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Ford Model T roadster
Catalog #: 333777,
Accession #: 305326
Currently on display
From the Smithsonian Collection
This 1926 Ford Model T Roadster has serial number 14,125,605. Ford Motor Company' ceased production of the Model T in 1927, and the last one was number 15,007,033. Ford's massive plants in suburban Detroit-the Highland Park and River Rouge facilities-began to mass produce cars on moving assembly lines in the 1910s. Contrary to popular myth, not all Model T's were alike: although the car was mass produced, consumers could choose between a number of different styles in any given year of production. |
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Physical Description |
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artifact. 12' L x 5'6" W x 5'10" H, black, convertible
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Details |
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Credit: | Gift of John T. Sickler |
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History |
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The Henry Ford Motor Company helped transform the nascent auto industry by changing the ways cars were built. In the early years of American automobile production, hundreds of companys made small numbers of cars. Prices were high, and the volume of cars produced by each company was small. When the Henry Ford Motor Company began using a moving assembly line in parts of the Highland Park factory in 1913, the company started to streamline the production process, and helped make the auto industry into a mass production industrial behemoth. The prices of automobiles fell dramatically, making them more affordable. In 1900, there were about 8,000 cars in the United States. By 1920, that number had risen to 8 million.
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Related People, Places, and Events |
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Manufacturer
Henry Ford Motor Company
Donor
John T. Sickler
place of manufacture
Detroit, Michigan
Ford's massive plants in suburban Detroit—the Highland Park and River Rouge facilities—mass produced over 15 million model t's before production ceased in 1927
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