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xcel
09-28-2008, 09:25 PM
Truly an engine of change. (http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2008-09-28-model-t_N.htm)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Model_T_100_Year_Celebration.jpgSharon Silke Carty - USA Today - Sept. 28, 2008

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the Ford Model T, Model T’s motored through the streets of Metro Detroit in a commemorative motorcade celebrating the centennial anniversary of the "car that put the world on wheels".

The Tin Lizzie really did change the world! -- Ed.

DEARBORN, Mich. — Industry experts believe that by the next century, cars may no longer run on fossil fuels. We may have tiny personal mobility vehicles powered by the sun and air. Cars might drive themselves, letting commuters sit back and read the paper. Crashes may seem a relic of a barbaric past...

Saturday marked the 100th anniversary of the Model T, the first simple, inexpensive car to be mass-produced and marketed to the masses. Within a few years, half the vehicles on the road were Model T's.

Just as it's a struggle today to guess what the industry will be like in 2108, it would've been nearly impossible in 1908 to predict how the Model T would change the world.

On Saturday, 50 Model T's paraded from Ford's headquarters here to the Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit where the cars were first assembled, marking the end of a year-long celebration of the Model T and its storied past.

When the Model T first hit America's roads, cities were choked with people and horses, and the top public health nuisances were horse manure and urine and flies. One New York forecaster warned that by 1930, manure would reach the third story of Manhattan's buildings.

The Model T, and cars to follow, became the unlikely solution, causing an explosion in the number of automobiles. The 79,000 vehicles in 1905 had grown to 244.2 million in 2006 and also led to air pollution, a vast network of paved roads and the birth and growth of suburbs…

Energy will be a leading concern as more drivers use oil and gas reserves more quickly. Donald Hillebrand, director of transportation research at Argonne National Laboratory, says the world consumes about 1 cubic mile of oil a year and there's an estimated 45 cubic miles left… http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2008-09-28-model-t_N.htm

Aether glider
09-28-2008, 11:10 PM
I voted Mustang...you should have added the Hummer to this list :)

Elixer
09-29-2008, 01:01 AM
Prius - The model T was the first successful car, the Prius has been the first really successful hybrid.

One cubic mile is so much oil I can't even comprehend.

voodoo22
09-29-2008, 07:05 AM
I voted Hummer because it's the iconic symbol of why the Prius is popular. If people weren't driving these FSP's there probably would not be a shortage of oil yet. I think this because it would show people were being more responsible and not wasting this resource. I don't think most people would want a Prius is gas was really cheap.

To me, the Hummer represents the mind set which will cause great hardship, innovation and new technology to be created which will propagate the next Model T type of vehicle.

PTDixieGal
09-29-2008, 08:29 AM
Hmm...do I have to pick just one? They all did something great or infamous.

Chuck
09-29-2008, 08:37 AM
Hmm...do I have to pick just one? They all did something great or infamous.It's just like voting on Nov 4 - secret and not manditory. ;)

If there is a choice left out - mention it and I'll add it.

Earthling
09-29-2008, 08:38 AM
I saw a Model T when I was in Maine recently. A car club had a meet in Maine. These people had some resources: one woman had her 1911 Rolls Royce trucked from Florida to Maine for the meet. They were touring around Maine, and I saw them in Camden.

We've gone a long way from hand-cranks to the Prius. I talked to the woman with the Rolls Royce, and told her I had the opposite of her car, a Prius. When I told her I got 61+ mpg in my Prius on the trip out to Maine, she agreed with me.

For a while there, and possibly still, the Volkswagen beetle sold the most of any car in history, if I recall correctly.

Harry



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