[17] The relatively low price was partly the result of Ford's efficient fabrication, including assembly line production instead of individual handcrafting.

[24] 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.

Being the first reliable, easily maintained, mass-market motorized transportation made the Model T into a great success: Within a few days after release, 15,000 orders were placed.

[28] The first production Model T was built on August 12, 1908,[29] and left the factory on September 27, 1908, at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan.

The Model T was Ford's first automobile mass-produced on moving assembly lines with completely interchangeable parts, marketed to the middle class.

[34] The Model T was designed by Childe Harold Wills, and Hungarian immigrants Joseph A. Galamb (main engineer)[21][35] and Eugene Farkas.

[36] Henry Love, C. J. Smith, Gus Degner and Peter E. Martin were also part of the team,[37] as were Galamb's fellow Hungarian immigrants Gyula Hartenberger and Károly Balogh.

[44] The ignition system used in the Model T was an unusual one, with a low-voltage magneto incorporated in the flywheel, supplying alternating current to trembler coils to drive the spark plugs.

The Model T's transmission is controlled with three floor-mounted pedals, a revolutionary feature for its time,[47] and a lever mounted to the road side of the driver's seat.

Power reaches the differential through a single universal joint attached to a torque tube which drives the rear axle; some models (typically trucks, but available for cars, as well) could be equipped with an optional two-speed rear Ruckstell axle, shifted by a floor-mounted lever which provides an underdrive gear for easier hill climbing.

[50][51] Aftermarket transmissions generally fit one of four categories: Murray Fahnestock, a Ford expert in the era of the Model T, particularly advised the use of auxiliary transmissions for the enclosed Model T's, such as the Ford Sedan and Coupelet, for three reasons: their greater weight put more strain on the drivetrain and engine, which auxiliary transmissions could smooth out; their bodies acted as sounding boards, echoing engine noise and vibration at higher engine speeds, which could be lessened with intermediate gears; and owners of the enclosed cars spent more to buy them, and thus likely had more money to enhance them.

[50] Model T suspension employed a transversely mounted semi-elliptical spring for each of the front and rear beam axles, which allowed a great deal of wheel movement to cope with the dirt roads of the time.

Clinchers needed much higher pressure than today's tires, typically 60 psi (410 kPa), to prevent them from leaving the rim at speed.

Although a Model T could be adapted to run on track as narrow as 2 ft (61 cm) gauge (Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington RR, Maine has one), this was a more complex alteration.

In his autobiography, Ford reported that in 1909 he told his management team, "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.

[56] At that period Ford used two similar types of the so-called Japan black paint, one as a basic coat applied directly to the metal and another as a final finish.

These included the disruption of dye sources during World War I and the advent, by the mid-1920s, of new nitrocellulose lacquers that were faster-drying and more scratch-resistant and obviated the need for multiple coats.

It could travel a rocky, muddy farm lane, cross a shallow stream, climb a steep hill, and be parked on the other side to have one of its wheels removed and a pulley fastened to the hub for a flat belt to drive a bucksaw, thresher, silo blower, conveyor for filling corn cribs or haylofts, baler, water pump, electrical generator, and many other applications.

[58] During this era, entire automobiles (including thousands of Model Ts) were hacked apart by their owners and reconfigured into custom machinery permanently dedicated to a purpose, such as homemade tractors and ice saws.

The American LaFrance company modified more than 900 Model Ts for use in firefighting, adding tanks, hoses, tools and a bell.

The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant could not keep up with demand for the Model T, and only 11 cars were built there during the first full month of production.

[71] As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in three-minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, reducing production time from 12+1⁄2 hours before to 93 minutes by 1914, while using less manpower.

As other companies offered comfort and styling advantages, at competitive prices, the Model T lost market share and became barely profitable.

Racers and enthusiasts, forerunners of modern hot rodders, used the Model Ts' blocks to build popular and cheap racing engines, including Cragar, Navarro, and, famously, the Frontenacs ("Fronty Fords")[77] of the Chevrolet brothers, among many others.

[71] As Ford had market dominance in North America during the 1910s, other competitors reduced their prices to stay competitive, while offering features that were not available on the Model T such as a wide choice of colors, body styles and interior appearance and choices, and competitors also benefited from the reduced costs of raw materials and infrastructure benefits to supply chain and ancillary manufacturing businesses.

[86] The Ford Model T was the first automobile built by multiple countries simultaneously, since they were being produced in Walkerville, Canada, and in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester, England, starting in 1911.

After World War I ended in 1918, they were assembled in Germany, Argentina,[87] France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and Japan.

The heavy losses of horses during the World War made the Model T attractive as a new power source for European farmers.

[25] As independent dealers, the franchisees grew rich and publicized not just the Ford but the very concept of automobiling; local motor clubs sprang up to help new drivers and to explore the countryside.

Many steel Model T parts are still manufactured today, and even fiberglass replicas of their distinctive bodies are produced, which are popular for T-bucket style hot rods (as immortalized in the Jan and Dean surf music song "Bucket T", which was later recorded by The Who).