# Canonical recap data for Henry Ford Launches Model T (1908)
# Source: https://recap.at/1908/model-t-launch
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: model-t-launch
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1908/model-t-launch"
title: Henry Ford Launches Model T
subtitle: Ford's assembly-line mass-produced automobile democratized personal transport, reshaping infrastructure, labor, and society across the industrialized world.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1908-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1908
decade: 1900
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: Henry Ford was an American industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automobiles affordable for middle-class Americans through the system that came to be known as Fordism. In 1911, he was awarded a patent for the transmission mechanism that would
summaryLong: Henry Ford was an American industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automobiles affordable for middle-class Americans through the system that came to be known as Fordism. In 1911, he was awarded a patent for the transmission mechanism that would be used in the Ford Model T and other automobiles.
lede: On October 1, 1908, the Ford Motor Company began selling the Model T, a car cheap enough for ordinary Americans to actually buy. At $825—roughly $28,000 in today's money—it undercut rivals by hundreds of dollars. Henry Ford didn't invent the automobile, but he figured out how to build one fast enough and cheaply enough that millions of people could own one.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/Henry_Ford_portrait_1915_original_%283x4_cropped%29.png/1280px-Henry_Ford_portrait_1915_original_%283x4_cropped%29.png"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Henry Ford"
importance: 93
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford"
  title: Henry Ford
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- tech-launch
metaDescription: Ford Model T launches in 1908, becoming the first mass-produced affordable car for American consumers.
wikidataQid: Q8768
taxonomy:
domain: technological
eventTypes:
- tech_launch
- infrastructure_rollout
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- transformation
impactRadius: global
velocity: gradual
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260601143606/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-01
  label: Henry Ford
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford"
