Hi this is Kelly from CARdataVideo. Today we're going to have a history lesson. Of all the automobiles that have ever been designed and built in the world there's one that stands out as most significant above them all and that's the Model T Ford.
The Model T introduced mass production and single-handedly brought us from a horse and buggy level of technology to one where we had machines that were run by gasoline engines. Using a moving assembly line, Henry Ford was able to build these things in about one tenth the time it took to build other vehicles by hand previous to the Model T. The Model T's were simple, they were rugged, they were cheap, and as Henry Ford used to say, you can have any color you want as long as it's black. When they were first introduced in 1909, they sold for $950, which doesn't sound like much to us today.
back then that was quite a lot of money. Henry Ford cleverly paid his employees five dollars a day which back then was a huge amount of money compared to other jobs that they could get. He also reduced their workday from nine to eight hours but again by doing that he could have three production shifts working and hence build cars around the clock.
All this was going on at a time of economic difficulty and transition And so the result of this is people would come from all over the country to get jobs working in Detroit at the auto factories. And of course their job of choice was with Ford. Production of the Model As went for 19 years from 1908 to 1928. And the last ones that were built weren't very much different from the very first ones that he originally produced. They had wooden spoked wheels with metal rims pressed on them. You can see here what they're doing is hand filing the spokes.
to make them smooth so they can be painted. The engine was a ridiculously simple, by today's standard and light, 177 cubic inch, which is 2.9 liter, four cylinder engine, which produced 20 horsepower. The vehicle weighed about 1200 pounds, depending on which body style you got, and would be good for about a 40 to 45 mile an hour top speed.
And it had two forward gears. the assembly line was split so that the frame and the wheels and tires and everything were assembled at one point and then the bodies were assembled separately and then at one point the body would be dropped onto the frame over the years an enormous number of body styles were created you had a touring car a roadster a roadster pickup a ton truck a closed cab ton truck a coupe a two-door a four-door a center door a station wagon and a convertible. Pretty versatile vehicle.
Eventually the Model T was replaced by a Model A which was a modernized stylized version of a vehicle that looked quite the same. Highland Park was the first modern assembly plant and it's where the Model T's were produced and just like today when they're done being assembled they're driven off the assembly line. But look at these vehicles as they come out.
Look at all the different body styles, many of which we read. And these are all just different versions of Model Ts. Finally, after 19 years of production, Henry Ford had actually built almost 15.5 million Model Ts. And they were by far the most popular and most plentiful vehicle on the road.
And here you can see the assembly of the 15 millionth, which is a four-door convertible model. And as you can see, they've added some paint colors other than just black. And that actually is Henry Ford there driving off the assembly line and driving in that 15 millionth Model T Ford. This particular one hadn't gone through final assembly quality control. You can see how Henry had to give a little nudge there to get it shut properly.
To start a Model T you had to hand crank it. But because the engine wasn't very big and it was low compression all it would take was about a half a turn and it would fire right up. Back then riding in a car was an occasion.
It was a big excursion. It was fun. Just the ride itself was quite entertaining. Keep in mind that going somewhere in a car was probably ten times faster than going by horse or buggy, which is what they were accustomed to before. Back then cities were just developing and most of the roads were terrible, especially the country roads.
And so the Model T had to be built in such a way where it could handle anything. all the way from no road to city roads and it actually did a very good job of that. Most of the country roads were mud roads or dirt roads and in the city there were no snow plows.
If it flooded you had to ford it and so you just had to deal with all the stuff and the Model T was miraculous at being able to handle almost any road condition you could imagine. So here you've got the original Ford Model T, the great great great grandparent of most every car you see on the road today. This is Kelly from Car Data Video.