The Model T Ford | Teen Ink

The Model T Ford

March 9, 2010
By 11coreya SILVER, Fullerton, California
11coreya SILVER, Fullerton, California
6 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game" Babe Ruth


The Model T Ford was the biggest innovative accomplishment of the 20’s. It made huge progress in the car industry. Production began in 1908 and lasted until 1927.

Henry Ford started the industry and lived by this quote-
"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 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."


-Henry Ford
This is one of the great quotes of the 20th century. This is how the companies of today should be run. The mentality that Ford had was a major reason that Ford was and is so successful.

The Model T was designed by Childe Harold Wills, Joseph A Galamb and Eugene Farkas. The car was a rear wheel drive and the engine was in the front. The car was filled with ethyl alcohol to make it run. The one problem was that at first it had trouble going up steep hills because it relied on gravity to move the fuel. The problem was solved by using a fuel pump to move the fuel.

At first the wheels were wooden artillery wheels which are just wooden wheels. Then they started using balloon tires which are a lot more like the kind of wheels we use today. It was just an inner-tube fitted into a wheel.

From 1908 to 1914 a customer could pick the color of his Model T. Then they changed to just black from 1914-1926. It is speculated that this was done because black dried much faster than other colors. It was also cheaper and more durable. Then they switched back to color picking in 1926 until the end of production in 1927.

When it first came out in 1909 one could buy a Model T Ford for $850, while other cars usually cost from $2,000-$3,000. In the pricing Ford stayed true to his goal of making a low price for the car and continued to show this. He lowered the price to $550 in 1913 and to $440 in 1915. Finally the price reached its bottom of $290 in the 20’s. All the price cuts were due to the constant decline in production cost. As time went on it became much easier and more cost efficient to produce them.

The Model T Ford escalated progress in American car making and put us a step ahead of the world.



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