The Model T

7 artifacts in this set

Follow Americans’ love affair with the Model T through this set of our online collections.

Follow Americans’ love affair with the Model T through this set of our online collections.

Detailed Description

1908 Ford Sales Brochure, "Ford Motor Cars Model T Advance Catalog"

Trade catalog

This leaflet was used to market Ford Model T automobiles to Ford dealers and branches. It was sent to dealers more than six months before scheduled deliveries of the vehicle. The response was remarkable; orders for the Model T flooded in. The Advance Catalog and the Model T targeted a new market for cars which Henry Ford and his Motor Company believed was out there – average American families.

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1914 Ford Model T Touring Car, Given to John Burroughs by Henry Ford

Automobile

This 1914 touring car is one of several Model T automobiles given to naturalist John Burroughs by his friend Henry Ford. Ford Motor Company experienced a milestone year in 1914. The automaker fully implemented the moving assembly line at its Highland Park plant, and it introduced the Five Dollar Day profit-sharing plan for its employees.

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Ford Model T Cartoon, circa 1915, "Every Dog Has His Day, but the Man Who Owns a Ford is Always Popular"

Postcard

Model T jokes and cartoons abound, reflecting its significance in early 20th-century American culture.

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1924 Ford Model T Cars on Assembly Line at the Highland Park Plant, October 1923

Photographic print

Henry Ford’s innovative use of the assembly line significantly reduced the cost of the Model T. Prior to 1913, the Model T was built using station assembly, with workers moving from one automobile component to the next. Ford began experimenting with the assembly line in 1913. In the moving assembly line, the work came to the workers. By the time of this photograph in 1923, the assembly line was still a point of pride for Ford Motor Company, as evidenced by this photograph taken by the Ford Motor Company Photographic Department.

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Advertisement for the 1924 Ford Model T, "Freedom for the Woman Who Owns a Ford"

Advertisement

Early on Ford recognized that women were an important potential market, and designed advertisements that appealed directly to them. This ad also uses the automobile as a symbol of freedom, a theme that still resonates with auto buyers today.

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Poem Lamenting the End of the Model T Era, "The Passing of the Ford," 1927

Poem

This humorous yet heartfelt poem, written by an average woman to a corporation thousands of miles away, demonstrates the meaning the Model T held for Americans. It was not just a consumer product; it was deserving of a nickname (the “flivver”), and was something to pass on to future generations.

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Henry Ford and Edsel Ford in Fifteen-Millionth Ford Model T Car on the Last Day of Model T Production, May 26, 1927

Photographic print

On May 25, 1927, Edsel Ford drove his father Henry out of the Highland Park Plant in the 15 millionth Model T. This milestone was a poignant one, as this year also marked the last of the car’s production. The Model T had won the public over to the automobile, but now they demanded more than the Model T provided: style, comfort, and speed.

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