Ford Model T

Click Model T Kit - Large image to view an enlarged version of the image.

This man seems to be assembling a Ford Model T from a kit. The photo is not dated, but probably dates from about the 1950s. By then, the Ford Motor Company had long ceased to produce Model Ts. The car continued to attract aficionados, however, as indeed it does today - 100 years after its creation!

The first production Model T was completed Sept. 27, 1908, at Ford's Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit. The Michigan State Historic Preservation Office has placed an historical marker on the site. (Click Piquette Avenue Plant Marker for more information. ) In April 2000, the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex, Inc. (or T-Plex) was established to preserve the facility (Click T-Plex to visit the T-Plex Web site.)

It's been said that the Model T "put America on wheels." It's not an idle boast. Most of Ford's contemporary competitors built automobiles for the wealthy. Henry Ford wanted a car that the average American could afford. The Model T initially sold for $850. The price continued to drop as Ford's assembly line technology improved production efficiency. According to Willis F. Dunbar and George S. May's third revised edition of Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State (Click Dunbar and May to view the Library of Michigan's ANSWER catalog record.), a Model T touring car cost only $360 by 1916.

The Model T also proved remarkably easy to maintain. Dunbar and May note, for example, that it "was so easy to repair that almost anyone could fix something ... with a pair of pliers and a screwdriver." Gasoline seldom proved an onerous expense, either. On page 45 of The Ford Century (click Banham for the ANSWER record) author Russ Bahnam notes that the Model T averaged twenty-five miles per gallon - with a gallon of gas typically costing only twenty cents!

The Ford Motor Company produced over 15 million Model Ts between 1908 and 1927. According to The Henry Ford of Dearborn, Mich., the Volkswagen Beetle is the only model with a greater production record! (Click The Henry Ford to access The Henry Ford's special Model T Web site.) Truly, the Model T is an American institution - and a car that changed the course of history!

-Bob Garrett, Archivist
E-mail:garrettr1@michigan.gov

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Archives of Michigan
Michigan Library and Historical Center
702 W. Kalamazoo Street
Lansing, MI 48913
Phone: (517) 373-1408
E-mail: archives@michigan.gov

This page is the Archives Image of the Month page for September 2008.