Today's car of the day comes from juantoo3's collection and is Matchbox's 1921 Ford Model T delivery van.
The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie, T‑Model Ford, 'Model T Ford', or T) is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to October 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, the car that opened travel to the common middle-class American; some of this was because of Ford's innovations, including assembly line production instead of individual hand crafting. The Ford Model T was named the world's most influential car of the 20th century in an international poll.
The Model T set 1908 as the historic year that the automobile became popular. The first production Model T was produced on August 12, 1908 and left the factory on September 27, 1908, at the Piquette 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.
There were several cars produced or prototyped by Henry Ford from the founding of the company in 1903 until the Model T came along. Although he started with the Model A, there were not 19 production models (A through T); some were only prototypes. 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 was the Ford Model A (rather than any Model U). Company publicity said this was because the new car was such a departure from the old that Henry wanted to start all over again with the letter A.
The Model T was the 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 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."
For more information and pictures of the real car please visit:
Ford Model T
This one is from a set of cars I picked up recently from a seller in England who bought a large lot of promotional samples from a former employee, thank you Andrew at Little Wheels. Much like Color Comp of New Jersey, Ad Trucks of Norfolk England would use Matchbox castings to create Code 2 promotional items on contract for use as promotional items for various businesses. Of the ten items I purchased, this is my favorite for the 1930s car pictured on the side.
The Ford Model T car was designed by Childe Harold Wills and Hungarian immigrants, Joseph A. Galamb and Eugene Farkas. Henry Love, C. J. Smith, Gus Degner and Peter E. Martin were also part of the team. 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 we conceive it today did not exist at the time. The nominal model designation was "Model T", although design revisions did occur during the car's two decades of production.
Early Ts had a brass radiator and headlights. The horn and numerous small parts were also brass. Many of the early cars were open-bodied touring cars and runabouts, these being cheaper to make than closed cars. Prior to the 1911 model year (when front doors were added to the touring model), US - made open cars did not have an opening door for the driver. Later models included closed cars (introduced in 1915), sedans, coupes, and trucks. The chassis was available so trucks could be built to suit. Ford also developed some truck bodies for this chassis, designated the Model TT. The headlights were originally acetylene lamps made of brass (commonly using Prest-O-Lite tanks), but eventually the car gained electric lights after 1910, initially powered from the magneto until the electrical system was upgraded to a battery, generator, and starter motor, when lighting power was switched to the battery source.
The Model T production system, the epitome of Fordism, is famous for representing the rigidity of early mass production systems that were wildly successful at achieving efficiency but that could accommodate changes in product design only with great difficulty and resistance. The story is more complicated; there were few major, publicly visible changes throughout the life of the model, but there were many smaller changes. Most were driven by design for manufacturability considerations, but styling and new features also played more of a role than commonly realized. In fact, one of the problems for the company regarding design changes was the T's reputation for not changing and being "already correct", which Henry Ford enjoyed and which was a selling point for many customers, which made it risky to admit any changes actually were happening. (The idea of simply refining a design without making radical visible changes would resurface, and score even greater production success, with the VW Type 1.)
The Ford Model TT is a truck made by the Ford Motor Company. It was rated at one ton. It was based on the Ford Model T, but with a heavier frame and rear axle. The rear axle had a worm drive and crown wheel, unlike the Ford Model T's Crown wheel and pinion. The worm was located at the end of the driveshaft and above the crown wheel. The wheelbase of the car was 100 inches (2,500 mm) and the wheelbase of the TT was 125 inches (3,200 mm). It was often equipped with a 'ruckstell axle' or some other accessory gearbox which allowed the truck to have an intermediate gear between low and high, which was useful for hill climbing. It was often sold as a chassis with the buyer supplying the truck body as needed. Mass production with Ford produced bodies ran from 1925 to 1927, but production of the Ford TT had started with the first TT chassis being released in 1917. In 1923, it cost $380. In 1925, a hand operated windshield wiper was added.
It was very durable for the time, but slow when compared to other trucks. With standard gearing, a speed of not more than 15 mph (24 km/h). was recommended, and with special gearing, a speed of not more than 22 mph (35 km/h) was recommended, according to Ford Dealers Data Book 1923. Standard worm gear ratio was 7.25:1, special gearing 5.17:1. Because of this, accessory catalogs offered items to help give the Model TT more power.
