Henry Ford
Model ‘T’ Ford
&
The Cycle of Prosperity
The Model ‘T’ Ford
•Henry Ford set out tobuild a car whicheveryone could affordto buy.
•It was slow, ugly anddifficult to drive, andwas nick named the‘Tin Lizzie’ by theAmerican people.
The Model ‘T’ Ford
•The attraction of theModel T Ford was that itsprice never increased.
•Costing $1200 in 1909,the price in 1928 was only$295.
•By 1929 Ford wasproducing more than onecar per minute
Mass Production
•Ford was able to sell cars cheaply becausethey were mass-produced and every part wasStandardised (only one colour and one enginesize were available).
•By producing large numbers of cars on anAssembly Line Ford needed fewer skilledworkers, and that cut the cost of payingwages.
Mass Production
Ford invented the idea of using an AssemblyLine to speed up production.
Key Quote – Henry Ford
How would this have helped to cut production costs?
‘A customer canhave any colourhe likes for hiscar so long asit's black’
Assembly Lines
‘… each man and eachmachine do only onething ... the thing is tokeep everything inmotion and take thework to the man not theman to the work’
Henry Ford 1925
Car Industry
Mass productions &Standardisation lead toincreased car sales.
More Standardisedparts are needed
More jobs arecreated in otherindustries.
Steel
Glass
Rubber
Leather
More people withjobs means thatthey can afford tobuy a car!
Jobs in Diners,Motels & GasStations.
More Oilis used.
More roadsare built.
The CycleofProsperity!
Car Production & Cycle ofProsperity
•Car production used up 20% of America'ssteel, 80% of her rubber, 75% of her plateglass and 65% of her leather.
•By the end of the 1920s American cars usedseven billion gallons of petrol a year.
•This helped to create jobs in the oil industryand made the oil state of Texas rich.
Aerial view of the Rouge plant in 1930
In 1929, there were 81,000 men working in this one factory
Summary
•Cycle of Prosperity
•Mass Production
•Assembly Lines
•Unskilled Workers
•Standardisation.
•Model ‘T’ Ford
•Tin Lizzie
Key Words
Exam Question 1
•How reliable is thissource to anhistorian writingabout the effects ofmass production inthe USA in the1920s?
A small town in Texas, 1925
Exam Question 2
•Does this quote fully explainhow the system of massproduction worked? Use yourown knowledge and thesource to explain your answer.
‘A customer can haveany colour he likes forhis car so long as it'sblack’
Question 1
•Some cars are similar i.e.Standardisation.
•Model T Fords
•Cycle of Prosperity –people can afford to buycars.
•Only one town. Notenough evidence for thewhole of the USA.
•Texas was a rich oilproducing state whichmeant more peoplecould afford to buy carsthan other parts of theUSA.
For
Against
A good answer = an answer which includesone from each column.
Question 2Level
•All the cars are the samecolour – black - i.e.Standardisation.
•No mention ofAssembly Lines
•No mention of cheapunskilled workers.
For
Against
A good answer = an answer which includesone from each column.
