Ford Model T

Sometimes amazing achievements are only acknowledged by the warmth of their afterglow rather than the fire of their presence. So it was with the Ford Model T, a car that  garnered legendary stature after its passing but during its lifespan got no respect.

To be fair, that disrespect grew as the car aged from its launch in 1908 to the cessation of its production in 1927. But even when it made its debut, many assumed the Model T was folly, because they could not imagine there was money to be made by selling a car so cheap.

(When it hit the public in the fall of 1908, the Chicago Cubs were in the process of winning a World Series and the Model T cost $825. By the time it went out of production in 1927,  the cost for a brand spanking new Model T roadster had plunged to $260.)

A new car for “everyman”

Henry Ford, the man who would become prodigiously rich from selling cheap cars, did have confidence in the Model T’s premise, however. In fact, his belief in small, light, “everyman’s” cars often put him at odds with business partners and investors in his various automotive ventures. At the turn of the century, the smart money said the way to make enormous profits in the car business was to build expensive vehicles for the favored few.

Oh well, Henry Ford was hardly one of the favored few. The son of an Irish immigrant, he grew up on a Michigan farm, knew  the machinist trade and went to work for the electric company in Detroit. By the end of 1893,  he had  reached  the elevated position of chief engineer.

Ford didn’t limit his engineering work to business hours either. Also in 1893, he designed and built a small  internal combustion engine and his long-suffering wife, Clara, allowed him to start it up in the kitchen. Three years after,  he completed work on his first automobile, a 2-cylinder-powered vehicle he named the “Quadricycle” because its wispy frame was fitted with bicycle wheels. Over the following few months, Ford would go cruising in the Quadricylce, wife and son, Edsel, by his side, andactually some of Detroit’s most prominent constituents took note and wanted to invest in a vehicle manufacturing operation.

Ford resigned from his current position with the Edison Illuminating Company, to become chief engineer of the Detroit Automobile Company. The new firm never had a clear  view  of what it wanted to do, however, and late in 1900 it  closed. Out of a job, Ford turned to auto racing and defeated auto pioneer Alexander Winton in a  legendary race run in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, on October 10, 1901.

First enterprise quagmire

The victory caused a groundswell that resulted in the creation of The Henry Ford Company, but its namesake, adamant about continuing to race, got sideways with the board of directors, who then employed Henry Leland as a consultant. Ford left the company soon after, and Leland, who took charge, built Cadillac. Later that same year (1902),  the Ford Motor Company was created, and Henry Ford was finally able to take command of his destiny.

After setting a speed record with his “999,” Ford set about the serious work of  manufacturing  a production car. His first such design, the aptly called Model A, was a harbinger of things to come. The small, buckboard-like vehicle used a  2-cylinder engine, rode on a 72-inch wheelbase and cost just $750.

A commercial success, the Model A was accused of  violating the Selden patent on automobiles, but Ford fought the patent forces vigorously and eventually defeated them in court. A succession of mild-selling, higher-priced vehicles followed the Model A, and it wasn’t till the  presentation of the Model T that Ford really put together the car that would deliver on his plan of a car for the working man.

Model T  enhancements

While the Model T would finally be viewed as old-fashioned as high-button shoes, when it crashed headlong into the American market in October 1908, it was innovative. Among its special characteristics were its planetary transmission,  the left-side mounting of its steering wheel and  the use of a detachable cylinder head. The two-forward-speeds-and-reverse transmission was operated by foot pedals, enabling, as Ford stated  in its literature, “the driver to stop, start, change speeds or reverse the car, without removing the hands from the steering wheel.”

The 4-cylinder engine was ruggedly  plain. Its crankcase and  block  were cast as a piece, and the detachable head made service easy. Of course, the engine was started by hand-cranking, while a magneto in the flywheel offered electricity for ignition. Reliable as red brick, the 177-cubic-inch Model T engine produced 22 horsepower at 1600 rpm and supplied better than 20 mile-per-gallon fuel economy.

The chassis of the Model T was simply  as rugged as the engine. While a lot of  cars of the day still used wooden parts in their chassis, the Model T’s frame and running gear was fashioned from vanadium- and heat-treated steel. With a 100-inch wheelbase, the standard  Model T weighed about 1,200 pounds and offered more than 10 inches of ground clearance. It was  perfect to do combat with America’s vast network of  unpaved, unimproved roads.

Really, only in black?

Several body styles were offered, but it is not hard  to guess why the 5-6-passenger touring car was the most popular–at $850 it cost just $25 more than the  3-seat runabout. Contrary to legend, the Model T wasn’t  just  available in black. Early versions were available in a variety of body colors complemented by black fenders.

The Model T wasn’t just a swift  hit in the marketplace; it transformed the marketplace. To keep up with demand, Ford had to invent new production  tricks, culminating in 1914 with the invention of the moving assembly line. Where the time to produce one Model T had once been more than 10 hours, the assembly line cut that time to only 93 minutes.

When the production results for 1914 were totaled, Ford Motor Company had produced  308,162 Model T’s, 56 percent of all U.S. production. And Ford had  created  more than one-half of the nation’s new cars with just one-sixth of its automotive workforce. To add fuel to the revolution he was creating, Ford increased the minimum day’s salary  in his factories to $5, about double the going rate and he cut working hours from 10 to eight. There was process  to Henry Ford’s madness. He wanted to ensure that the American working guy could also afford the cars he was building.

By 1919,  Ford Motor Company had created  its 3 millionth Model T, and the momentum was continuing to build. After weathering a recession in 1920, Ford’s  annual  production climbed to 900,000 units in 1921 and topped 1 million-a-year in 1922, 1923, 1924, and 1925.

But by 1926,  the industry had  started to catch up with the aging Model T. That year,  sales dipped 17 percent and rumors began to circulate that a replacement model was near. In 1927, after an incredible production run of more than 15,485,000 Ford’s factories bidded  good-bye to the Model T. It was a car that, more than any other, defined what the world’s car industry would be.

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Filed under: Top Classic Cars