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.
What really hurt Ford was that from the end of World War I to the end of the 1920’s, GM’s Chevrolet models were roomier, faster and more technologically advanced than the Ford Model T. As such, they became huge bestsellers for anyone that could afford them.