Would you drive me? I was the second-most-popular car of my time, and I was affordable. There were some others before, but they didn’t do the right job for most people, so then I came. I outsold the Volkswagen Beetle. And, who am I you ask? I am Model T. I was created in 1908 by manufacturers and Henry Ford, who helped produced an automobile that was within the economic reach of most people. Henry had the idea of building a car that the average American worker could afford. When I made my debut in 1908, my purchase price was $825; over ten thousand of me were sold in one year, marking a new record. Over the nineteen-year life span of me more fifteen models of me was built. About four years later my priced was dropped to $575, and that’s when sales for me soared. In 1914 Henry could claim 48% share of the automobile market.
The Model T was also known as “Tin Lizzie.” The car offered several different body styles, including a five – seat touring car, a two – seat runabout, and a seven – seat town car. From the years
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After years of conceding the low end of the market to Ford, another automaker was setting its sights on that very sector. At the beginning of the decade, General Motors was an awkward conglomerate of car companies and parts suppliers managed more for the sake of its whipsaw stock-price than for efficiencies in auto making, offering cheap Chevrolets with amenities that Model T lacked. Instead of the sturdy but antiquated planetary transmission, it had a smooth three-speed. The market began to shift; price and value ceased to be paramount factors. Styling and excitement suddenly counted to the customer. Even though the Model T cost a mere $290 in the mid-twenties, dealers clamored for a new Ford that would strike the fancy of the more demanding and sophisticated consumers (Byron Preiss Visual Publications,