Ford Model T turns 114 years old

Bouncy, light, and a little tight inside explains the ride of a Model T.

It's been 114 years since Henry Ford turned out what is considered the first affordable automobile and the Model T remains a historic treasure in Ford Motor Co.'s story. To celebrate, Model T lovers and enthusiasts gathered Sunday at the Ford Piquette Avenue Museum in Detroit for an afternoon of free Model T rides, food trucks, other vendors and a chance to tour the museum. The celebration took place during the last day of the North America International Auto Show at Huntington Place, several miles south, in downtown Detroit.

A happy birthday sign hung high over a craft area designated for kids. The craft of the day was a recycled piece of cardboard toilet paper roll, decorative tape and wooden wheels to create a car model.

The smell of chili filled the air from Great Lakes Dawg House, a mobile food stand that offered hot dogs that you could fix up with chili, relish, onions, or whatever your taste buds desired. Six feet away, "partygoers" could get a "Drunken Lamb" sandwich from Belly It, a unique sandwich, casual food truck. The Drunken Lamb sandwich consisted of Hennesy marinated lamb chops with toppings that included iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, feta sauce, and pepper relish served on a pita. If those sandwiches didn't appease your appetite, then you could head over to The Best Damn Salad, for a healthier option of salads that featured shrimp, veggies, catfish and other options to choose from.

The only thing missing was birthday hats and of course, a birthday cake but viewing the intricateness and uniqueness of the Model T was the best party favor as guest could get.

Grandson of an original Piquette Plant engineer

Bruce Balough, of Canton, Ohio, delivered a now restored 1908 Model SR Roadster to the Piquette Plant in honor of his grandfather, Charles Balough, who he said was a part of the original Model T engineering team.

Grandpa Balough began working for Ford in 1906 and helped do drawings for the Model S series and then features on the Model T. His grandson found the 1908 Model SR at a swap meet in Pennsylvania and spent five years restoring it. Bruce Balough called it a fun time being able to work on something that his grandpa was a part of, despite never meeting his grandpa before his death. He said he learned about his grandfather's life through his grandmother.

"He came to the U.S. in 1903, he had $9 in his pocket, and all he could say in English was buttered toast," Bruce Balough said with a chuckle. " But he spoke read and wrote Hungarian, German, Romanian and French, and finished his college degree when he was 19 years old. He was a smart man."

While his grandfather didn't stay too long in Michigan and eventually moved to Ohio. The legacy of the Model T and factory still matters to the grandson.

"It's nice that people have taken the time to save this factory because it has such an important part of history," Balough said. "And the fact that there's so many people here that are so passionate and what they do."

This is not the first time Balough has made an appearance at the museum but he definitely felt he needed to be there today — "my grandfather was there for the birth of the Model T. I need to be there too." The museum will be storing his car for the winter.

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Riding in a Model T

The Model T ride is a little bumpy now with all those Michigan potholes, but it's also a light ride.

Mike Skinner, who drove a 1914 Model T Touring and was among those providing rides, says that the Model T was revolutionary.

"Well, they're the car that put the world on wheels when they came out in 1908," Skinner said. He said it had a planetary transmission and a strong but lightweight vanadium steel chassis with an eight-inch clearance that could go just about anywhere.

Skinner said what really made the car special was the price tag. In 1909, a Model T cost about $850, according to the Detroit Historical Society. The cars were originally assembled by hand, but as demand grew, production shifted to a plant in Highland Park, which was considered the birthplace of the moving assembly line.

As far as what a Model T may be in today's society, Skinner has an idea.

"It would be lightweight and would be inexpensive," he said. " It would probably be pretty elementary of course, now you have to have backup cameras and safety features, but it still would be an automobile that most people or everyone could afford."

Mother and daughter duo Elaine Waldbott and Catherine Waldbott came back for another day of touring the museum and riding in the Model Ts Sunday after previously visiting the museum on Saturday.

"Oh, it was so much fun," Catherine said. "It was like taking a ride at the amusement park, it was very bouncy."

Catherine was born and raised in Detroit and felt that seeing the Model T was a must.

"Beautiful seeing what it was like for people back in back in the day when they drove their cars and to experience it," she said.

A history lesson at the Piquette Museum

As some enjoyed the outdoor activities and soaked in the coolness coming from the fall air, others headed inside for warmth and to explore the museum.

For the $17 admission price for adults, guests could tour the Piquette Museum and learn about Henry Ford and his team's process of creating the Model T.

With two floors of artifacts to show, docent Jerry Porter started guests with a history lesson on Ford's office. An average-sized room where guests could peek in and compare it to a photo that was taken by Ford in the office. The office space features a setup with Ford's desk covered in drawings, the camera still planted in the corner, and a white coat sitting still on a coat rack.

On display, you can view one of the oldest Model Ts assembled in the Piquette Plant. It's the 1909 Model T Touring, a reddish but not too red hue, with big white tires on red wheels. Brass metals and vanadium steel were new materials with this innovation. It weighed in at only 1,200 pounds compared to cars today that average around 3,000 pounds.

This model was deemed stronger and lighter than the ones before with a 22 horsepower engine. Getting familiar with roads, this version also offered flexible three-point suspension for rough terrain.

Vehicles made at the Piquette Plant featured a Ford logo with wings.

After guests awed over the Models A through T, Porter took them to the second floor of the museum for a more inside look at the rise of the Model T.

Ford had a "Secret Experiment Room" which it's deemed as the birthplace of the Model T. Sketches on a blackboard, a rocking chair, and different types of engines sat on display.

Guests were also able to learn about members of Ford's team and how he came up with the idea of the Model T.

• Step 1: Select a skilled team, that crew included Edward Huff "Spider," a self-taught electrical engineer who was just 28 years old in 1907. For the Model T, Huff worked on designing the flywheel magneto and ignition coils, he was an independent worker, not a Ford employee.

• Step 2: Sketch each idea

• Step 3: Make detailed drawings of the best ideas, Edsel Ford, the son of Ford who was only 14 years-old learned about automotive design while observing the process.

• Step 4: Create prototype parts, C.H. Wills was "the metallurgist and design engineer" who worked on mechanical design, developed metal heat treatment techniques, and adapted vanadium steel for automotive uses, at the time he was 29 years old.

• Step 5: Build the parts and test them on the car, other masterminds were Charles Sorensen, "Cast Iron Charlie" or "the foundry wizard" who worked on creating wooden models or metal castings.

• Step 6: Test drive prototype cars, C.J. Smith "Smitty" or "the machinist and test driver" was a Canadian who arrived in the U.S. in the 1900s. He was in his early 20s when the first Model T cars were being worked on. Smitty used a lathe and other machine tools to make the prototype parts. He also was part of road testing the prototype cars.

• Step 7: Introduce the new car, on March 19, 1908, Henry Ford announced to dealers the Model T was coming. So many people were interested in the new lightweight, inexpensive, easy to drive, easy to repair, performative car on bad roads that the company became flooded with orders. The car officially went into production on September 27, 1908.

The museum also features variations of the Model T from a 1921 Model T Chemical Fire Truck to a 1925 Model T which was converted into a pickup truck. Farmers wanted Model Ts, businesses began to use them, and they became a staple in American culture.

Jalana Alonoz-Ginyard, a former Detroiter and now a teacher at Detroit Enterprise Academy, showed up to the event after hearing about it on WDET.FM.

"They were talking about the anniversary of the Model T and I said I'm gonna come check it out because I've never been here before, been to Piquette Street, been in this area, but never been here," Ginyard said.

She also says that she learned a lot about the Model T cars on her tour of the museum.

"I didn't know so many different models were built and I certainly didn't know all of the steps and what it took," she said. "And the prices of the car was a lot different, it was cheap, but yet expensive for that time."

As a teacher, she wished more of her students knew about this history.

"I teach second grade and it would be nice if my students could come or even some of the older students from my school because they don't really know about car history," she said. "This is really interesting."

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday year-round. Tickets for adults are $17, students and youth tickets are $10, and children under the age of 4, can get in free.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ford Piquette Museum hosts Model T birthday celebration