The story of Ford Motor Company’s Model T is the story that launched the American automobile industry--and America’s love affair with the car. When he introduced the Model T in 1908, even an eternal optimist like Henry Ford could not have predicted the far-reaching changes he was setting in motion. One hundred years later, this illustrated history looks back at the beloved Tin Lizzie. The book follows the Model T from design considerations (its ground clearance, for instance, had to allow for the abysmal state of U.S. roadways at the time) to its lasting legacy, and along the way describes the mechanical, manufacturing, and marketing innovations that the car’s production entailed. Author Lindsay Brooke also relates the adventures and misadventures that were part of owning and driving a Model T. He chronicles the changes the car’s unprecedented popularity wrought in the auto industry (including Ford’s introduction of the “$5 day”), and he tracks the Model T through popular culture, from its role in early motorsports to its resurgent popularity in the 1950s and 60s as a platform for T-bucket hot rods. Illustrated throughout with period art and evocative photography, this book celebrates as never before the car that epitomized the American automobile.

Documents Henry Ford's creation.

Driverless cars are on the horizon, but before the world falls asleep in the driver’s seat, let’s take a look back down the road from whence we have come. Ford Model-T Coast-to-Coast, documents the cross-country adventure of two brave drivers as they pilot a century-old Model-T on a 3,000-mile journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Coast. The book is as much a contemplation of early-20th century American life as it is a fond farewell to the automotive age. Can the car still be the vehicle of freedom and discovery, when we’re no longer in command? Or will we finally be able to fully appreciate the scenery rushing past? Accompanied by Michael Alan Ross’ evocative photography, author Tom Cotter stops in small towns, meets local people and hears their stories about cars, travel, and life. Cotter and Ross also explore back roads adjacent to his main route, the Lincoln Highway—the first transcontinental road. Significant cross-country runs, such as those by speed-record setter Cannonball Baker, and literary adventurers such as Jack Kerourac, John Steinbeck and Bill Bryson are considered in light of the driverless future. Cotter also drives some of the same roads that a young Edsel Ford traveled in his father’s Model T upon high school graduation in 1917. In addition to the central road trip, Cotter also visits interesting automotive and transport museums as well as “keepers of the flame” such as Model-T clubs, mechanics, junkyards and collectors across the country. He also records the numerous trials and tribulations in keeping a 100-year-old car operating on a 3,000-mile journey, something the driverless car of the future is unlikely to encounter. Join Cotter on his "slow drive across a fast country." You'll be glad you did.

Somehow Henry Ford knew what Americans were hankering for: “Everybody wants to be someplace he ain’t. As soon as he gets there, he wants to go right back.” And so, he pioneered the Model T–the first affordable car for the masses. David Weitzman has meticulously documented the development of the assembly line and the many innovations and adaptations Ford put to use in making his famous Tin Lizzy. When the Ford plant first opened, the crew could make 18,000 cars a year at a cost of $950 each. In just ten years, they had refined the process enough so that they could build one million cars in a year and the price had come down to about $350. Filled with detailed black-and-white drawings, helpful text and captions, and fascinating quotes from Ford employees, this elegant book gives young readers a look at a mechanical genius in action.

Tells the story of Henry Ford, along with his invention, the popular Model T automobile.