Automobiles

The First Cars  At the turn of the century there were many efforts to invent automobiles  One early design was a large tricycle with a small motor and hand bars

Henry Ford  Henry Ford popularized the car in North America  He invented the ‘assembly line’, the method still used today in modern auto manufacturing facilities

The Assembly Line  Many workers worked together using mass production to build a car piece by piece  One group (or individual) add wheels, another group (or individual) adds the motor, another group (or individual) adds gas tank, and so on Each worker or group did a single job on many cars Called the “specialization of labour”

The Cost  Using the assembly line Ford could produce cars cheaper and more efficiently  The cost of a “Tin Lizzie” in 1917 was $495  By 1925 so many cars were rolling off Ford’s assembly line in Windsor that the price dropped to $424

The Model-T  known as the Tin Lizzie, Flivver, T ‑ Model Ford, or T  Produced by Henry Ford from 1908 through 1927  The Model T set 1908 as the historic year that the automobile became popular

The Model-T  It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, the car that opened travel to the common middle-class North American  The first production Model T was produced on August 12, 1908 and left the factory on September 27, 1908  The Model T was the first automobile mass produced on assembly lines with completely interchangeable parts, marketed to the middle class

Lives changed by the car…  Autos changed the way Canadians lived  Families could drive km to visit friends and make it home for dark  Weekend outings became more popular  Farmers have more access to the consumer market

Status  Cars became a status symbol (and still are today)  Exotic makes like Auburn, Cadillac, Lincoln and Cord could reach 160km/hr  Shared road with lower end cars such as the Model-T and Chevrolets

Prevalence  The number of new cars increased from 838,672 in 1926 to 945,672 in 1927 (an increase of 107,000)  In 1927 approximately 9,832 km of new roads were created because of the increased prevalence of cars on the road and people owning cars

Problems  Cars in the 20’s didn’t have much use in the winter  Even if you could start the car, the roads were much too dangerous to drive on  Often the cars would get stuck in the mud  Ontario drivers were not licensed until 1927 and then you only had to have previously driven 800km, had no physical/mental impairments and paid $1  Speed limits were set at 30-40km/hour in 1919 (10km/hour when a horse- drawn carriage was near)