On This Day: First Ford Model T assembled in Detroit

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Before 1908, automobiles were generally unreliable, inefficient and unaffordable.

That changed when Henry Ford introduced the Ford Model T. The first one left the factory on Sept. 27, 1908 -- a paltry 116 years ago -- but it wasn’t available to the public until the following month. Nineteen years later, production halted as Ford watched the 15 millionth Model T roll off the assembly line.

To say the Model T was eagerly anticipated was an understatement. But it’s all relative. One advertisement for the Model T back in 1908 touted that the car could travel “1 to 45 mph” and others extolled the Model T’s long-lasting capability.

“It has speed if you want speed, forty of fifty miles an hour if you need it,” read a post in the Gloucester County (N.J.) Times. “It has power; there isn’t a hill in the country that this car with its load will not climb. If you want endurance, long life, the Model T’s useful life, with ordinary care, will extend five or six years.

“If you desire economy of maintenance, this car will travel more miles, more days for less money than any other touring car manufactured.”

The price was another asset. Because the Model T was mass produced, it was first sold at between $825 and $850. By 1924, a Model T could be had for $290, the equivalent of around $5,000 today.

The Model T followed the Model S, which was similar, unsurprisingly, to the Model R and included extras such as a convertible top, gas lamps and umbrella holders.

The Model T came along and changed the game, though. In spite of its low prices, the car featured a 4-cylinder engine, 30-inch tires, a newly designed transmission and 10 gallons of fuel capacity. Ford wanted the Model T to be affordable, easy to operate and durable. He tested it himself by taking it on a hunting trip to Wisconsin and Michigan.

It was designed by Childe Harold Willis, Joseph A. Galamb and Eugene Farkas. The Model T was the most sold car in history before being surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle in 1972. The car came in various colors, lacked a speedometer and bore a resemblance to a horse-drawn carriage.

And, oh, did the people love it.

“It’s a big roomy touring car,” read the Gloucester Times on Sept. 28, 1908. “A handsome, powerful, reliable family car, a car backed by the largest and best known automobile builders in the world, guaranteed by the company financially strong enough to make a guarantee mean something.

“A car designed by Henry Ford (sic) who never designed a failure and whose successes have revolutionized the automobile industry from centre to circumference.”