Asthe 19th century rolled into the 20th, a young entrepreneur named Henry Fordboasted, I will build a car for the great multitude.He tried and tried, naming each of his models of what was thencalled the horseless carriage after a succeeding letter in the Roman alphabet.
Ittook 20 models ? 20 of the 26 letters.But in 1908, 100 years ago this year, he achieved his goal.
The20-horsepower Model T, the first automobile to be mass-produced withinterchangeable parts on an assembly line, was eminently affordable.A stripped-down model with no top,windshield, or gas lamps cost $850 ? less than half what comparable carscost.
Theassembly-line idea was borrowed from a dis-assembly line ? the production lineat meatpacking plants where animal carcasses were cut apart as they moved downa conveyor belt.The process ofbuilding Model T's was streamlined further, and soon Ford was turning out anunheard-of 100 Model T's a day.
Hewas able to cut the selling price in half, to about $500.Just about any working American could affordthat.
TheModel T proved so dependable that people called it the Tin Lizzie. Lizzie was apopular nickname back then for a reliable house servant.And this servant on wheels drove Americansplaces many of them had never ventured.
HenryFord is often quoted as saying that any customer can have a car painted anycolor that he wants, so long as it is black.Most Model T's were covered in black paint, which for some reason wascheaper and dried faster.But othercolors could be ordered.
Bythe time the last Model T rolled off the assembly line in 1927, Ford had soldmore than 15 million of the reliable cars in the United States alone.And at antique automobile shows ? especiallythis centennial year ? thousands of old, carefully polished and preserved TinLizzies survive as the symbol of an entire era: the Automotive Age.
