Editing Ford Model T (section)

== Introduction ==

Early automobiles, which [[history of the automobile|were produced from the 1880s]], were mostly scarce, expensive, and often unreliable. Being the first reliable, easily maintained, mass-market motorized transportation turned the Model&nbsp;T into a great success: Within a few days after release, 15,000 orders were placed.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Henry Ford|last = Curcio|first = Vincent|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2013|isbn = 978-0195316926|location = New York}}</ref>
The first production Model&nbsp;T was built on August 12, 1908,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://library.thinkquest.org/27629/chronicle/1908.html |title=Chronicle of 1908 |publisher=Library.thinkquest.org |year=1908 |access-date=2012-10-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130211154043/http://library.thinkquest.org/27629/chronicle/1908.html |archive-date=2013-02-11}}</ref> and left the factory on September 27, 1908, at the [[Ford Piquette Avenue Plant]] in [[Detroit|Detroit, Michigan]]. On May 26, 1927, [[Henry Ford]] watched the 15&nbsp;millionth Model&nbsp;T Ford roll off the assembly line at his [[Highland Park Ford Plant|factory in Highland Park, Michigan]].<ref name=15million>{{cite web |url=http://www.wiley.com/legacy/products/subject/business/forbes/ford.html |title=Henry Ford and the Model&nbsp;T |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=1996 |access-date=2012-12-24}}</ref>

Henry Ford conceived a series of cars between the founding of the company in 1903 and the introduction of the Model&nbsp;T. Ford named his first car the [[Ford Model A (1903–04)|Model A]] and proceeded through the alphabet up through the Model&nbsp;T. Twenty models in all, not all of which went into production. The production model immediately before the Model&nbsp;T was the [[Ford Model S|Model S]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ritzsite.nl/FORD_1/05_eford.htm |title=Early Ford-models from the years 1903–1908 |page=5 |first=André |last=Ritzinger |access-date=2012-12-24}}</ref> an upgraded version of the company's largest success to that point, the [[Ford Model N|Model N]]. The follow-up to the Model&nbsp;T was [[Ford Model A (1927–1931)|another Ford Model&nbsp;A]], rather than the "Model&nbsp;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 production|mass-produced]] on moving assembly lines with completely [[interchangeable parts]], marketed to the [[American middle class|middle class]].<ref name="hounshell-1984">{{Hounshell1984}}</ref> Henry Ford said of the vehicle: 
<blockquote>
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&nbsp;– and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ford|Crowther|1922|p=73}}.</ref>
</blockquote>

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&nbsp;T can be credited almost entirely to Ford and his engineers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Domm|first=Robert W.|title=Michigan Yesterday & Today|publisher=Voyageur Press|location=Minneapolis|year=2009|isbn=9781616731380|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HQdTa9ZXlVAC&q=Ransom+Olds+and+assembly+line&pg=PA29}}</ref>