Ford Model T: How to Drive The Car That Moved The World - XCAR

before the Ford model-t your transport options were limited unless you were minted you could use a bike or a horse both ran out of steam after a while and didn't allow you to go too far in the grand scheme of things Henry Ford knew this and he wanted to change that fact the answer to his quandary was this the Ford Model T Ford was a farm boy with a passion for taking things apart and figuring out how they worked he also knew that traveling far for him and people like him wasn't really an option traveling far and wide independently was only possible if you had the readies at age 15 he got himself an apprenticeship and later a job at the Edison illuminating company while he was at Edison he started work on his first vehicle a quadricycle powered by gasoline it worked well but it wasn't quite what he really wanted to create he left Edison to form his first company the Detroit automobile company which later folded but after finding success on the racetrack with his tricky to drive sweepstakes racer he got the money to form another company the Henry Ford company he left it and took his name with him it became Cadillac and went on to form the Ford Motor Company interestingly its investors two of them at least with the Dodge Brothers guess what car company they formed after that they made a number of cars the Model A R and s for example many more besides but they were still the preserve of the wealthy not what Ford wanted to build I will build a car for the great multitude it will be large enough for the family but small enough for the individual to run and care for it will be constructed of the best materials by the best men to be hired after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise but it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces he wanted to set the world free on the 1st of October 1908 the first Model T rolled out of Ford's factory gate it was made of lightweight but durable vanadium steel and it was mechanically simple unlike its competition after all the person who bought it was probably going to be the one maintaining it it was also faster than others out there and it was good off-road and in fields because the road network was awful at best its initial starting price of 850 dollars didn't make it the cheapest car available but its abilities more than made up for it thought who had achieved notoriety not only in the fall of his engineering skills but his talent on the racetrack found that his go everywhere car was rather popular in his first year 10,000 Model T's or tin lizzies as they reflection Utley known flew out of his factory gates customers could have them in black red green grey or white from the get-go the Ford was lauded for its skills it was said that the Ford is a better car not because it's cheaper but because it's worth more the people absolutely loved it Forbes network of dealers blacksmiths bike shops and farm machinery specialists who'd had it in other strings of their pose were crying out for more cars in order to meet demand Ford had to get smart with his production so he started to play he gave loan workers a specific job to do on each car one man one job something big was brewing in 1910 a new factory opened at Highland Park designed by Albert Kahn and dubs the Crystal Palace thanks to its many vast windows it's allowed more cars to be built they still weren't being built quick enough though this is where a Chicago meatpacking plant comes into play Ford saw that a whole cow entered the facility went along a line and left in bits with workers taking off their relevant chunk to go wherever it needed to go he figured that if that process could be used to deconstruct something then why couldn't it be used to construct something the cars would enter the facility in bits and go along the line and leave as a whole car in 1914 he got an automated production line there was a belt that moved around 6 feet a minute now this a two-sided face it cut the production time with the Model T from 12 and a half hours to just 93 minutes and it makes reduction unlocked cheaper now rather than keep prices high and make bigger profit he decided to pass the savings on because after all you could sell more cards to more people in early 1914 Ford announced a solution to a problem he'd been having his workers were going full pelt for 10 hours a day for no more money that they could get elsewhere for less work so he cut the working day by two hours and doubled his workers money the announcement caused a riot at his plant as loads of people wanted of $5 shorter working day it wasn't all altruism after all a well paid worker is a happy worker and a potential customer which some of them too came by that point the model team was cheap reliable and a known quantity a 1-point over half the cars in the US were Model T's they were used for business for pleasure for everything really even in World War one they were praised for their abilities for dream of freeing farmers from fields was coming true and it also meant that city dwellers could go out and explore the so there was a knock-on effect to when the TNT production the roads were terrible the only paved Street would probably be a town's Main Street as more people drove more roads were paved so not only did the Model T allow people to go traveling it literally changed the landscape due to his popularity now this particular tin Lizzie was built in 1915 which makes it near has done it 100 years old he also noticed it's red not every Model T built was of course black that would have been silly but there was a spell where thought only produced black cars because right was the only paint that would dry quick enough to keep up with a production process this is the single most complicated machine I have ever sat in there are three pedals and they all do exactly the opposite of what you think they should do first off the throttle pedal is actually the brake the brake pedal is actually reverse and the clutch is first gear but when you put it into second gear by moving the handbrake from the middle position to all the way down there are three positions if you have it all the way back the car is stationary so you move it from the middle down to the floor they lift your foot off of the clutch pedal and then you control the car speed using the throttle which is here on the side of the wheel where your indicators would be the engine timing is on the right it can go quite quickly when you put it into the highest gear it'll do 3540 years that's quite fast enough because the sensation of speed in this even though you're very high up is mildly terrifying what's interesting about the gearbox is the fact that the forward and reverse pedals are next to one another the reason for that is so when these things got stuck in ditches you can easily rock it back and forth out that was clever thinking on Ford's part even though it's a hundred years old you don't have to mollycoddling you don't have to be careful with it you gotta manhandle it and treat it for the purposes with which it was intended which is driving on terrible roads in terrible conditions what I will say about it though unbelievably comfortable it expects on this to ride terribly but it really doesn't the Model T and all its applications are simply astounding you could do pretty much anything with one of these I was told the story that they attached a plane Otto starts at the back of one of them you can use them as tractors they were use distractors quite a lot conversion kits were sold the myriad of options and customization things you could buy for these was mind-blowing I've seen one of the books with the accessories in it you name it you could get it for a Model T this one's got some quite cute touches the horn for example makes an adorable noise check this and it has a hand round wiper so if the rain gets a little too much just lean forward and clear your glass there is nothing quite like the Model T what you think it does something doesn't it's entirely counterintuitive it's very bizarre but it's a snapshot of what motoring was like at the dawn of well motoring for everybody for people like you and me not just those that live in the big houses and get the good seats at the theater this is something else didn't need a horse anymore didn't need to feed the horse didn't need to stop every 100 miles to give it a rest all you need doulas gasps this thing up and off you go again so right now we're in low gear which means my foot is nailed on the clutch so to get into high gear give it a bit more throttle and then put the handbrake all the way down lift your foot gently off of the clutch and away we go it's giving a bit more gas we want to we're currently doing 18 miles an hour and I'm terrified so I've got my feet on any pedals at all having it in the high gear is rather like having cruise control because you're not really in control the car your feet on on any pedals but with a normal cruise control system to disengage it you either w foot on the brake the throttle or the clutch or whatever we'll just press stop with this you have to put your foot on the clutch as hard as possible lean forward and drag the handbrake back to the middle I won't forget driving it but I'm pretty sure if this opportunity comes around again I will have no idea how to drive it it's really well-made it's beautifully made the wheels are stunning the steering wheel beautiful wood and the design of it is very timeless at one point a large quantity of cars in the world look like this and they look like this because people bought them not only because they were cheap but because of absolutely everything they could do which happen to be absolutely everything the Model T was the idea of a man who saw something and wanted to change it he saw landlocked people and wanted to free them he worked towards that goal and ended up changing the world he didn't just sell a car that set the world free what was once the preserve of the rich became something everybody could afford they could go further go faster use it for work or play this is arguably the most important car of the 20th century without it and the techniques pioneered in its creation we wouldn't be able to pick up a backpack or an SUV or a saloon or anything this is the car and started it all

Channel: Carfection

Views: 417,644

Rating: 4.9254546 out of 5

Keywords: XCAR Films, Cars, Supercar, xcar, sports car, engine, review, turbo, crashes, races, drive, track, drift, Ford, Ford Motor Company (Automobile Company), Henry Ford, Ford Model T (Automobile Model), Model T, fifth gear, top gear, assembly line, 100 years later, hot rod, driving, start up, commercial, documentary, ford model a, model a restoration, model b, ford gt, ford gt 2015, gt 2016, raptor 2015, mustang 2015, vs ford, audi, General Motors (Business Operation), shelby, 1920s, bmw

Id: 8OjQlnE6zBg

Length: 12min 0sec (720 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 15 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

My great uncle had a Model T in his shed, along with a Model A. He showed me all the controls, and his explanations were just as boggling as seeing it demonstrated.

By the time of the model A, it had gone to a mostly modern setup, though there was still a hand-throttle in addition to the foot pedal. The foot throttle was also tiny - just a little silver dollar sized button for your toe.

I think it had a spark advance where the turn signal stalk would be, but it's ll rather fuzzy - I haven't seen it in over 20 years.

[u/KnightToF3]

Anyone else notice the camber of the front wheels?

[u/jivarie]

Man, it's hard to imagine what cars will look like in another 100 years. Whether or not some filmmaker will care much about my mazda 3 in a century.

[u/Michelanvalo]

My grandfather had two Model Ts. A mid 1920s Tudor (can't remember the exact year) that was black with green wheels. The other one, all I remember it being red, a brighter red than the one in the video. He sold the red one and bought a green 1929 Model A Roadster. His cars were pretty famous locally and they were used in all kinds of government events. Road openings, business openings, parades, that kind of stuff. His cars were always there. When he passed, one uncle inherited the Model T and the other inherited the Model A. The Model A was most recently used for a road opening, seen here.

No credit for the car given to my family though. Jerks.

Edit: Also, the sense of speed because of the open nature of it? Totally real. They are terrifying to drive at modern road speeds.

[u/PretzelsMkMeThirsty]

Great video, but I couldn't help imagining this in the standing talking scenes.

[u/eneka]

Wow, didn't realize how durable it was, kinda makes sense though since they didn't have paved roads back then

[u/[deleted]]

Your videos are always superb, great work on this one too! I was taught how to drive a 1924 Model T roadster a couple of months ago and you are definitely right about the speed. Twenty miles per hour (32kph) seemed quite a bit faster than it really was.

[u/torquesteer]

Love your videos, Alex! Especially the ones where you just let the car people talk about their passion and not try to editorialize.

[u/Jpaynesae1991]

isn't it weird how difficult it was to drive a car back then, like a full body workout. Now its so easy