Ford Model T Coloring Page: Free Printable PDF Sheet

Ford Model T: History & Fun Facts

A Car Built to Put America on Wheels

Henry Ford launched the Model T in 1908, aiming it squarely at ordinary families instead of the wealthy buyers who had bought most early automobiles up to that point. Production ran all the way through 1927, an unusually long run for a single design, and the touring body traced on this page reflects the fuller, more refined shape the car wore in its later years.

The Moving Assembly Line Changes Everything

Ford introduced the moving assembly line at his Highland Park plant in 1913, cutting the time it took to build a single Model T from more than 12 hours down to about 93 minutes. That speed let Ford drop the price year after year, and by the 1920s a basic Model T cost a fraction of what it did when the car first went on sale.

Wooden Spokes and Skinny Exposed Wheels

Early automobiles like the Model T used tall, thin wheels with real wooden spokes, a carryover from horse-drawn carriage building that predated steel wheel manufacturing for cars. Those exposed wheels, with no fender skirts covering them, are one of the clearest visual signals that separate a brass-era car like this one from any vehicle built after the 1930s.

Nineteen Colors, Then Just Black

Contrary to the popular idea that Ford only ever offered the Model T in black, the earliest cars actually came in several colors including gray, green, and red. Ford switched to an all-black finish around 1914 because black paint dried faster on the assembly line, a practical choice that later became one of the car's most famous features.

A Crank Start and a Simple Folding Top

Drivers started a Model T with a hand crank at the front of the car rather than a key, a detail that made every trip begin with a bit of physical effort before electric starters became common on later cars. The canvas top folded back into the frame shown behind the cabin on this page, letting owners open the car up for a summer drive or raise it quickly if the weather turned.

Over 15 Million Sold Worldwide

Ford built more than 15 million Model Ts before ending production in 1927, a number that made it the best-selling car in the world for decades afterward. That huge production run put the Model T in driveways across rural America for the first time, changing how far families could travel and where they could live relative to a job or a town center.

The Tin Lizzie Nickname

Owners and reporters began calling the Model T the Tin Lizzie sometime in the 1910s, a nickname that stuck so firmly it eventually appeared in newspaper cartoons and popular songs of the era. Nobody agrees on exactly where the name started, but it captured the car's plain, no-frills reputation next to the pricier, fancier automobiles still being built for wealthy buyers at the same time. Farm families in particular leaned on that nickname with real affection, since a sturdy, easy-to-fix Tin Lizzie often did double duty hauling milk cans and pulling small farm equipment between chores.