Ford model T Tourer

Ford model T Tourer, 1916. Reg. No. PP7963, Engine No. 1,122,607, powered by a 4 cylinder, 20 hp petrol engine, by Ford Motor Company, Detroit, Wayne county, Michigan, United States, 1916

Ford Model T motor car, 1916. This car, with a four-seat tourer body, was made by the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. Using mass production techniques, it was made affordable for a far greater number of people than ever before, and it made the motor car an every day item rather that the preserve of the relatively wealthy. Introduced by Henry Ford (1863-1947) in 1908 it was first made in a variety of colours at Ford's Piquette Avenue factory in Detroit factory. In 1910 production was moved to a new factory at Highland Park outside the city, where production lines were introduced.

In 1913 the production lines were motorised, and with these moving lines the Model T was produced in such quantities that in 1915, a tourer cost half the price it had been when first introduced in 1908. The new production methods were so speedy that only one paint, japan black enamel, would dry fast enough to prevent problems with car assembly, hence the remark attributed to Ford that "Customers can have any color they want so long as it is black".

With the Model T car Henry Ford established the manufacturing system that made his name a byword for mass production. His vast Highland Park plant in Detroit, USA, was one of the industrial wonders of the age and was visited by political leaders and industrialists from around the world. 'Fordism' became profoundly influential.

Ford declared, 'the man who places a part does not fasten it... the man who puts on the nut does not tighten it.' By this ruthless subdivision of labour, and by applying mass production techniques on a vast scale, the Ford company created, with the Model T, a simple and affordable car. This brought motoring within the reach of a huge new market. Every step was taken to simplify and speed up production, including the decision in 1914 to paint cars only in black. The design was introduced in 1908 and, by 1927 when the Model T was phased out, over 15 million had been produced. This was the largest production run of any company in the first half of the twentieth century.

Production costs were tightly controlled and with price reductions in some years, the Model T gained an increasing share of the market. In Britain, Fords accounted for over 40 per cent of vehicles on the road by 1919.