Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
Before there were Elon Musk and Tesla, there were Henry Ford and the Model T. And between Tesla's state-of-the-art cars and the rise of self-driving vehicles, it's difficult to remember how far we've come since the first-ever automobiles built in Europe in the late 1800s.
When Henry Ford built the first Model T, specifically, in 1908, he sparked an automotive movement across the US, the effects of which we are still feeling today.
Here are 13 photos of the Model T era, which revolutionized driving in America.
Although the first car was built in Europe, the US came to dominate the industry in the early 1900s. Henry Ford was at the forefront when he implemented the assembly line.
At the start of the 20th century, Henry Ford implemented the assembly line in his factory, which allowed one person to work on a single task repetitively and then pass the product off to another person to complete a different task. The revolutionary manufacturing model helped Ford introduce the Model T in 1908.
He started the assembly line in the famous Ford factory in Detroit, Michigan.
It took 84 steps to create a Model T in the Ford factory.
Since each worker only had to specialize in one step of the car-making process, Ford was able to hire unskilled workers with no background in the automotive industry.
Feeling the threat of competition, Ford paid his workers above normal rates because he didn't want them going to other factories to find work.
Before the game-changing Model T, cars and carriages were luxury items, reserved for the elite.
The Model T, however, was affordable and built for everyday, ordinary people.
There were no tariffs placed on cars because they were made within the States, keeping the prices low. Ford was also using cheaper material to build his Model T cars. At its peak, the Model T cost just $575, which was less than the average annual salary for most Americans.
The Model T was equipped with a 22-horsepower and four-cylinder engine.
At the time, women had just earned the right to vote and saw the new car as another form of freedom.
"By owning a Ford car, a woman can with ease widen her sphere of interests without extra time or effort," one advertisement read at the time. "She can accomplish more daily, yet easily keep pace with her usual schedule of domestic obligations."
Some dogs even enjoyed a ride in the famous car.
The Model T was popular amongst most.
Meanwhile, others turned the famous design into snowmobiles to get around in the tougher climates.
Virgil D. White turned his Model T into a snowmobile in 1913. At the time, roads were still underdeveloped and plowing was rarely done in the middle of nowhere. The car, paired with sled riders, helped people in out-of-way areas get around.
By the end of the '20s, there were millions of Model Ts on the road.
