The Ford Model T is born. On October 1, 1908, the Ford Model T was introduced to the American market. Henry Ford and the company’s engineers spent five years producing a reliable and affordable automobile for the mass market. On the twentieth attempt, the new automaker settled on a particularly promising design; the car was named “T,” after the twentieth letter of the alphabet. Affectionately known as “Tin Lizzy,” the Model T revolutionized the automotive industry by offering every average American an affordable and safe car. Ford’s use of revolutionary mass production methods, such as assembly lines, allowed for peak production rates of one Model T every 24 seconds. By the time the Model T went out of production in 1927, over 16 million had been sold.
