The Ford vehicle that won Car of the 20th Century and changed how we motor forever

When the Car of the 20th Century was named in 1999, voted on by industry experts, journalists and the public, the winner was so far ahead of its rivals, it almost lapped them, writes Jessica Casey.

That car was the Model T, and it left similarly iconic names such as the Mini, the Volkswagen Beetle and the Porsche 911 trailing in its wake.

Known affectionately as the ‘Tin Lizzie’, the Model T was manufactured from 1908 to 1927 at Ford plants around the world, including Cork, where the last one ever made wheeled off the production line.

A total of 16.5 million of them were sold and even now, 90 years after its demise, it is, remarkably, the eighth best-selling car of all tine.

Behind the statistics lies an amazing success story, and a product that changed millions of people’s lives.

For the Model T brought motoring to the masses. The cars were not only beautiful in design, but affordable to the common man and woman among the burgeoning middle classes in the US and Europe.

It was perhaps the finest example of Henry Ford’s genius for business. He said of the Model T:

“I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise.

Read more: The genius innovator behind the Ford empire

“But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one — and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.”

By 1918, half of all the cars in the US were Model Ts — and although Henry did later write that “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black”, early models came in only grey, green, blue, and red!

In making his ‘only black’ comment, Henry assuredly had his eye on the bottom line and the cost and difficulty of mass producing cars of different colours.

However, Even when the Model T adopted the ‘only black’ mode, more than 30 types of black paint were used on various parts of the car.

Now a beloved collectors’ item on the vintage cars scene, there are reckoned to be around 20 Model T Ford cars still active in Cork. Bill Cuddy, honorary secretary of the Irish Model T Ford Club, based in Midleton, owns six of them.

He and his wife Valerie often take a 1926 model on road trips. Last year they travelled to Belgium with the English Model T Club, on the historic trail of the battlefields of World War I.

“We were based in Ypres in Belgium, where the British forces were based for all that time,” said Bill, 70.

“We drove to the ferry in Rosslare and arrived in Cherbourg and we drove all the way up through France to Belgium.

“It took us about two and a half days to get up there, it was long day’s driving now. After the trip was over, with the people from England, we drove back to Cherbourg and that took me about five or six days, doing about 50 miles a day.”

William says although his Model T is 91 years old, it’s a very reliable car for road trips.

“Just give it plenty of liquids and it will serve well,” he added.

Last year, William and his wife also travelled to Holland in the Model T, spending a week travelling around Amsterdam and other areas.

They have also travelled along the Wild Atlantic Way with members of the Irish Model T Club.

“I was never more impressed with such an initiative that was put into place,” says Bill of the tourist trail.

“The road surfaces are excellent, the signposting is excellent, the scenery is excellent, and the whole driving experience, specifically in a car such as ours, it’s really top class.”

In 2000, when the residents of Ballinascarthy in West Cork decided to erect a statue in honour of Henry Ford, whose father, William, was born in the townland, there was really only one choice of vehicle they could come up with. The Model T of course.