Model T

This web page is not really a project - just a place to save information about the Model T Ford. I recently (Sept. 2019) had an opportunity to drive a Model T (see below), and this very much added to my interest in the car. As I learn more about the car, I will update this page with my findings.

[Many thanks to WH for getting me started with an excellent list of resources.]

Driving

The Gilmore Car Museum located in Hickory Corners, Michigan offers a class called the Model T Driving Experience. The class teaches how to drive a Model T, after which you have an opportunity to drive an actual Model T around the museum grounds. As part of the class they also teach a bit of the history of the Model T. I would recommend this class to anyone interested, and I would also note that the rest if the museum is well worth a visit.

Books

* Books marked with an asterisk were recommended to me by a knowledgeable Model T owner and enthusiast.

*Ford Methods and the Ford Shops

by Horace Lucien Arnold , Fay Leone Faurote

Publication date: 1915

Publisher: The Engineering magazine company

Free PDF download from archive.org

Free PDF download from Google books (this one has searchable text).

My review : This is a fascinating book on a number of levels. Ironically, although it is written about the development of manufacturing methods for the Model T, you will not find much in it about what owning and driving a Model T is actually like. For those people who are interested in the history and evolution of manufacturing methods and industrial machinery, however, the book is a wealth of detail (almost too much, in some cases - do we really need to know the size and color of time cards?). At it's most basic level, this book details the development and evolution of manufacturing methods with respect to the Model T. It is somewhat astounding that the book was written with the full cooperation of the Ford Motor Company, which provided full access to their facilities and methods. Today, most of the information detailed in the book would be considered closely guarded trade secrets, and it is fascinating that Ford was willing to openly share the means and methods which gave Ford Motor industrial supremacy.

At another level, there are a few historical asides sprinkled throughout the book (such as a detailed description of the Ford quadricyle) which will be of historical note to people interested in the early history of the automobile industry. These were personally fascinating to me because, having lived in or around Detroit for nearly thirty years I saw many familiar names and places in a whole new context.

Finally, the book also shed a little bit of light on management's view of labor, which in the book is paternalistic, condescending, and I suspect willfully blind. The famous $5 a day wage is presented as a means of assuring "docile workers." There is a good deal of writing about methods of ensuring plant safety, while at the same time noting that the atmosphere in the foundry section is nearly un-breathable. There is of course no apprehension of the dehumanizing effects of the assembly line. This helps to explain Henry Ford's bafflement when his labor force unionized and went on strike!

Ford: The Times, the Man, the Company

by Allan Nevins, Frank Ernest Hill

My review : pending

*From Here to Obscurity: An Illustrated History of the Model T Ford, 1909 - 1927

Ray Miller, Bruce McCalley

My review : pending

*Henry's Wonderful Model T, 1908-1927

Clymer, Floyd

My review : This is the book to read if you want to get a high level overview of the Model T. The book includes some personal history of the author, a broad (but not deep) history of the Model T, and a bit of information on it's construction and use. The book has many photographs and other illustrations which give a good idea of the many variations in styling that were available over the course of the history of the Model T. Adding to the historical interest is a large sampling of the humor and jokes that circulated about the "T", and especially interesting is the inclusion of a large sampling of the advertisements for after-market parts and "improvements." Although in theory there was only one Model T, in actuality there were many changes made over the course of its history; this is not the book to read to get the details on those changes. Rather, this book will give you an idea of the what you might call the "average" Model T, which makes it a good first book to read in order to provide a foundation for further and more in depth reading.

*Tin Lizzie: The Story of Fabulous Model T Ford

By: Stern, Philip Van Doren, 1900-1984.

Publication Information: New York : Simon and Schuster, 1955.

Physical Description: 180 pages

My review : This is a fairly short and readable book which offers some insights about what the Model T must have meant to owners of the era. The book contains numerous anecdotes and personal remembrances, as well as some insights into the evolution of the Model T throughout it's manufacturing history. Also included are some useful tables which lay out the specifications of the various Ford models leading up to (and including) the Model T, as well as a list of all Model T serial (engine) numbers. Of particular interest is a short summary of significant changes in the Model T throughout it's history. If you are looking to get an overview of the Model T from a "car buyer's" perspective, this would be a good book to read.

The Model T Ford Car: Its Construction, Operation and Repair

By: Victor W. Pagé

Publisher: Norman W. Henley Publishing Co., 1915

Physical description: 258 pages, 94 illustrations, index

Free PDF download from Google books

My review : pending

*Model T Ford: The Car that Changed the World

By: Bruce McCalley

My review : pending

Popular Science ran series of articles (Feb. 1953, Mar. 1953, Apr. 1953) on restoring an old Model T; worth looking at just for the pictures. An abridged version of the articles is included in the Tin Lizzie book reviewed above. Links to specific articles can be found below:

By the way, you can find a 137 archive of Popular Science magazines online for free here.

Young Henry Ford: A Picture History of the First Forty Years

By: Sidney Olson

My review : pending

* Books marked with an asterisk were recommended to me by a knowledgeable Model T owner and enthusiast.

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