Start with what the Ford Model T is: a car with 177 , built from 1908 to 1927, when a car was a rich man's adventure and every maker was a workshop. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Childe Harold Wills, main-engineer Joseph A. Galamb and Eugene Farkas. 15,000,000 were built.
The story
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by the Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first mass-affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relatively low price was partly the result of Ford's efficient fabrication, including assembly line production instead of individual handcrafting. The savings from mass production allowed the price to decline from $780 in 1910 (equivalent to $26,952 in 2025) to $290 in 1924 ($5,448 in 2025 dollars). It was mainly designed by three engineers, Joseph A.
Galamb (the main engineer), Eugene Farkas, and Childe Harold Wills. The Model T was colloquially known as the "Tin Lizzie". The Ford Model T was named the most influential car of the 20th century in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, ahead of the BMC Mini, Citroën DS, and Volkswagen Beetle. Ford's Model T was successful not only because it provided inexpensive transportation on a massive scale, but also because the car signified innovation for the rising middle class and became a powerful symbol of the United States' age of modernization. With over 15 million sold, it was the most sold car in history before being surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle in 1972.
What is underneath
The engine is 177 . On the scales it comes to 1200-1650 lb. Drive goes through a 2-speed planetary gear. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 100.0 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Ford line-up the Ford Model T has a clear place: it replaced the Ford Model N (1906–1908); it handed the line to the Ford Model A (1927–1932); the factory was San Francisco. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Panhard & Levassor two-seater course, the Vauxhall A-Type, the Lancia Alfa-12HP. Nearby in the Ford catalogue sit the Ford 021C and the Ford Escort.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Ford Model T has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.