How It Works-Amazing Vehicles

Mass production

Mass production using a moving assembly line was the key

innovation that made the Model T so successful. Car production had

been largely pitched at the luxury market with hand-built bespoke

models being the norm. Henr y Leland, who worked for Cadillac,

pioneered the standardisation of car components, and moving

production lines were used in Chicago slaughterhouses. The

genius of Ford was to integrate these methods and reduce the

production of the Model T to 84 key areas.

The chassis of the car was run along a track and each worker

carried out a ver y simple and repetitive production task, before it

was moved on to the next work area. The engine and other

components were made in a similar manner before being added to

the chassis. This slavish process made it possible to reduce the time to

make one Model T from 12 hours eight minutes to 93 minutes.

As early as 1914, Ford’s mass production techniques produced

300,000 cars with 13,000 workers compared to the 66,350 workers at all

the other car companies who only produced 280,000 cars.

From 27 September 1908 till the end of production on 26 May 1927,

15 million Model Ts were made. The Model T met and exceeded Henr y

Ford’s vision of creating a simply designed car using the best materials

at a price affordable to ever yone.

The revolutionar y methods used by

Ford opened up a world of possibilities

© Science Photo Librar y

Workers lower the engine into place

using an overhead block-and-tackle

Connecting the barrel-

shaped petrol tank

ON THE

MAP

OOOOOOOOO

Model T production

centres

1 Highland Park Plant,

Michigan

2 Trafford Park,

Manchester, UK

3 Walkerville, Ontario,

Canada

4 La Boca, Buenos Aires,

Argentina

5 Geelong, Victoria, Australia

6 Berlin, Germany

© Science Photo Librar y

easy to run and maintain. The fi rst

models were runabouts with open

bodies and a hood that can be folded

dow n. Lots of different car and truck

bodies were later fi tted to the Model T

chassis by Ford and other companies.

Since the Model T was equally at

home in town or as an off-road farm

workhorse, and available at the

cheapest price possible, it quickly

dominated the USA and made motoring

an essential part of our lives.

© Harr y L Sneider

Just as its modern counterparts developed different

st yles and shapes over the years, so too did the Model T

The Model T was a welcome

addition to police forces

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DID YOU KNOW? Henry Ford said you can have any colour Model T as long as it is black