The Ford Model T is by far one of the most important vehicles in history. So much so it was actually voted as the most influential car of the twentieth century. The iconic automobile was first produced back in October 1908 and the last one rolled off the production line on the 26th of May 1927.
Let's take a closer look at this iconic Ford car.
A Car For The Masses
During it's production, an astonishing 15 million units were produced at plants all around the USA between Michigan and Texas, California and New York as well as in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. At the height of it’s production a new Model T left the factory floor every 3 minutes!
The Model T was considered to be affordable at the time and made owning a car a luxury many Middle class Americans could enjoy. Initially the T was priced at around $825 but as production methods were improved and labour costs were reduced the price of the car was reflected in the savings picked up by Ford and in 1925 a brand new Model would have set you back $260.
A considerable saving compared to earlier models, but when you consider that by this point a T only took 93 minutes to assemble, compared to the 12 and half hours the original cars took to build, it is easy to see where the savings were made on production.
Check out Jay Leno’s T
So why was it named the Model T? Well, the story behind that is much simpler than you might think. Throughout the development process, Henry Ford named his first design the model A and simply worked his way through the alphabet with each new design. It really was as simple as that, making design number 20 the Model T.
Not all of the cars conceived and designed by Ford before the T ever made it to production, the most notable predecessor to the T was the Model N. Ford then effectively reset the clock after the Model T as it was succeeded by the Model A. This was, according to Ford, because the new car was such a departure from the old one, it seemed right to start from the letter A.
Project Pending
Of the 15 million cars produced worldwide, they all came in a single colour. Black. Henry Ford was famously quoted as saying “ Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.” Somewhat later in their lifespan, once production had ended, model T’s also became popular with hot rodders, meaning black was certainly out and an array of custom paint colours and designs were in.
Those that weren’t saved by car customisers have been lost to rust or parted out, you can still get your hands on one though, although this entirely depends on what you want to do with it and how much you are willing to spend. Check out our price guide below, you don’t need to look far for inspiration though, a car with this kind of history has been subjected to almost any modification you could think of, so the question is do you restore it to it’s former glory or go all out and start chopping it up!