ClassicCar

Let's go back to where it all started: The Model T Ford changed the face of American automotive history by changing the automobile from a plaything of the elitist rich to something the common people could afford. For the first time in automobile history, ALMOST EVERYONE COULD NOW HAVE THEIR OWN CAR. The common people no longer had to be solely at the mercy of mass transit or a horse and buggy to go longer distances in a short amount of time. People could now explore the countryside, take vacation trips, do business in big cities or the rural areas at their leisure.

Remember the opening scene in "The Music Man," where all the traveling salesmen are lamenting their lack of success in the train car? "Why, it's the Model T Ford, made the trouble, made the people wanna go, wanna get, wanna get, wanna get up and go--seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, fourteen, twenty-two, twenty-three miles to the county seat!"

It was the great American liberator of the 20th century and changed the face of America itself, and because of this the automobile thus became firmly ensconced in the American soul and virtually identified with America as well. I believe that this could only have been possible in America, our nation being the antithesis of elitist, feudal Europe.

The subsequent Model A (and other competitive marques, such as Chevrolet and Willys, which was once #2) continued this phenomenon of the "everyman's car." I believe these automobiles, more than any other, contributed to the American car culture as we know it today.