
Within two days of the Model T's release, Ford had 15,000 orders. Earlier cars were scarce, costly and temperamental; this one was reliable, easy to fix and kept getting cheaper, falling from $780 in 1910 to $290 in 1924 as moving assembly lines and interchangeable parts squeezed out cost.
The design came from a small team led by Hungarian immigrant Joseph Galamb, working with Eugene Farkas and Childe Harold Wills while Henry Ford supervised. The first production car left the Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit on September 27, 1908. Ford had worked through the alphabet from his first Model A, and the letter T landed on the machine that would define the company.
Mechanically it was odd even then. A 2.9-litre four-cylinder engine produced 20 horsepower and a top speed of 42 mph, and it could burn kerosene or ethanol as well as petrol. Ignition came from a low-voltage magneto built into the flywheel, so no battery was needed to crank it by hand, and electric starting did not arrive until 1919. Drivers juggled three floor pedals for low gear, reverse and a transmission brake; there were no brakes on the wheels themselves. The throttle was a lever on the steering column.
To prove its toughness, Ford twisted front axles of vanadium steel through eight full turns and sent them to dealers to display. Tall, flexible transverse springs let the wheels ride out rutted dirt roads, and more than 30 companies sold extra gearboxes to add ratios for hills, heavy loads or speed.
Production stopped on May 26, 1927, the day car number 15 million came off the Highland Park line with Henry Ford looking on. The engine lived on for replacement, stationary and marine use until 1941. The Model T held the all-time sales record until the Volkswagen Beetle passed it in 1972, and in 1999 it was voted the most influential car of the 20th century.
Source: Ford Model T
