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Inside the Ford Piquette Avenue Museum – Home of the Model T

Before the moving assembly line, the Model T was born and built at Piquette Avenue

Gerry Malloy
Published: October 31, 2017, 11:00 AM
Updated: December 21, 2017, 11:00 PM

Birthplace of the Model T

The success stories of Henry Ford’s Model T and the moving assembly line are well known but the car was born of more modest means, in a plant on Detroit’s Piquette Avenue, which is now a museum paying tribute to what was once the world’s most popular vehicle and its times. Words and pictures by Gerry Malloy ▲

Ford’s first purpose-built factory

Piquette Avenue was the second home and first purpose-built factory of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford’s third – and first successful – attempt at auto manufacturing. The two windows on the second floor, left, were in Henry’s original office, which has been reconstructed in the museum. ▲

National Historic Landmark

The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is a U.S. National Historic Landmark operated by the non-profit Model T Automotive Heritage Complex organization. While it pays homage to Henry Ford and his automotive legacy, it is independent of the Ford Motor Company.   ▲

At the core of Detroit’s auto industry

Constructed in 1904 in Detroit’s Milwaukee Junction area, where two major rail lines intersected, Piquette Avenue was where the Model T was developed and built initially. Several other automakers, including Anderson Electric, Brush, Cadillac, Hupp, Packard, and Regal also were located in the same area. ▲

Old 999 Race Car

Prominently displayed within the museum is this model of ‘Old 999,’ one of two such cars built by Henry Ford in 1902. Ford engaged former bicycle racer Barney Oldfield to drive Old 999 and he defeated Alexander Winton, then the most prominent automaker in the U.S.A., in a match race in Detroit. That victory helped Henry find financial backing to form the Ford Motor Company. A full-size reconstruction of the car is on display at The Henry Ford museum. ▲

The first Model A

The first model built by the Ford Motor Company, beginning in 1903 at a rented facility on Detroit’s Mack Avenue, was called the Model A – not to be confused with the later Model A, which replaced the Model T in 1927. This unrestored original is a ‘Rear-Entrance Tonneau’, with entrance to the rear seat only from the rear. The success of the original Model A enabled the financing of the Piquette Avenue plant. ▲

Curved Dash Olds

The best-selling automobile of the day, and the Ford Model A’s primary competition, was the Curved Dash Olds, the body of which, shown here, illustrates how close to horse-drawn buggies cars still were at the time. ▲

Before the Model T

Between the Model A and the Model T, seven other Ford models – Models B, C, F, K, N, R and S – were built at Piquette Avenue over a five-year period. ▲

Model C

The Model C, an updated version of the Model A, with a two-cylinder engine mounted beneath the seat, was among the first cars built at Piquette Avenue. ▲

First boat-tail speedster?

Trunks weren’t common in the early days of the automobile, nor was any consideration of aerodynamic design, but this early Ford Runabout, perhaps inadvertently, incorporates a semblance of both. ▲

Wood at the forefront

The preponderance of wood in auto body construction of the day is evident in this photograph. ▲

Ford Model S Runabout

The Model S, built in Roadster and Runabout form, was the last model in sequence before the introduction of the Model T, which shared many of its design elements. Model S Roadsters were among the last models produced during the summer of 1908 as Ford retooled for the Model T. ▲

Craftsmanship

The extensive use of wood for body structures amplified the importance of hand craftsmanship in all early auto production. ▲

From Henry's own forests

Throughout the lifespan of the Model T and well into the 1930s, long after auto body surfaces were made of sheet metal, their core structures continued to be made of wood. Which is why Henry Ford, a keen proponent of vertical business integration, owned and operated extensive forestry operations in northern Michigan. ▲

Natural materials

Craftsmanship was key for upholstery, too, and wool, burlap, horsehair and real leather were staples in even the most inexpensive of automobiles. ▲

Model T

While its predecessors provide the context for its evolution, it’s the Model T that is the core of the museum, as it is of Ford’s history. And there are plenty of examples on display. ▲

Not just black

Contrary to popular myth, not all Model Ts were black. In fact, none of the early models, built at Piquette Avenue, were black. They were available only in red, grey or green. And all 1912 models were blue with black fenders. The all-black mantra began in 1913, along with the moving assembly, because black paint took less time to dry. Making them all black speeded up production. ▲

Brass!

In those pre-chrome days, shiny brass served as automotive jewelry as well as providing durable housings for everything from lamps to radiator shells. ▲

Simplicity was key

Simplicity was key to the Model T's design and construction, helping keep costs low enough to penetrate the mass market. Frames don't get much simpler than this flexible twin-rail setup, with no intermediate cross-members, nor do suspension systems. ▲

Power by Dodge

Initially, all Ford’s engines, including those of the early Model Ts produced at Piquette Avenue, were built by an outside supplier – the Dodge Brothers. ▲

1914 Dodge

Yes, those Dodge Brothers... the ones who began their own car company in 1914, using the fortune they made not only from supplying Ford with engines, transmissions and more but from ultimately selling back the shares they had earned in Ford Motor Company to Henry Ford. The same Dodge Brothers whose name still adorns cars made today. ▲

The Cadillac connection

There’s a Cadillac connection, too. When Henry Ford bailed on his second attempt at an auto company (called the Henry Ford Company), in a dispute with his financial backers, that company carried on quite successfully with a new name – Cadillac! ▲

1914 Regal Underslung

Unlike many auto museums, where all the cars on display are restored to better-than-new condition, Piquette Avenue features several examples that reveal the ravages of time. Most are contemporaries and competitors of the Model T, like this 1914 Regal Touring car, which was built in the same area of Detroit. It was one of the first to employ an “underslung” chassis design, with the frame beneath the axles, giving it an unusually low appearance and centre of gravity for the time. ▲

Time to move on

By 1910, about 12,000 Model T’s had been built by hand at Piquette Avenue – a drop in the bucket compared to the 15-million that would be produced over the next 17 years, but enough to overtax the capabilities of the just six-year-old plant at that time. So Ford moved on to an all-new and much larger facility in Detroit’s Highland Park area, where the Model T would ultimately be built in massive numbers on moving assembly lines. ▲

Organized chaos

This photo, one of many hanging on the walls of the museum, illustrates the organized chaos of plant life in those early days, with multitudes of machinery being driven by pulleys and belts from common overhead shafts. ▲

Open spaces today

There's nothing left of the original factory equipment today as the building has been through multiple uses since then, but the structure itself remains intact. ▲

Fire doors still there

Fire was an ever-present danger in buildings of all types in the early part of the 20th Century so the plant was separated into four separate sections by three fire doors and each section featured sprinkler systems fed by a 25,000-gallon reservoir on the roof. ▲

Event location

Now, as well as being a museum, the plant serves as a private event location. During our visit, it was being set up for a wedding reception. ▲

Accessible for photography

There's even one Model T, from the post-Piquette era, that's accessible for photography or just to sit in, and not just for brides and grooms. ▲

Goodbye brass and colour

By the post-Piquette era, most of the brass was gone, along with the colour, as every effort possible was made to trim cost from the Model T and keep its prices the lowest on the market. ▲

Three-pedal operation

Common to all Model T's was a three-pedal system, quite different from those that would come later. The right pedal is the foot brake, the center one is used to reverse, and the one on the left is a clutch/shifter, used in conjunction with the hand brake. ▲

Simple cockpit

There was little in the cockpit to distract the driver.  Engine speed was controlled by a throttle stalk behind the steering wheel, on the right. The stalk on the left controlled spark advance. The Model T didn't even incorporate an electric starter until 1919 and amenities such as a heating and defrosting were still far in the future. ▲

Lots of legroom

What the Model T did offer in abundance was legroom. Both front and rear, it far exceeded even limousine levels available today. ▲

Depot Hack

From its very beginning, the Model T was available in multiple body configurations, later to include this depot hack – the forerunner of the station wagon, which would continue the wood-sided construction into the post-WWII era and the woodie look much longer. ▲

Speedster

Stripped down speedsters with home-made or aftermarket bodywork became popular, given the extensive supply of low-cost used Model T's that quickly became available. ▲

Aftermarket parts

Indeed, more than any other car, the Model T was responsible for the development of the automotive aftermarket industry. ▲

Ocean-to-Ocean racer

Model T's were used to set numerous auto-related records. This replica pays tribute to a T that won an Ocean-to-Ocean race, from New York to Seattle, to celebrate the opening of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. ▲

Fifth-Wheel Tractor-Tailer

Model T's were even used as the basis for early fifth-wheel tractor-trailer rigs. ▲

15-million-plus

More than 15-million Model Ts were built and sold from 1908 to 1927 – a record that would take decades to be surpassed by, first, the Volkswagen Beetle, then the Toyota Corolla. While the T broke new automotive ground during the early days of its existence, Henry Ford's stubborn resistance to change made it an anachronism by its final years. ▲

The second coming of the Model A

Production of the Model T ceased on May 26, 1927. It was replaced about six months later by an all-new car that reprised the name of Henry Ford's very first production model - the Model A. ▲
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