The Ford Model T (colloquially
known as the Tin Lizzie, Flivver, T‑Model Ford, or T) is an
automobile that
was produced by
Henry Ford's
Ford Motor Company
from 1908 through 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable
automobile, the
car that opened travel to the common
middle-class
American; some of
this was because of Ford's innovations, including
assembly line
production instead of individual hand crafting. The Ford Model T was
named the world's most influential
car of the 20th century
in an international poll.
The Model T set 1908 as the historic year that
the automobile became popular. The first production Model T was produced
on August 12, 1908 and left the factory on
September 27, 1908, at the
Piquette Plant in
Detroit, Michigan.
On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford watched the 15 millionth Model T Ford roll
off the assembly line at his factory in
Highland Park, 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
Model S, 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 Model U.
The Model T was the first automobile
mass produced on
assembly lines with completely
interchangeable parts,
marketed to the
middle class.[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 so 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."
09062011
|