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By early 1904, the Ford Motor Company had outgrown its Mack Avenue facility and was looking for a new location on the junction of Piquette Avenue and Beaubien Street in Detroit. The rail yards of the Detroit and Grand Trunk Western railroads were located in Milwaukee Junction, providing Ford easy access to the railway for bringing in supplies and exporting out completed cars. Early automakers flocked to the area, making it a desirable location. Fisher Body had two operations on Piquette Avenue, and the E.M.F. and Brush made automobiles there.
The three-story Piquette Avenue building, which was completed in late 1904 and measured 402 feet long and 56 feet broad, dwarfed Ford’s Mack Avenue facility.
The new facility was designed in the style of a New England mill, with load-bearing brick walls and a timber internal structure. Because of the disastrous fire that destroyed Oldsmobile’s Detroit factory in 1901, Ford’s new plant was split into four different compartments by three internal brick walls, each with an automated fire door and a rudimentary sprinkler system that supplied water by gravity from a roof-mounted tank. Numerous windows let in plenty of natural light, which was crucial because industrial lighting couldn’t yet fully illuminate a production plant. Indoor washrooms, a freight elevator to carry supplies and cars from one floor to another, and a power plant to supply electricity to the business were among the modern amenities.
The Piquette Avenue Plant produced a wide range of Ford vehicles. They are the Models B, C, F, the ill-fated six-cylinder K, the speedy, light, and inexpensive N, the R, the S, as well as the T.
Piquette Avenue Plant: 1908 Model T, And Debut Of The 1906 Ford Model N Runabout
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In September 1908, Model T production began slowly, but by December of that year, Ford was producing 200 units each day. This efficient production was the legacy of Walter Flanders (Flanders was the F in the E.M.F. automobile), who arranged production so that each worker had an assigned role during his tenure at Ford (he left just as the Model T was introduced). Rather than rushing around the facility looking for parts to create a single automobile, the worker now moved a specific part through a number of operations until it was ready to be installed on a car. Confusion was reduced to a minimum, while output was increased.
A group of Piquette Avenue Plant employees experimented with the concept of using a moving assembly line to make cars in July 1908, a few months before the Model T’s introduction. The chassis would be moved to the workers for component installation. Charles E. Sorensen, the assistant to Peter E. Martin, the factory’s supervisor, was in charge of this initiative.
A moving assembly line, according to Sorensen, would make car assembly faster, simpler, and easier. The tests involved attaching a rope to a Model N chassis and hauling it on skids over the factory’s third floor until axles and wheels were installed. After that, the chassis would be moved over the floor in notches, where individual components would be installed. Ford Motor Company became the largest automaker in the United States by the end of 1906, a position it would keep for the next twenty years thanks to the Model N’s popularity.
Piquette Avenue Plant: The Hatchery For The Model T Masterclass
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One of Piquette Avenue Plant most renowned make was the Ford Model T. The T’s development began in January 1907 with a small group of Ford personnel in the 15-foot-by-20-foot “Experimental Room” on the plant’s third floor’s northwest corner. There was a blackboard, as well as milling machines, drill presses, lathes, and Henry Ford’s “lucky” rocking chair. Henry Ford desired to create a “Universal Car” that was sturdy, light, and inexpensive to purchase and maintain.
The Model T was a full five-seater car with a 100-inch wheelbase when it was introduced on September 27, 1908. The engine had a 176.6 cubic inch four-cylinder with a detachable cylinder head, which was a unique feature at the time but made maintenance easier. A two-speed planetary transmission connected directly to the engine sent power to the rear wheels. In North America, Ford was the first to use Vanadium steel (which is stronger and lighter than standard steel). The Model T’s substantial usage of Vanadium steel resulted in a sturdy five-seater car weighing only 1200 pounds.
Model T’s core technical specs remained almost unaltered from 1908 until the end of manufacture in 1927, despite Ford’s continuous improvements. Styling, on the other hand, displayed more change throughout time. The original Ts, with their brass radiators, distinct hoods, flat fenders, upright firewalls, and separate bodies, have an Edwardian appearance.
Except for the unusually high ground clearance, the latest Model Ts appeared pretty modern, with crowned fenders, a hood that swept into the cowl and then onto uncluttered flanks. Contrary to common opinion, the Model T was available in a range of colors until 1914, when manufacturing bottlenecks caused by drying paint jobs were addressed by painting all cars in Japan black, a fast-drying hue. In 1926 and 1927, sagging sales and the advent of quick-drying DUCO lacquer paint brought color back to the Model T, which was complemented by the nickel-plated grille and headlamp bezels, as well as elegant wire wheels if you paid extra.
Source: RoadAndTrack, Apa.ca, Atlasobscura.
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