Eduardo Rodriguez

The Car That Started It All: Model T

Imagine living in the wonderful year 1908: most people used animals to get around
places and they were completely uncomfortable doing this process every single day for
their lives. Until now. Henry Ford philosophically mentioned, If I asked people what they
wanted, they would have said faster horses. Although horses can be fast, they weren't fast
enough for their customers. If a person at that time were to create something that will
transport people faster, it would definitely be revolutionary. The name of that person is
Henry Ford. Henry Ford then went on to build his Model T, which made cars more
accessible to the vast majority of citizens and revolutionized the automobile industry
forever. The production of the Model T revolutionized the way cars were sold and
produced because it was the first car in history to be mass produced with the use of the
assembly line, which also made cars more accessible, and ultimately kick-started todays
productive automobile industry.
The Ford Motor Companys webpage states that their Model T put the world on
wheels because they impressively built in less than a year more than 300,000 cars using
only about 13,000 employees. Their 299 competitors built the same amount of cars, only
that they used about 53,350 more employers to do so. By the numbers, Ford Motor
Company accomplished something that was never seen before, and this new ideal made
other companies want to perform the same method as the Ford Motor Company, or so is
analyzed by the Time in their article Henry Ford: The 20 Most Influential People of

Eduardo Rodriguez
America. Because of the number of employees, Henry Ford had the opportunity to make
the price of the car lower, which he did. Other companies priced their cars for more than
$1,500, but the Fords Model T was priced at only $825 when it came out. This means that
the car was more accessible when it came out and that people could take more advantages
because of its price. Even his factory employees, who were the least paid employees in the
whole production process, had the ability to buy his car and use it every day. Based on the
article written by NBC News titled The 8 Lowest Paying Jobs in America we can state
that this was a low paying job and that people on average had higher salaries. If this was
such a low paying job, and other jobs were higher paying, it is obvious that the Model T
truthfully put the world on wheels.
Moreover, the affordable price tag of the Model T not only made this car more
accessible, but it also made the other companies cars more accessible too. Henry Ford once
said, I will build a car for the great multitude, it will be 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. Based on this, Henry Ford built his vehicle quickly
which led to the price tag of the car. This made the car massively accessible to the public
and led to increase of sales for the Ford Motor Company, this led to a decrease in other
companies prices to make their cars more sellable. Within ten years after the Model T first
came out the average price for a vehicle dropped from $2,000 to $1,000. The starting price
of the Model T could only be achieved by the use of the assembly line, which became so
famous around the world that it was given a nickname: Fordism. Slowly the Ford Motor

Eduardo Rodriguez
Company started to earn more money and became one of the most successful companies of
the 20th century.
Additionally, Fords Model T gave other people the innovation to start constructing
and inventing new cars and all that comes with it. For a long period of time the Ford Motor
Company has owned a lot of other automobile car producer brands such as Aston Martin,
Mazda, Lincoln, Land Rover, Mercury, Jaguar, Volvo and other less known brands. Much
like General Motors, the Ford Motor Company has owned all of this brands in different
time periods along the company's history. Since this companies were successful, other ones
were created, and after some years the automobile industry was created, all because of the
Model T: the car that put the world on wheels, the car that gave the average person the
ability to transport using an automobile, the car that innovated many people to start an
automobile company, the car that kick-started todays massive car industry, the one and
only car, the Model T. The Model T is the reason that nowadays we can easily transport
from point A to point B faster than before. It is truly an innovation, and truly an evolution.
All in all, it can be stated that Henry Fords Model T completely revolutionized the
production of cars by using a moving assembly line, lowering the prices of rival
companies cars, and starting the automobile industry. The reason why it only takes 25.4
minutes for an average American person to get to their work (wnyc.org) is because they
have access to this technology perfected by the one and only Henry Ford. It is all thanks to
the man that perfected the vehicle, the man that made it accessible, the man that actually
made it true. He is the person we all have to thank, called Henry Ford, founder of the Ford

Eduardo Rodriguez
Motor Company. The probable producer of your car, and the probable producer of your
efficiency.

Works Cited

"Henry Ford." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

<http://www.history.com/topics/henry-ford>.
"The Model T Put the World on Wheels." - Press Release. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
<http://corporate.ford.com/news-center/press-releases-detail/672-model-t>.
"A Profile of Henry Ford, Founder of the Ford Motor Company." About. Web. 19 Nov.
2014. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/p/henryford.htm>.
"The 8 Lowest-paying Jobs in America." Msnbc.com. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.nbcnews.com/id/38168029/ns/business-careers/t/lowest-paying-jobs-america/
#.VIB0GTHF-6M>.
"Commute Times in Your Area | WNYC." Average Commute Times. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
<http://project.wnyc.org/commute-times-us/embed.html#4.00/40.35/-111.22>.
"Henry Ford | The 20 Most Influential Americans of All Time | TIME.com." NewsFeed The
20 Most Influential Americans of All Time Comments. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
<http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/07/25/the-20-most-influential-americans-of-all-time/slide/
henry-ford/>.