THE CAR THAT HAD THE LAST LAUGH! From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian.
The Ford Model T is one of the great cars of automotive history. It was the car that famously put "America on wheels" and doubtless many other countries as well. Today, surviving examples are cherished and beloved of their owners and all those who delight in seeing an old car take to our roads in a reminder of a far-off, gentler time.
But during the 1910s, jokes about Model T Fords were as much a part of everyday conversation as comments on the weather and were as innumerable as mother-in-law jokes. Ford joke books were enormously popular and sold on both sides of the Atlantic in their tens of thousands and included contributions by the leading humourists and cartoonists of the time.
Quite how Model T jokes began is a mystery, but it is possible that they may have been started by the salesmen of competitors who disparagingly told potential Ford buyers: "It's not a car, just a Ford". Whatever about this possibly being the origin of the jokes, Ford owners themselves probably contributed to the development by often being self-conscious about their cars and would revert to the defense psychology of joking about their car's smallness, low price and gawky looks.
But the Model T was tough as well as cheap and versatile. One widely circulated story told of a Texan having to abandon his Model T to escape Mexican bandits. They burned the car until it was a wreck. But when the owner returned later, he was able to start the car and drive away. Another T was reported as having been buried in the sand of a California river bed and when found still had petrol in its tank. With its battery replaced, it apparently started first-time and could be driven away. Stories like these made the public realise that almost anything was possible with a Model T, and gave rise to countless jokes and endless implausible stories.
By the mid-1910s the Ford Model T joke craze was at its height and Ford officials were openly concerned about the detrimental effect it could have on their product. Henry Ford was urged to counteract the craze with heavy advertising, but wisely refused, with the result that the good-natured humour became a cornerstone of the public's affection for the Model T.
The jokes followed several patterns. Most common were those concerned with the small size of the Model T: postmen were reportedly concerned over rumours that Ts were to be delivered in the post: a T owner who asked where he could buy tyres for his car was directed to a store that sold rubber bands. Then there was the widespread belief that Model Ts were made of tin: "What time is it when one Ford follows another? Tin after tin". Or the rumour that Ford planned to manufacture Ts without doors, supplying instead tin-openers so that doors could be put wherever the owner desired. Then there was the man who tied his dog to his Model T and was arrested for tying a tin can to a dog. But perhaps the best of this theme was the story about the farmer who, knowing that the Ford Company required lots of tin, shipped a battered tin roof to Detroit. A few weeks later he reportedly received a letter stating: "While your car was an exceptionally bad wreck, we shall be able to complete repairs and return it by the first of the week".
To all practical purposes, Ford jokes had run their course by 1920, and died altogether with the introduction of the Model A in December 1927. The Model A was from the first regarded too highly both stylistically and mechanically to be susceptible to jokes. The model T joke craze played a major part in the growth of affection for the model and as one journalist remarked, "I have never in all the world seen so much to cause me to laugh and weep, to wonder and rejoice, as I have at the Ford." Indeed, the Model T had the last laugh.