The amazing Henry Ford was certainly no mug when it came to making money. He helped change the face of the motoring landscape with his innovative thinking. He was also broad-minded enough to realise it was not just cars that brought in the cash, and the third vehicle he built was a light commercial.
The ‘Tin Lizzie’, as it was affectionately known, was produced between 1908 and 1927. The first car was completed on September 27th at the Piquette plant at Detroit, Michigan. It was the beginning of a revolution that would define the motor industry.
The car that ‘put America on wheels’ was designed by Childe Harold Wills and two Hungarian immigrants, Joseph A Galamb and Eugene Farkas. Thanks mainly to the design’s simplicity and the novel concept of assembly line production, it became in Henry Ford’s own words: ‘a car for the great multitude’.
The engine was a 2.9 litre four-cylinder sidevalve that could deliver a top speed of 45mph. This was very respectable for its time. Total output was 20 bhp@1600rpm. The unit was also capable of running on ethanol, although the falling cost of petrol and
