First Model T Ford: September 27, 1908

Richmond, IN

Although not the first car made, Henry Ford’s Model T was durable and made inexpensive by integration of production and assembly of parts under one roof. At first, production was limited to less than a dozen a month, but in 1910, Ford moved production of the Model T to a moving assembly line. A year later more than 34,000 Model Ts were produced. As production geared up, the price dropped from $950 for the basic model in 1910 to $290 in 1920, easily undercutting Ford’s chief competitors, Oldsmobile and Chevrolet. The Model T transformed where Americans lived, how they worked and where they could travel. By 1929, the ratio of automobiles to American households had reached 90%, with half of them made by Ford.

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