Imagine buying a new car and seeing that same model reproduced year after year for nearly two decades. While unheard of today, that was the fate of the Model T.
The first one was delivered on Oct. 1, 1908, from Ford Motor Company’s plant in Detroit. The last one rolled off the assembly line in 1927. Most people associate the Model T with being black, and on the streets between 1914 and 1925. But according to Ford Motor Company, “before and after that, various models of the vehicle could be purchased in a variety of colors including blue, red, gray and green.”
When the cars first came out, they were expensive for their time — Ford could sell the vehicle for a price point between $260 and $850. It was designed for the everyman and could cruise at a whopping 40 mph. Henry Ford tested the first car on a hunting trip to Wisconsin and northern Michigan.
Ford was able to keep prices down because he stuck with one model. When the assembly line was created, he could cast more than 10,000 cylinder blocks in a day. More than 15 million Model Ts were built and sold. But as the years passed, Americans wanted more, and the last Model T rolled off the assembly line in May 1927.
The car got the nickname “Tin Lizzy” because of a racecar driver named Noel Bullock, who stripped it down for a Pike’s Peak hill climb. He called it “Old Liz.” It looked as ragged as a tin can, and people started to refer to it as Tin Lizzy.