The Ford Model T car was designed by
Childe Harold Wills and two Hungarian immigrants,
Joseph A. Galamb and Eugene Farkas. Henry Love, C. J. Smith, Gus Degner and
Peter E. Martin were also part of the team. While production of the Model T began in the autumn of 1908, model years range from 1909 to 1927.
Engine and means of starting
The Model T had a 177-cubic-inch (2.9 L) front mounted
inline four-cylinder en bloc engine (that is, all four in one block, as common now, rather than in individual castings, as common then) producing 20 hp (15 kW) for a top speed of 40–45 mph (64–72 km/h). The Model T four-cylinder sidevalve engine was first in the world with a detachable head, making service like valve jobs easier. According to Ford Motor Company, the Model T had fuel economy on the order of 13 to 21 mpg (5 to 9 kilometres per litre or 11.1 to 18.7 litres per 100 km). The engine was capable of running on
petrol,
kerosene, or
ethanol,
although the decreasing cost of petrol and the later introduction of
Prohibition made ethanol an impractical fuel.
A flywheel
magneto was an electrical generator that produced the high voltage necessary to produce a sufficiently high energy spark to initiate combustion. This voltage was distributed by the timer (analogous to a
distributor in a modern vehicle) to one of the four
trembler coils, one for each cylinder. The coil created a high voltage current, directly connected to the spark plug in the firing cylinder. Ignition timing was adjusted manually by using the spark advance lever mounted on the steering column which rotated the timer. A battery could be used for starting current: at hand-cranking speed, the magneto did not always produce sufficient current (but a starting battery was not standard equipment until sometime in 1926, though all T's had a bat position on the coil box switch). A certain amount of skill and experience was required to find the optimal timing for any speed and load. When electric headlights were introduced in 1915, the magneto was upgraded to supply power for the lights and horn. In keeping with the goal of ultimate reliability and simplicity, the trembler coil and magneto ignition system was retained even after the car became equipped with a generator and battery for electric starting and lighting. Most cars sold after 1919 were equipped with electric starting, which was engaged by a small round button on the floor in front of the driver's seat.
Before starting a Model T with the
hand crank, the spark had to be manually retarded or the engine might "kick back". The crank handle was cupped in the palm, rather than grabbed with the thumb under the top of the handle, so that if the engine did kick back, the rapid reverse motion of the crank would throw the hand away from the handle, rather than violently twisting the wrist or breaking the thumb. Most Model T Fords had the choke operated by a wire emerging from the bottom of the radiator where it could be operated with the left hand. This was used to prime the engine while cranking the engine slowly then starting the engine with the left hand with a rapid pull of the crank handle. The car only had to be cranked half a turn for it to successfully start up. This "quick start" is because the engine was small and it was low compression.
The car's 10 U.S. gallon (38-litre) fuel tank was mounted to the frame beneath the front seat; one variant had the
carburetor (a
Holley Model G) modified to run on
ethyl alcohol, to be made at home by the self-reliant farmer. Because Ford relied on gravity to feed fuel to the carburetor, rather than a fuel pump, a Model T could not climb a steep hill when the fuel level was low. The immediate solution was often to drive up steep hills in reverse. In 1926, the fuel tank was moved forward to under the cowl on most models.
Early on, the engine blocks were to be produced by the
Lakeside Foundry on St. Jean in Detroit. Ford cancelled the deal before many were produced.
The first few hundred Model Ts had a water pump, but it was eliminated early in production. Ford opted for a cheaper and more reliable thermo-syphon system. Hot water, being less dense, would rise to the top of the engine and up into the top of the radiator, descending to the bottom as it cooled, and back into the engine. This was the direction of water flow in most cars which did have water pumps, until the introduction of
crossflow radiator designs. Many types of water pumps were available as aftermarket accessories.
Transmission and drivetrain
1925 Ford "New Model" T Tudor Sedan
The Model T was a
rear-wheel drive vehicle. Its transmission was a
planetary gear type billed as "three speed". In today's terms it would be considered a two-speed, because one of the three speeds was actually reverse.
The Model T's transmission was controlled with three foot pedals and a lever that was mounted to the road side of the driver's seat. The throttle was controlled with a lever on the steering wheel. The left pedal was used to engage the gear. With the handbrake in either the mid position or fully forward and the pedal pressed and held forward the car entered low gear. When held in an intermediate position the car was in neutral, a state that could also be achieved by pulling the floor-mounted lever to an upright position. If the lever was pushed forward and the driver took his foot off the left pedal, the Model T entered high gear, but only when the handbrake lever was fully forward. The car could thus cruise without the driver having to press any of the pedals. There was no separate clutch pedal.
The middle pedal was used to engage reverse gear, and the right pedal operated the transmision brake. The floor lever also controlled the parking brake, which was activated by pulling the lever all the way back. This doubled as an emergency brake.
Although it was extremely uncommon, the drive bands could fall out of adjustment, allowing the car to creep, particularly when cold, adding another hazard to attempting to start the car: a person cranking the engine could be forced backward while still holding the crank as the car crept forward even though it was nominally in neutral. As the car utilised a
wet clutch, this condition could also occur in cold weather where the thickened cold oil acts somewhat like an adhesive and prevents the clutch discs from slipping freely. Power reached the
differential through a single
universal joint attached to a
torque tube which drove the rear axle; some models (typically trucks, but available for cars as well) could be equipped with an optional two speed Ruckstell rear axle shifted by a floor mounted lever which provided an underdrive gear for easier hill climbing. All gears were
vanadium steel running in an oil bath.
Suspension and wheels
The suspension components of a Ford Model T. The coil-spring device is an aftermarket accessory, the "Hassler shock absorber".
Model T suspension employed a transversely mounted semi-elliptical spring for each of the front and rear axles, which was a solid beam axle, not an
independent suspension, which still allowed a great deal of wheel movement to cope with the dirt roads of the time.
The front axle was
drop forged as a single piece of vanadium steel. Ford twisted many axles eight times and sent them to dealers to be put on display to demonstrate its superiority. The Model T did not have a modern service brake. The right foot pedal applied a band around a drum in the transmission, thus stopping the rear wheels from turning. The previously mentioned parking brake lever operated
band brakes on the outside of the rear brake drums.
Wheels were wooden
artillery wheels, with steel welded-spoke wheels available in 1926 and 1927.
Tires were
pneumatic clincher type, 30 in (76 cm) in diameter, 3.5 in (8.9 cm) wide in the rear, 3 in (7.5 cm) wide in the front. Clinchers needed much higher pressure than today's tires, typically 60 psi (4.1 bar), to prevent them from leaving the rim at speed. Horseshoe nails on the roads, together with the high pressure, made flat tires a common problem.
Balloon tires became available in 1925. They were 21x4.5 in (53x11.4 cm) all around. Balloon tires were closer in design to today's tires, with steel wires reinforcing the tire bead, making lower pressure possible – typically 35 psi (2.4 bar) – giving a softer ride. The old nomenclature for tire size changed from measuring the outer diameter to measuring the rim diameter so 21" (rim diameter) × 4.50 (tire width) wheels has about the same outer diameter as 30 in (76 cm) clincher tires. All tires in this time period used an
inner tube to hold the pressurised air; "tubeless" tires were not generally in use until much later.
Wheelbase was 99 inches (250 cm); while standard tread width was 56 in (142 cm), 60 in (152 cm) tread could be obtained on special order, "for Southern roads".
Design changes
Early Ts had a brass radiator and headlights. The horn and numerous small parts were also brass. Many of the early cars were open-bodied
touring cars and runabouts, these being cheaper to make than closed cars. Prior to the 1911 model year (when front doors were added to the touring model), U.S.-made open cars did not have an opening door for the driver. Later models included closed cars (introduced in 1915), sedans, coupes and trucks. The chassis was available so trucks could be built to suit. Ford also developed some truck bodies for this chassis, designated the
Model TT. The headlights were originally
acetylene lamps made of brass (commonly using
Prest-O-Lite tanks), but eventually the car gained electric lights after 1910, initially powered from the magneto until the electrical system was upgraded to a battery, generator and starter motor, when lighting power was switched to the battery source.
The
Model T production system, the epitome of
Fordism, is famous for representing the rigidity of early mass production systems that were wildly successful at achieving efficiency but that could accommodate changes in product design only with great difficulty and resistance. The story is more complicated; there were few major, publicly visible changes throughout the life of the model, but there were many smaller changes. Most were driven by
DFM considerations, but styling and new features also played more of a role than commonly realised. In fact, one of the problems for the company regarding design changes was that the T's reputation for not changing and being "already correct", which Henry Ford enjoyed and which was a selling point for many customers, made it risky to admit any changes actually were happening. (The idea of simply refining a design without making radical visible changes would resurface, and score even greater production success, with the
VW Type 1.)
Colors
By 1918, half of all the cars in the US were Model T’s. However it was a monolithic bloc; Ford wrote in his autobiography that he told his management team in 1909 that in the future “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black”.
However, in the first years of production from 1908 to 1914, the Model T was not available in black but rather only grey, green, blue, and red. Green was available for the touring cars, town cars, coupes, and Landaulets. Grey was only available for the town cars, and red only for the touring cars. By 1912, all cars were being painted midnight blue with black fenders. It was only in 1914 that the "any color as long as it is black" policy was finally implemented. It is often stated that Ford suggested the use of black from 1914 to 1926 due to the cheap cost and durability of black paint. During the lifetime production of the Model T, over 30 different types of black paint were used on various parts of the car. These were formulated to satisfy the different means of applying the paint to the various parts, and had distinct drying times, depending on the part, paint, and method of drying.
Diverse applications in a world not yet widely paved, motorised, or electrified
When the Model T was designed and introduced, the infrastructure of the world was quite different from today's. Pavement was a rarity except for sidewalks and a few big-city streets. (The sense of the term "pavement" as equivalent with "sidewalk" comes from that era, when streets and roads were generally dirt (mud during rainy periods) and sidewalks were a paved way to walk down them without getting one's feet and legs dirty. In fact, this was a motive for segregating foot traffic from carriage traffic long before the speed of automobiles provided another motive.) Agriculture was still the occupation of a large percentage of people.
Power tools were scarce outside factories, as were any power sources to run them from;
electrification, like pavement, was to be found only in some places, usually larger towns and cities.
Rural electrification and motorised
mechanisation were embryonic in North America and Europe, and nonexistent elsewhere.
Henry Ford oversaw the
requirements and design of the Model T based on the realities of that (now often forgotten) world. Consequently, the Model T was (intentionally) almost as much a
tractor and
stationary engine as it was (what we would now call) an automobile, that is, a vehicle dedicated solely to road use. It has always been well regarded for its all-terrain abilities and ruggedness. It could drive down a rocky, muddy farm lane,
ford a shallow stream, climb a steep hill, and be parked on the other side to have one of its wheels removed and a
pulley fastened to the hub for a
flat belt to drive a
bucksaw,
thresher,
silo blower,
conveyor for filling
corn cribs or
haylofts,
baler, water pump (for
wells,
mines, or swampy farm fields),
electrical generator, and countless other applications.
During this era, entire automobiles (including thousands of Model Ts) were even hacked apart by their industrious owners and reconfigured into custom machinery permanently dedicated to a purpose, such as
homemade tractors, ice saws, or many others. Dozens of
aftermarket companies even sold
prefab kits to facilitate the T's conversion from car to tractor. In a world mostly without mechanised
cultivators, Model Ts filled quite a vacuum, as
row-crop tractors such as the
Farmall did not become widespread until the 1930s. Like many popular car engines of the era, the Model T engine was also used on home-built aircraft (such as the
Pietenpol Air Camper) and
motorboats.
Production
Mass production
The knowledge and skills needed by a factory worker were reduced to 84 areas. When introduced, the T used the building methods typical at the time, assembly by hand, and production was small. Ford's Piquette plant could not keep up with demand for the Model T, and only 11 cars were built there during the first full month of production. More and more machines were used to reduce the complexity within the 84 defined areas. In 1910, after assembling nearly 12,000 Model Ts, Henry Ford moved the company to the new
Highland Park complex.
As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in three-minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, reducing production time by a factor of eight (requiring 12.5 hours before, 93 minutes afterwards), while using less manpower.
[28] By 1914, the
assembly process for the Model T had been so streamlined it took only 93 minutes to assemble a car. That year Ford produced more cars than all other automakers combined. The Model T was a great commercial success, and by the time Henry made his 10 millionth car, 50 percent of all cars in the world were Fords. It was so successful that Ford did not purchase any advertising between 1917 and 1923; more than 15 million Model Ts were manufactured, reaching a rate of 9,000 to 10,000 cars a day in 1925, or 2 million annually,
more than any other model of its day, at a price of just $240 (equivalent to $2,696 today). Model T production was finally surpassed by the
Volkswagen Beetle on February 17, 1972.
Henry Ford's ideological approach to Model T design was one of getting it right and then keeping it the same; he believed the Model T was all the car a person would, or could, ever need. As other companies offered comfort and styling advantages, at competitive prices, the Model T lost market share.
Design changes were not as few as the public perceived, but the idea of an unchanging model was kept intact. Eventually, on May 26, 1927, Ford Motor Company ceased production and began the changeovers required to produce the
Model A.
Model T engines continued to be produced until August 4, 1941. Almost 170,000 were built after car production stopped, as replacement engines were required to service already produced vehicles. Racers and enthusiasts, forerunners of modern hot rodders, used the Model T's block to build popular and cheap racing engines, including
Cragar,
Navarro, and famously the
Frontenacs ("Fronty Fords") of the
Chevrolet brothers, among many others.
The Model T employed some advanced technology, for example, its use of
vanadium steel (an alloy). Its durability was phenomenal, and many Model Ts and their parts are still in running order nearly a century later. Although Henry Ford resisted some kinds of change, he always championed the advancement of materials engineering, and often mechanical engineering and industrial engineering.
In 2002, Ford built a final batch of six Model Ts as part of their 2003 centenary celebrations. These cars were assembled from remaining new components and other parts produced from the original drawings. The last of the six was used for publicity purposes in the UK.
Price
The standard 4-seat open tourer of 1909 cost $850
(equivalent to $20,709 today), when competing cars often cost $2,000–$3,000 (equivalent to $48,726–$73,089 today);
[citation needed] in 1913, the price dropped to $550 (equivalent to $12,181 today), and $440 in 1915 (equivalent to $9,521 today). Sales were 69,762 in 1911; 170,211 in 1912; 202,667 in 1913; 308,162 in 1914; and 501,462 in 1915.
In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.
By the 1920s, the price had fallen to $290 (equivalent to $3,289 today) because of increasing efficiencies of assembly line technique and volume. Henry employed
vertical integration of the industries needed to create his cars.
Ford used wood scraps from the production of Model T's to create charcoal. Originally named Ford Charcoal the name was changed to Kingsford Charcoal after Ford's relative E. G. Kingsford brokered the selection of the new charcoal plant site.
First global car
The Ford Model T was the first automobile built by various countries simultaneously since they were being produced in
Walkerville, Canada and in
Trafford Park,
Greater Manchester, England starting in 1911 and were later assembled in
Germany,
Argentina,
[35] France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan.
[36] Ford made use of the
knock-down kit concept almost from the beginning of the company.
Since then, company cars, driven by the best drivers, have racked up over 5,000 successes on race tracks and roads all over the world, creating a legend. The most important achievements have been 9 Formula 1 Drivers’ World titles, 14 Manufacturers’ World titles, 8 Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championships, 9 wins at the Le Mans 24 Hours race, 8 at the Mille Miglia, 7 at the Targa Florio, and, up to the end of 1997, 113 wins in Formula 1 Grands Prix.
