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1914 Model T Ford Station Wagon.
May 31, 1927, the last Ford Model T rolled off the assembly
line. It was the first affordable automobile, due in part to the assembly line
process developed by Henry Ford. It had 2.9-liter, 20-horsepower engine and
could travel at speeds up to 45 miles per hour. It had a 10-gallon fuel tank and
could run on kerosene, petrol,
or ethanol, but it couldn't drive uphill if the tank was low, because there was
no fuel pump; people got around this design flaw by driving up hills in reverse.
Ford believed that "the man who will use his skill and constructive imagination
to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for
a dollar, is bound to succeed." The Model T cost $850 in 1909, and as efficiency
in production increased, the price dropped. By 1927, you could get a Model T for
$290. "I will build a car for the great multitude," said Ford. "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 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."
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