1900's Business and the Economy | The Model T

Motor Car for the Multitude.

As the Model T was unveiled to the public in October 1908, Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, remarked of his "Tin Lizzie" that it came "in any color you choose, so long as it's black." He also called the automobile "a motor car for the great multitude." The latter statement was an appropriate tribute to the Model T, for mass production lowered its price and made it the first automobile average Americans could afford. The Model T car was not revolutionary, but the process of mass production revolutionized the automobile industry. As a result American life and culture would be transformed as the car became an everyday necessity in a mobile society.

Precursor to the Model T.

The Model N cars manufactured in 1906-1907 were the precursor to the Model T and introduced the interchangeable-parts system for large-scale production. The system was implemented under the direction of...