Ford Model T facts for kids
The Ford Model T was a famous car made in the United States. The Ford Motor Company built it in Detroit, Michigan between 1908 and 1928. It's super important because it was one of the first cars that many people could afford. This made it much easier for families to travel and explore!
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Why the Model T Changed Everything
Before the Model T, most cars were very expensive. Only rich people could buy them. Even Ford's earlier cars cost a lot of money. The Model T first sold for about $850. A car from 1903 called the Oldsmobile Curved Dash was cheaper, but it was very simple and slow. It was more like a carriage than a modern car.
The owner of the Ford company, Henry Ford, had a brilliant idea. He heard about a "disassembly line" used to cut up meat. Workers would stay in one place, and the meat would move to them. Ford realized he could use this idea to build cars! Instead of building one car at a time, cars could move along a line. Each worker would add a different part.
This new way of building cars meant Ford could make them much faster. This made the Model T cheaper to build and cheaper to buy. Ford could also pay his workers more money. The Model T was designed by Henry Ford, Childe Harolde Wills, and two men from Hungary, József Galamb and Eugene Farkas. The car had a 2.9-liter, four-cylinder engine. It could go up to 45 miles per hour (72 km/h). It also got good gas mileage, about 14 to 21 miles per gallon.
How the Model T Was Built
Ford started building the Model T on October 6, 1908. This was for the 1909 model year. People from all over the world wanted to work for Ford because of the good pay. Workers could even save up to buy their own Model T! The price of the Model T kept dropping over the years. This made it even easier for people to own one.
Building a Model T started with an empty chassis (the car's frame). This chassis slowly moved down the assembly line. Workers added parts as it passed by. Soon, a brand new Model T would roll off the end of the line! You could get the Model T in different styles, even a truck version called the Model TT.
At first, Model Ts came in four colors. But black paint dried the fastest, which was important for the assembly line. So, by 1914, most Model Ts were black. Later, as paint improved, other colors became available again. When they first started, it took over 12 hours to build one car. By the time the last Model T was made, Ford had so many factories that a new car was finished every 27 seconds! The price dropped from $850 to just $260 in its last year.
Even though it was cheap, Ford used strong materials. Most roads back then were dirt, gravel, or mud. So, the Model T had to be very tough, and it was! Its wheels and tires were tall and skinny. This helped them sink into muddy roads without getting stuck. The car was also very simple to fix.
Driving a Model T
Ford made the Model T easier to drive than other cars of its time. Many people buying cars then had only driven a horse. Driving a Model T is very different from driving a modern car. It has a steering wheel like today's cars, but almost everything else is unique.
Early Model Ts did not have an electric starter. This is the electric motor that turns the engine on in modern cars. To start a Model T, you used a hand crank on the front. A wire loop near the radiator helped give the engine extra fuel when it was cold. This could be tricky if you weren't careful. If the engine controls were not set right, the engine could kick back. This could cause injuries. Many Model T owners later added electric starters. Ford soon started adding them too.
To make a modern car go, you step on a pedal to put it in gear. In a Model T, you moved two levers near the steering wheel. The right lever controlled the engine speed (the throttle). The left lever changed when the spark plugs fired. These levers had to be set correctly before you could start the engine.
The Model T had three pedals on the floor. The right pedal was for the brake. The middle pedal was for reverse, to make the car go backwards. The left pedal was to shift between low and high speed. There was also a lever on the floor that worked the brakes and the clutch. Pulling this lever back set the parking brake. When the lever was in the middle, the car was in neutral.
Once the engine was running, you had to make the Model T move. You would push the left pedal all the way down. Then, you'd move the throttle lever to "give it gas." Finally, you'd gently move the floor lever forward. This put the car in low gear, which was powerful for getting the car moving. Once it was moving, you'd move the right lever up, let the left pedal come all the way up, and give it more gas to shift into high gear. To go even faster, you'd move both the throttle and spark advance levers. Pressing the left pedal halfway put the car in neutral. This helped the Model T stop without turning off the engine.
The brakes on a Model T only worked on the rear wheels. Modern cars have brakes on all four wheels.
More than 15 million Model T cars were built! This record was not broken until 1971 by the Volkswagen Beetle. Today, the Toyota Corolla holds the record for the most cars built.
People nicknamed the Model T the "Tin Lizzie" and "Flivver." A new car, the Ford Model A, took its place in 1928.
Images for kids
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1908 Ford Model T advertisement
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View of the driver's controls, 1920 Model T
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The three pedal controls clutch, brake, reverse of the Model T
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Model T rolling chassis – top view
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The suspension components of a Ford Model T. The coil-spring device is an aftermarket accessory, the "Hassler shock absorber."
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1910 Model T, photographed in Salt Lake City
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1917 Model T
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T Speedster
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1925 Ford "New Model" T Tudor sedan
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A Model T homemade tractor pulling a plow
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Pullford auto-to-tractor conversion advertisement, 1918
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The American LaFrance company modified more than 900 Ford Model Ts to serve firefighters
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Ford assembly line, 1913
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1919 Ford Model T Phoenix Police cruiser
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The first Ford assembly plant in La Boca, Buenos Aires, c. 1921
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A 1923 Ford T in Canada, photographed in 1948
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1919 Model T stakebed
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1909 touring (a very early example with two-pedal, two-lever control)
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1909 roadster
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1909 Tourabout (like the touring, but without rear doors)
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1911 touring
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1911 Torpedo Runabout
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1911 Open Runabout
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1912 touring
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1912 commercial roadster
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1912 Torpedo Runabout
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1912 delivery car
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1913 Touring
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1913 Runabout
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1914 touring
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1914 Runabout
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1915 Runabout – with curved cowl panel
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1916 touring
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1917 Runabout – with new curved hood matches cowl panel
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1919 Runabout
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1920 touring
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1921 Ford Model T
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1921 touring
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1922 Runabout
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1922 flatbed truck
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1923 Ford Model T depot hack
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1923 Runabout (early '23 model)
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1924 touring – with higher hood and slightly shorter cowl panel – late-1923 models were similar
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1924–1925 Runabout
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1925 touring – with the balloon tires and split rims, optional extras of the period.
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1925 touring
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1926 Runabout – with higher hood and longer cowl panel
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1927 Runabout
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1927 touring – last Ford Model T built at Highland Park Ford Plant
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1928 Ford Model A Tudor sedan – shown for comparison, with wider body and curved doors
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See also
In Spanish: Ford T para niños
