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Mitch's 1924 Ford
Model T
1915
Ford Model T
Ford Model T 'Center Door'
Ford
Model T Touring Car
Ford
Model T
& Henry Ford
1916
Ford Model T Roadster
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All About
the Ford Model T
The Ford Model T was a car made in
the United States from 1908 to 1927 by the Ford Motor
Company. It was one of the most important cars ever
because it was one of the first that regular people
could afford, making travel much easier.
Henry Ford?s Model T first came out in 1908. It was
strong, dependable, and simple to drive. In 1913, it
became the first car to be made in a factory using a
moving assembly line, which helped make cars faster and
cheaper.
At its busiest, the factory made up to 10,000
cars a day! From 1914 to 1925, all Model Ts were black
because black paint dried the fastest, helping the
factory work quicker.
By the time Ford stopped making
the Model T in 1927, they had built 15 million of them - a
record that lasted until 1972, when the Volkswagen
Beetle took the top spot.
The Ford Model T
The car in this picture was made in
about 1915.
Henry Ford, who was he?
Here are 30 fun facts
about Henry Ford to help you learn about who he was and
why he was very important.
1
Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, on a farm
in Michigan.
2
His parents were William Ford from Ireland and
Mary Litogot from America. He was the oldest of
six kids.
3
As a boy, Henry loved taking things apart,
especially watches! He became a watch repairman.
4
In 1879, he left the farm to work as a machinist
in Detroit.
5
After finishing his apprenticeship, he returned
home and studied bookkeeping.
6
Henry worked with steam engines and became
interested in gasoline-powered cars.
7
In 1888, he married Clara Bryant, and they had
one son, Edsel, in 1893.
8
In 1891, Henry and his family moved to Detroit,
where he worked with electricity.
9
In 1896, he built his first car, the
Quadricycle, which had four bicycle wheels and a
small engine.
10
He sold the Quadricycle for $200 and later
started the Ford Motor Company in 1903.
11
At first, he made racing cars but soon realized
people needed affordable cars.
12
Several investors helped him start his company,
including the Dodge brothers.
13
To promote his cars, Henry Ford raced them and
became well-known.
14
The first Ford car was the Model A, introduced
in 1903, but it was expensive.
15
On October 1, 1908, Ford released the Model T,
also called the "Tin Lizzie."
16
The first Model T cars came in many colors, but
later, only black was used.
17
The Model T was easy to drive, cheap to fix, and
could go up to 45 mph.
18
It had a steering wheel on the left, three foot
pedals, and a hand lever.
19
The car could run on gasoline, kerosene, or
ethanol.
20
Early Model Ts had to be started by turning a
crank at the front.
21
The Model T became so popular that Ford had to
find a way to build them faster.
22
In 1914, he introduced the moving assembly line,
making production much quicker.
23
The Model T came in nine different body styles
but used the same engine.
24
Some styles included the roadster, coupe,
touring car, and town car.
25
By 1913, Ford was making 200,000 Model Ts each
year.
26
As production increased, the price dropped from
$825 to just $260 by 1924.
27
In 1914, Ford paid workers $5 a day - double the
usual wage - and reduced work hours.
28
By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model
Ts. By 1927, one was built every 30 seconds!
29
"Fordism" became a term for making cheap,
quality goods and paying workers enough to buy
them.
30
The Model T changed America, making cars
affordable for many. Henry Ford died on April 7,
1947, at 83.
Henry Ford
Fast, fun facts about Henry Ford and
the Model T:
● Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 in Dearborn,
Michigan and died April 7, 1947 at the age of 83. He was
a self-made man who became a world famous American
industrialist and the founder of the Ford Motor Company.
● The Ford Model T was made in nine different body
styles that were built with the same engine and
essentially the same chassis. The Ford Model T was the
first automobile that was mass-produced on moving
assembly lines with completely interchangeable parts.
● The colors of the first Model T cars were grey, green,
blue, and red - not black. In 1914 Henry Ford reduced
costs and durability by using black paint. The most
famous Henry Ford quote, made in a 1909 planning meeting
with his production team, was that in the future:
"Any customer can have a car painted any color that he
wants, so long as it's black!"
In 1896,
Henry Ford built his first car, the
Quadricycle, which had four bicycle wheels and a
small engine.
Why the Model T
was so Important
Before the Model T, cars were
really expensive. Only rich people could buy them, and
even the cars Henry Ford made before the Model T cost a
lot of money. The Model T was much cheaper - about $850. There was
another car made in 1903 called the Oldsmobile Curved
Dash, which was easy to buy, but it was slow and looked
more like a buggy than a real car.
Henry Ford got an idea from how meat was packed in
factories. Workers stood in a line, and the meat moved
from person to person to be cut. No one had ever used
this idea to build cars before! Ford realized that if he
built his cars this way instead of one at a time, he
could make them much faster and cheaper. That way, more
people could afford them, and he could even pay his
workers better.
The Model T was designed by Henry Ford, Childe Harolde
Wills, and two Hungarian engineers, J?zsef Galamb and
Eugene Farkas. It had a small but strong engine that
could make the car go up to 45 miles per hour (about as
fast as a bike going downhill). It also used gas very
efficiently - getting 14 to 21 miles per gallon, which is
still pretty good even today!
Mitch's 1924 Ford Model
T touring car
Fun Facts About
the Model T
Over 15 million
Model Ts were built, making it one of the most popular
cars ever! It held the record until 1971 when the
Volkswagen Beetle passed it. Today, the most-produced
car is the Toyota Corolla, with
over 40 million made.
People gave the Model T fun nicknames like
?Tin Lizzie? and ?Flivver.?
In 1928, the Model
T was replaced by a new car called the Ford
Model A.
Even
though the Model T was simple, it changed the world by
making cars something everyone
could own, not just rich people! 🚗💨
The
Beginning of the Model T
Henry Ford started building the
Model T on October 6, 1908, in a factory called the
Piquette Plant. People from all over the world wanted to
work for Ford because he paid them well. Some workers
even saved up to buy a Model T for themselves!
Over
time, the price of the car got lower, making it even
easier for people to afford.
The car was built on an assembly line. It started as
just a frame, called a chassis, at one end.
Each assembly line worker had one job to do,
they made just one part for the car. This
was called a 'sub-assembly'. In the pictures,
you can see the workers making wheels. As it moved
down the line, workers added different parts, and by the
time it reached the other end, it was a finished car!
There were different types of Model Ts, including a
truck version called the Model TT.
At first, the colors
of the first Model T cars were grey, green,
blue, and red - not black. Later on, because
black paint was the cheapest and dried the
fastest, the Model T was only painted
black.
When Ford first made the Model T, it took over 12 hours
to finish just one car. But as he built more factories
and improved the assembly line, he got so fast that by
the end, one Model T was made every 30 seconds!
Even though the Model T was cheap, Ford still used
strong materials to make it tough. Back then, most roads
were made of dirt, gravel, or even mud, so the Model T
had to be built to handle rough conditions. It had tall,
skinny wheels that could sink into muddy roads without
getting stuck. The car was also very simple, which made
it easy to fix if something broke.
Two factory workers install the engine into
a new Model T.
Each assembly line worker had one job to do,
they made just one part for the car. This
was called a 'sub-assembly'. In this picture
you can see the workers making wheels.
How to
Drive a Model T
Henry Ford made the Model T easy to drive because most
people back then only knew how to ride horses, not drive
cars. But even though the Model T was simple for its
time, it was very different from modern cars!
Starting the Car
The
first Model Ts didn?t have a key or a button to start
the engine like today?s cars. Instead, people had to
turn a crank on the front of the car by hand! This could
be dangerous because if the engine wasn?t set up
correctly, it could spin the wrong way and hurt the
person cranking it. Some people even broke their arms
doing this! Doctors called this injury the ?Ford
Fracture.? Later, Ford added electric starters so people
wouldn?t have to crank the car by hand.
How
to Make the Model T Move
The
Model T had three pedals on the floor, but they didn?t
work like today?s pedals:
The right pedal
was the brake.
The middle pedal
made the car go backward.
The left pedal
controlled the gears to switch between low
speed and high speed.
To
speed up the car, you didn?t press a gas pedal like in
modern cars. Instead, there were two levers near the
steering wheel:
The
right lever
controlled how fast the engine ran (the throttle, like
today?s gas pedal).
The
left lever
controlled when the spark plugs fired (this helped the
engine run smoothly).
To
start moving, the driver had to:
Push the left pedal all the way down to go
into low gear.
Move the right lever to speed up the
engine.
Once the car was rolling, let go of the
left pedal to switch to high gear.
To
stop the car, the driver pressed the brake
pedal and put
the gear lever in neutral (like
today?s parking brake).
Brakes and Speed
The
brakes on a Model T only worked on the back
wheels.
Modern cars have brakes on all four wheels, which makes
them stop faster and more safely. The Model T could go
up to 45 miles per hour, but
most roads back then were dirt or mud, so people usually
didn?t drive that fast. The wheels were tall and skinny
so they wouldn?t get stuck in the mud.
1. Pull the choke near the right side of
the car. Then, grab the crank handle at the
front and slowly turn it a little bit to the
right to help get fuel to the engine.
2. Get inside the car. Put the key in and
turn it to either "magneto" or "battery" mode.
Move the timing lever up to slow down the spark,
push the throttle lever down a little to set the
speed, and pull back the hand brake to make sure
the car is in neutral.
3. Go back to the front of the car. Use
your left hand to turn the crank handle (this
keeps your arm safer if the engine kicks back).
Give it a strong half-turn, and the engine
should start!
How the Model T Transmission Works
The Model T has a special way of changing
gears to make the car go forward, backward,
or stop. Let's break it down into simple
steps!
The Triple Gears
Are Team Players ? There are three
of them, and they always do the same
thing together.
The Brake Drum
Moves Like the Car ? If the car is
moving forward, backward, or not at all,
the brake drum does the same thing.
The Clutch Is for
High Gear ? The clutch is only
needed when the car is in high gear
(going fast).
Triple Gears Help
in Low and Reverse ? When the car is
in low gear (slow) or reverse (going
backward), these gears do the work.
Pedals Control
the Drums ? The low-speed and
reverse drums spin freely unless you
press a pedal to stop them.
What Happens When the
Car Is Stopped?
The car isn?t
moving, so the driveshaft (which
connects to the wheels) isn?t moving
either.
The engine keeps
running because some parts inside the
transmission can spin while others stay
still.
The brake drum, big
clutch discs, and driven gear are all
still, but the flywheel and some smaller
parts keep spinning.
If you press a
pedal, some of the spinning parts stop
to help the car move in the right gear.
That?s how the Model T?s
transmission works! It?s like a team of
gears, pedals, and spinning parts working
together to control the car. 🚗💨
Model T Transmission Simulator
Click the picture below to try out
the Model T Transmission Simulator.
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