1908 FORD Model T 2.9

Vehicle Overview

In 1999, an international jury elected the Ford Model T as the car of the century. It was another recognition of what that car represented in the motoring industry.

Apart from its over 15 million units sold, the Model T was more than just a car. It represented a new way of thinking, a new generation of managers, and in the end, a form of social justice. The Model T was affordable since it was the first vehicle built on an assembly line. In 1909, Henry Ford told his management team, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black,” due to the faster drying time of black paint in that era. But that happened only after 1913. Strangely, before that, there was no black Model T. Ford used the same chassis for many versions, most of them built in-house, not by other contractors as it was usual for those time to happen.

The car ran on a simple, straight chassis with a short wheelbase and a high ground clearance. Its think, wood-spoken wheels featured removable rubber tires to speed-up the production. Ford built most of the Model T with four doors, and the cabin was a single “bathtub” with doors, which was bolted on the chassis after the engine was already in place. Depending on the construction period, the hood featured a five-side design or a curved top. Up to 1915, Ford used carbide (oxyacetylene) headlights before switching to electrical lights.

But Model T was more than just a car. Customers transformed it in tractors to pull a plow, in fire engines, snowmobiles with tracks in the rear and skis in the front, railcars, and even a mobile church.