Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
Model T
How a debt-ridden banana republic became the greatest economic engine the world has ever known
1. 1606: The Virginia Company is formed to seek profit from a new business: American settlement.
2. 1612: John Rolfe plants West Indian tobacco in Virginia, the cash crop that assures the colony’s success.
The Model T Ford made the world we live in. On the 100th anniversary of the company Henry Ford founded, his biographer Douglas Brinkley tells how.
"I will build a motor car for the great multitude,” Henry Ford proclaimed to the public when he announced the machine that would change America and indeed the world.
“So, a Ford dealer comes up with a great idea.…” Actually, I’m not at all sure this is how Americans started off a joke in the first two decades of the 20th century, but it’s how I remember my father’s answering my question about whether his fath
George Selden never built a car himself, but he did manage to secure a patent on every auto manufactured.
The usual image of invention is of the solitary genius struggling in his garret with an idea only he has faith in. One day, he shouts, “Eureka!” and the world changes. Sometimes this is actually the case.
The Tin Lizzie carried us into the 20th century, but she gave us a hell of a shaking along the way. Now, a veteran driver tells what everybody knew and nobody bothered to write down.
Many, many authors have written about the Model T, but I’m privy to some information that this legion has ignored. My experience with Model T’s began in the Middle West in 1923 and continued on out to California. Like so many others, I drove only second- or third-hand models.
A leading authority picks the top ten. Some of the names still have the power to stir the blood. And some will surprise you.
Few enterprises for any alleged expert in a given field can be more hazardous than the compilation of a “best” or “worst” list.
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