1915 Ford Model T Landaulet
Registration no. not registered

After spending his formative years as a motor manufacturer experimenting with a variety of models, Henry Ford pared the company's range down to just one - the legendary Model T - destined to become the world's first truly mass-produced automobile. Introduced in October 1908, the Model T boasted a simple 100"-wheelbase chassis that contrived to be both lightweight and durable thanks to the pioneering use of vanadium steel, while its track width of 56" was the same as that of a horse-drawn wagon, thereby enabling the Model T safely to negotiate rutted dirt roads.

The engine was a 20hp four-cylinder sidevalve displacing 2,896cc, and the transmission a simple-to-use two-speed planetary unit. It is said that throughout the Model T's 19-year production life the thing that changed most often was the price, although in actual fact Ford made detail improvements to the car on an annual basis. Notable early developments were the adoption of electric lighting in 1915, a switch from brass to a black-finished radiator the following year and the option of an electric starter in 1919. By 1915 Ford had ceased to offer a range of colours, settling on just one - black - because the paint dried more quickly, although some dealers began repainting cars in brighter colours after receiving them from the factory.

Production of 1916 Model Ts began in September 1915. Foremost among the new season's changes were a switch to steel for the hood (bonnet) and to cast-iron for the transmission cover, both these items having been aluminium, and the relocation of the fuel tank from the rear of the chassis to under the driver's seat.

Purchased by the current vendor in 1991, this 'Brass Era' Model T comes with a US Certificate of Title dated 1985 in the name of James L Finney of Oblong, Illinois, and an Irish Vehicle Excise Duty Certificate.