Each year the club picks a different city in Texas, and will host up to 100 original Model T’s from all over the United States, including a couple from England. They will be headquartered at the Shilo Inn Suites Hotel in Killeen.
The Space City T’s was founded in 1974, and held their first T-Party in 1978 - a one day event in Fredricksburg. It has since grown into a four-day gathering, and is the largest yearly Model T tour in the state.
Henry Ford is credited with putting the world on wheels when he introduced the Model T in 1908. His assembly line dropped the price of a “T” so that the ordinary person could afford one. In the end, over 15 million Model T’s were produced, from 1908 to 1927.
The Railroad and Heritage Museum will host the group of Model T’s from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The museum is at 315 W. Ave. B. For information, call 298-5165.
The Model T’s will then turn up Third Street and west on Industrial and head over to the Texas Early Days Tractor & Engine Show Fairground from noon to 3:30 p.m. for another close up look.
Model T facts
-The Model T was introduced on Oct. 1, 1908. It had a 20-horsepower, four-cylinder engine, reached a top speed of about 45 miles per hour, got about 13 to 21 miles per gallon of gasoline and weighed 1,200 pounds. It was the ninth of Henry Ford’s production cars.
-More than 15 million Model T’s were built and sold. A modest ceremony on May 26, 1927, marked the formal end of Model T production.
-The first models were produced at a factory on Piquette Avenue in Detroit. Beginning in 1910, Model T’s were built at a new Highland Park (Michigan) plant.
s Henry Ford’s initiation of mass production of vehicles on the moving assembly line led to lower car prices and the $5 workday.
-The car was introduced with a price tag of $850. The Model T later sold for as little as $260, without extras, because of production savings Henry Ford passed on to customers.
-Henry Ford called the Model T “the universal car,” a low-cost, reliable vehicle that could be maintained easily and could successfully travel the poor roads of the era.
-The Model T came in nine body styles, all on the same chassis.
-“Lizzie” was one of the most popular of the dozens of nicknames for the Model T.
-In 1914, Ford, with 13,000 employees, produced about 300,000 cars while 299 other companies with 66,350 employees produced about 280,000 vehicles.
-Nearly 20 automotive suppliers who helped Henry Ford build the Model T are still working with Ford Motor Company today.
Information provided by www.ford.com
