Facebook is an amazing social force.
But the Model T was a bigger force when Hank Ford designed an affordable set of wheels in the early 20th century.
Henry mobilized the world the minute the first T left the assembly line in 1908. The guy really did have a better idea when he designed the Model T. Up to that point, four-legged critters with names like Old Paint were still the principle means of transportation for the average guy.
Clearly this was strictly a matter of economics in which an average wage earner could expect to include his first and second born kids and the option on his soul to own a car. The result was a lot less problems with traffic snarls because very few people could afford a set of internal combustion wheels.
Henry Ford changed the game when he constructed an assembly line to mass- produce his Model Ts. Then he got much better at production and the affordable Model T became even more affordable for the average Joe.
The rarest of monetary situations arose in which the price dropped dramatically as the production years moved into the 1920s because Henry was able to build more cars for less money- the ultimate win-win scenario for buyer and seller.
It may have been difficult to order booze in the 20s, but there were plenty of Ts for sale.
Facebook has added 600 million foot soldiers to its social network army, but it is still not a bigger influence than the Model T. The Facebook people play pretend farmers on their website. The harvest is usually a bumper crop of irritation for people who hate Farmville.
Model Ts became the workhorse on a farm as a tractor, truck and portable sawmill, to name but a few uses for the first Ford. They didn’t play Farmville-they were Farmville in the early 20th century…Real Farmville.
The Model T was more than an affordable set of wheels. It expanded the horizons of millions of people who could look beyond the boundaries of their counties and see a bigger world. Facebook will give you a glimpse of other people’s cyber- worlds, but fresh air and actual contact with other people is very optional.
The freedom of travel delivered by a Model T built a brand new can-do attitude in the early 20th century. Suddenly anything was possible as Ford’s Model T production became a flagship operation for a bold new generation of entrepreneurs who dreamed bigger dreams and then made it happen.
Facebook was a dream for a young guy who managed to connect the dots on a more efficient social network and become a youthful multi-billionaire. Good on him, but Henry Ford provided an actual blueprint for the birth of an entire modern industrialized world.
People were able to lead better lives because they had more time and money from better jobs due to people like Henry Ford.
But it is doubtful that Henry Ford would like to be a pioneer in a cyber-world social network where people waste time pretending to work on a pretend farm.
He would likely fire them in real world- Ford’s even better idea.
Jim Sutherland
More vintage cars from the real world of the past at https://www.mystarcollectorcar.com/
COMMENTS
DENNIS:”The Ford assembly line ran 24 hours a day, so it was only logical to have 3-8 hour shifts. Thus, the large implementation of the 8 hour work day.
Ford paid his workers an unheard of salary of $5.00 a day, the beginnings of ‘the middle class’.
At the lowest point (around 1923) you could buy a basic Ford Roadster for approx. $385.00, they only came in one color. This the origin of the phrase “You can have a Ford in any color you want, as long as it’s black”. The Touring Car, 4 door, Tudor Sedan and Center Door came in multiple colors, from the beginning.
There are still in the neighborhood of 60,000 Model T Fords on the road today, all over the world, including Russia, out of the 15 million+ produced.
it’s quite easy to convert a Model T to 12V. All it requires is a 12V battery and bulbs. There are no gauges to convert, the (antique) generator can be adjusted to put out 12V, The sturdy old starter will work on 12V and then you can sit on your Model T with a Lap Top and yak all day on “Face Book”, like I do.
Naturally, since I drive one of these things, I can go on for hours with Model T trivia but I’ll stop here”.
BOB:”nice job on the model T trivia. I think when Henry dropped the price of the model T to $395. other automobile makers were three times that. Paying his employees a high enough wage to afford buying the cars they were building was pure genius. You probably know that Ransom E Olds was the first to use the assembly line”
