Making History

Although the Highland Park and River Rouge plants made more of them, the Model T was born right here, in this humble little building at the corner of Piquette and Beaubien in Detroit. This is also where the very first experiments in creating a moving assembly line, which used ropes to pull vehicles to different stations, were carried out. This place reeks of history.

The Piquette Plant has recently been lovingly restored to nearly its exact 1908 condition in honor of the 100th birthday of the Model T, right down to Henry Ford's office, the maple floors, and the sign on the building.

The Ford Model T, the "Everyman's Car" that changed the world in so many ways, was concepted and designed in a little room on the third floor of this very building. And the first twelve thousand of them rolled out its back doors, shiny, colorful (The "any color so long as it's black" Model T moratorium didn't start until 1914. In 1908 they were offered in green, red, blue, and gray...black wasn't even an option), and full of hope. But by early 1909 it became obvious that a much larger facility with a moving assembly line would be needed to meet the exploding demand. So Model T production was moved to a huge new plant a few miles away in Highland Park in January 1910.

By 1914 the T was outselling every other car in the world combined. By 1921 T's accounted for a full 60% of the new car market worldwide. The T was so successful Ford didn't advertise at all between 1917 and 1923. T's were manufactured in plants in the US, Canada, England, Germany, Argentina, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan. By 1925, Ford was pumping out one Model T every ten seconds, around the clock. As Henry Ford said repeatedly, his only problem with the Model T was figuring out how to make enough of them.

By 1927 the model T was nearing the end of it's useful life. Cars were getting more modern and Ford needed a new model to move forward. As the Tin Lizzy breathed it's last breaths, Ford retooled to manufacture it's next history-making vehicle: the fast and sleek, thoroughly modern Model A.

But that long chain of success started here, in this little plant. From the humblest of beginnings the Tin Lizzy grew up to make history in about every way a car can. It put the world on wheels. Modern B&A plants are sprawling, automated monsters, millions of square feet in size. Piquette was only 67,000. But it's something to treasure, because history was, literally, made here.