Ford Model-T Stars in London’s Design Museum Tank

The Design Museum in London is participating in the centennial celebrations for Ford’s iconic Model T, by displaying an example of the car in the famous glass 'tank' outside of the museum. This 1910 example of the Ford Model T has been provided by the Ford Heritage Collection, which is based further down the River Thames from the Design Museum at the Ford Dagenham plant. The car will be on display until April 20

The Model T which is also widely known as the "Tin Lizzie" was launched in October 1908, and apart from quickly becoming the world’s best-selling car, in 1913, Ford revolutionized the industry in whole by creating the world’s first moving assembly line for building cars at its factory in Highland Park. Prior to this, it had taken 12.5 man-hours to assemble a Model T - this was reduced to not more than 1.5 man-hours. -Continued

Notably, for many years the Model T was solely available with black paintwork due to the fact that the black paint dried faster than any other color. Sales and production rose sharply with 250,000 cars built in 1914, more than one million in 1920, and in 1925, when demand was at its peak, almost two million Model Ts of all types left the assembly lines.

Faster production meant of course better prices which reached an all-time record low in 1925, when a buyer could purchase a Model T Runabout for just $260 - less than a third of the original price in 1909. In all, more than 15 million Model Ts were built in Detroit alone, before the very last example, the 15,007, 033rd car, was assembled on 27 May 1927.

Interestingly, the Model T was the very first British-built Ford, with the first-ever example being assembled at Trafford Park on 23 October 1911. It was Britain’s best selling car for many years in the 1920s. More than 300,000 cars were built at Trafford Park before production closed in August 1927.