It was a “piece of junk” that people could afford to buy however. Generally speaking, automobiles prior to the T were lovingly constructed one at a time by hand, sparing no expense on the appointments and were pretty much exclusively affordable only to the very, very rich. Think 16 cylinder Duesenbergs. Think Testarossa or Lamborghini being the only cars available pricewise. Sure, nice car but hardly suitable for the masses.
Facts without context are worse than lies, almost.
“Facts without context are worse than lies, almost.”
This article is FULL of them. Terrible article.
Russian “cars” like the Tatra were uniformly cursed even by the East Germans, Poles, and Slovaks.....
At least the Yugo ran. Most of the time.
The author is not entirely wrong to include the T in the “worst” category. But only in its latter years. Here’s why:
When the T was introduced in 1908 it was an advanced car in every aspect, especially value. The T by far brought more horsepower per dollar than any other car, and it would continue to offer this incredible value for another 10-12 years. In 1908, the T was the only 4-cylinder, 4-passenger car offered for under $1000. At $850 it wasn’t cheap, but it was the best VALUE.
Where the author gets it right is that the Model T stayed almost the same car for the next 18 years. Ford’s advanced vision of 1908 had by the 1920s become tired. In 1926, when Ford realized he’d gone too far with too little, GM and others had well captued the VALUE race and were offering far much more car per dollar than the T. By that time, the T was selling on price, habit, and anachronism alone. It was, then, a truly awful car.
It had also become the socialist dream machine. During the 30’s FDR’s idiot socialist Secretary of Labor, Francis Perkins, decided that the cars Americans wanted to buy, and were buying, were too sophisticated for the New Deal. She demanded no more seasonal changes and more standardization (a.k.a. the planned economy). In 1934, she said, “This industry has accepted standardization for one year periods,” she said, “but must extend its practices to include standardization over a period of years... I am old-fashioned enough still to admire the old Model T Ford.”
Thank God for the consumer.
Well, this does appear to come from Time, so what else should we expect?
Mark
I have my eye on a Model T that been in a garage down the Street for over 40 years. I had one that was a hot rod but now I want a stocker with mountain brakes of course.
Amc Pacer Wagon it went thru everyone in our family as a utility car we drove over for over 150000 miles.
Trabbi I still say that my Trabbi was the most reliable car I ever drove over 40000 miles without even a flat tire.
He has alot of cars I would like to own on that list.
Here is a site with some great little Cycle Cars.
According to Webster's, any statement which through omission gives a misleading impression is in fact a lie.