1913 Ford Model T Speedster

1913 Ford Model T Speedster, click picture to enlarge.

You may remember from the write up on the 1931 Model A that I discussed the Model T in that post. The Model T may well be the car that really made the Ford Motor Company thrive and do well in their first few years during the hard times of startup. If you notice closely in the picture you can see the slot in the lower front of the radiator housing that the driver would put the crank handle through to engage with pulley and turn the engine to start the car. That reminds me of a commercial that says "You've come a long way baby". Thank goodness that we don't have to start our cars like that with a crank handle anymore.

Henry Ford began producing the Model T in 1908 in Detroit at the Piquette Avenue plant and continued the run of Model T's until 1927 for nineteen years making it the longest running production of a single model car ever in history except for the German made Volkswagon Beetle. It has been said that Henry Ford said of the Model T, "You can paint it any color, so long as it's black". Whether he said that or not has not been proven but the saying has hung around longer than the car did and it does testify to the continuing "sameness" of the car. This sameness characteristic of the car was one of the features that made it affordable to the masses. Over the 19 years of production there were 15,000,000 Model T's sold, far outselling any other car made in those years.

The car had a 4 cylinder, 20 hp engine and seated three people in its regal high backed seats. it sold for $850.00 new in Detroint in 1913.

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Sincerely,
Maynard Wright, the Georgia Boy