Interior Design 270 Journal

Shane Shinabarger
INTERIOR_DESIGN
INTERIOR_DESIGN_270_JOURNAL
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by the Ford Motor Company from
October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927.It is generally regarded as the first mass-affordable
automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans.The relatively low
price was partly the result of Ford's efficient fabrication, including assembly line production
instead of individual handcrafting.The savings from mass production allowed the price to
decline from $780 in 1910 (equivalent to $25,506 in 2023) to $290 in 1924 ($5,156 in 2023
dollars).It was mainly designed by three engineers, Joseph A. Galamb (the main engineer),
Eugene Farkas, and Childe Harold Wills.The Model T was colloquially known as the "Tin
Lizzie".The Ford Model T was named the most influential car of the 20th century in the
1999 Car of the Century competition, ahead of the BMC Mini, Citroën DS, and Volkswagen
Beetle.Ford's Model T was successful not only because it provided inexpensive
transportation on a massive scale, but also because the car signified innovation for the
rising middle class and became a powerful symbol of the United States' age of
modernization.With over 15 million sold, it was the most sold car in history before being
surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle in 1972.== Introduction ==
Early automobiles, which were produced from the 1880s, were mostly scarce, expensive,
and often unreliable.Being the first reliable, easily maintained, mass-market motorized
transportation made the Model T into a great success: Within a few days after release,
15,000 orders were placed.The first production Model T was built on August 12, 1908,
and left the factory on September 27, 1908, at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit,
Michigan.On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford watched the 15 millionth Model T Ford roll off the
assembly line at his factory in Highland Park, Michigan.Henry Ford conceived a series of
cars between the founding of the company in 1903 and the introduction of the Model T.
Ford named his first car the Model A and proceeded through the alphabet up through the
Model T. Twenty models in all, not all of which went into production.The production model
immediately before the Model T was the Model S, an upgraded version of the company's
largest success to that point, the Model N. The follow-up to the Model T was another Ford
Model A, rather than the "Model U".The company publicity said this was because the new
car was such a departure from the old that Ford wanted to start all over again with the
letter A.The Model T was Ford's first automobile mass-produced on moving assembly lines
with completely interchangeable parts, marketed to the middle class.Henry Ford said of the
vehicle:
I will build a motor car for the great multitude.It will be large enough for the family, but
small enough for the individual to run and care for.It will be constructed of the best
materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering
can devise.But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to
own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open
spaces.Although credit for the development of the assembly line belongs to Ransom E. Olds,
with the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, having begun in
1901, the tremendous advances in the efficiency of the system over the life of the Model T
can be credited almost entirely to Ford and his engineers.== Characteristics ==
The Model T was designed by Childe Harold Wills, and Hungarian immigrants Joseph A.
Galamb (main engineer) and Eugene Farkas.Henry Love, C. J. Smith, Gus Degner and Peter E.
Martin were also part of the team, as were Galamb's fellow Hungarian immigrants Gyula
Hartenberger and Károly Balogh.Production of the Model T began in the third quarter of
1908.Collectors today sometimes classify Model Ts by build years and refer to these as
"model years", thus labeling the first Model Ts as 1909 models.This is a retroactive
classification scheme; the concept of model years as understood today did not exist at the
time.Even though design revisions occurred during the car's two decades of production, the
company gave no particular name to any of the revised designs; all of them were called
simply "Model T".=== Engine ===
The Model T has a front-mounted 177-cubic-inch (2.9 L) inline four-cylinder engine,
producing 20 hp (15 kW), for a top speed of 42 mph (68 km/h).According to Ford Motor
Company, the Model T had fuel economy of 13–21 mpg-US (16–25 mpg-imp; 18–11 L/100
km).The engine was designed to run on gasoline, although it may also have been able to run
on kerosene or ethanol, although the decreasing cost of gasoline and the later introduction
of Prohibition made ethanol an impractical fuel for most users.The engines of the first 2,447
units were cooled with water pumps; the engines of unit 2,448 and onward, with a few
exceptions prior to around unit 2,500, were cooled by thermosiphon action.The ignition
system used in the Model T was an unusual one, with a low-voltage magneto incorporated
in the flywheel, supplying alternating current to trembler coils to drive the spark plugs.This
was closer to that used for stationary gas engines than the expensive high-voltage ignition
magnetos that were used on some other cars.

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Shane Shinabarger

Beetle.Ford's Model T was successful not only because it provided inexpensive

surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle in 1972.== Introduction ==

can be credited almost entirely to Ford and his engineers.== Characteristics ==

simply "Model T".=== Engine ===

The Model T has a front-mounted 177-cubic-inch (2.9 L) inline four-cylinder engine,

magnetos that were used on some other cars.

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