Ford Model T

The Ford Model T is an American automobile manufactured by Ford between 1908 and 1927.

Henry Ford designed the Model T as reliable, affordable transportation for ordinary buyers, and retail sales began in October 1908. Workers first assembled the cars by hand at the Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit, Michigan, before production moved to Highland Park in 1910. There, on October 7, 1913, Ford started the moving assembly line, which cut the time to build a car from 12.5 hours to 93 minutes by 1914. The car came in several body styles, including five-seat touring cars, two-seat runabouts, and closed sedans. Americans called it the Tin Lizzie.

Early cars were painted gray, green, blue, or red; from 1914 to 1925 Ford offered them only in black. Production abroad began in Walkerville, Canada, and Trafford Park, England, in 1911, and after World War I assembly spread to Germany, Argentina, France, Brazil, Australia, and Japan. By 1918, half of all cars on the road in the United States were Model Ts. In December 1999, an international jury of automotive journalists and historians voted the Model T the Car of the Century in Las Vegas, ahead of the Mini and the Citroën DS.

A 2.9-liter inline four-cylinder engine produced 15 kW (20 hp) and gave a top speed of 68 km/h (42 mph) through a two-speed planetary transmission worked by floor pedals. United States production ended on May 26, 1927, after more than 15 million cars, and the last Model T was built at the plant in Cork, Ireland, in December 1927.