Ford T-Model

Properties

Specific

This Ford Model T offered to you by Classic Park was first registered in 1924. It has a two seater hardtop coupe body style and is finished in typical Model T black.

A famous saying by Henry Ford was ‘You can have the Model T in any color you want, as long as it’s black.’ Some research shows that this is not completely true. When the Model T was introduced in 1908 several colors were available, but Ford’s engineers spotted that the black paint dried much quicker than any of the other colors. That is why from 1914 on the Model T was only available in black. From 1926, in the final years of production, color options were available once more.

The car is in nice condition and is fitted with an original 2.9L four cylinder engine and an original 2-speed manual transmission. The unique thing about this gearbox is that it works like an automatic. The left pedal keeps the car in low gear when the pedal is pressed down and shifts the car into high gear once the pedal is let up. The middle pedal is for the reverse gear, which is engaged when the pedal is pushed down. The right pedal is for the brake which is mounted inside the transmission. There was no throttle pedal, instead the throttle was managed on a handle behind the steering wheel.

This Model T is fitted with wooden wheels and these give the car a very authentic look. The car also has a sunvisor above the windscreen.

Roadworthy Model T’s are quite rare, despite the total production values. In 2008, it was estimated that only 50.000-60.000 roadworthy Model T’s exist.
The car has a inactive Dutch registration and offers a very authentic driving experience for relatively little money.

General

The Ford Model T was introduced in 1908 as the twentieth model designed by Ford since its start in 1903. It started in 1903 with the Ford Model A and followed the alphabet to the Model T in 1908. Not all twenty models were really put into production, but were more often than not adaptations of another model. The Model T did signify a major change for Ford. The car was meant as the transport for the great multitudes, affordable and easy to maintain. Everyone should be able to afford such a car but this meant prices had to be kept to a minimum. The most expensive aspect of a car is always the labor and the time involved in this. Ford found the solution to this problem in the rigid assembly line.

The Ford Model T is often called the first mass produced car, but this isn’t technically true. The first mass produced car on an assembly line was the Oldsmobile Curved Dash from 1901. The idea of an assembly line can be traced back to Ransom E. Olds, founder and owner of Oldsmobile. Eventually 19.000 Curved Dash’s were produced, which was a significant amount for that time. It has to be said that the later achieved efficiency was purely down to Ford and his engineers, who were constantly busy trying to improve upon the process.

In the first 2 years of production the old Ford factory could barely handle the demand. In the first month only 11 Model T’s were made and at the end of 1910 only 12.000 Model T’s had been produced. Ford decided that a new factory, especially designed for a rigid assembly line, was necessary This was a great success. While using less manpower, Ford decreased production time per car from 12,5 hours in 1910 to 93 minutes in 1914. In 1914 Ford produced more cars than all other car manufacturers combined.

The car was a great success and by the time Ford had produced it’s 10 millionth car, half of all the cars in the world were Ford’s. The car was so well known that between 1917 and 1923 Ford decided not to spend any money advertising the Model T, because that was unnecessary. The Model T had become the benchmark. Overall more than 15 million T-Fords were made with 9.000 to 10.000 cars produced every day (!) in 1925 or 2 million cars per year. I would take until 1972 for the total amount of Model T’s produced to be trumped by the Volkswagen Beetle.

Henry Ford was convinced that the Model T was everything a consumer would need and despite very subtle changes the car was barely changed in the 19 years it was produced. When Ford realized that the competition could offer more in terms of comfort and styling it was decided to end Model T production in 1927. Ford had developed a new model, the Model A, named A instead of U because Henry Ford thought it was such a different car to the Model T that he wanted to start at the front of the alphabet again. In 1927 production ended and the factory was changed to fit the Model A specifications.

In 1999 the Model T was named as the Most Influencial Car of the 20th Century ahead of the BMC Mini, Citroen DS and Volkswagen Beetle. Ford's Model T was successful not only because it provided inexpensive transportation on a massive scale, but also because the car signified innovation for the rising middle class and became a powerful symbol of America's age of modernization. With more than 15 million sold it stands eighth on the top ten list of most sold cars of all time as of 2012.