Deseret News | Reader comments: Model T marks 100 — Low-priced car introduced motoring to the masses

Reader comments
Model T marks 100 — Low-priced car introduced motoring to the masses

Thomas | 6:17 a.m. July 22, 2008

The Model T was introduced as a low-cost car the average person could afford and as one anyone could fix in his back yard.
That tradition hardly exists these days. Try fixing your computerized car these days! The average person can't fix a car which requires all kinds of electronic gadgetry to repair. As expensive as cars are, one must take out a second mortgage on his/her car to purchase one!
What a joke!

A fun fact | 9:35 a.m. July 22, 2008

Here's another fun fact: The first model T got 35 miles per gallon.

100 years later, the average passenger vehicle in the U.S. gets 23 miles per gallon.

It's a travesty that in 100 years our average fuel economy has actually decreased 35%. Of course, this is due to consumers' demand for better acceleration, higher speeds, more gadgets that make the car weight more (on board DVD system, anyone?). But it's still a total joke that there isn't a single mass-produced car on the road that gets 100 mpg, and only one car that gets 50 mpg. And now consumers are (rightfully) stuck with the check.

Progress has happened in every industry except automotive.

Anonymous | 10:49 a.m. July 22, 2008

Henry Ford had the 37 miles a gallon way back then.We are just now getting that same miliage per gallon.

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Skip Peterson, Associated Press

Todd Wirth of Richfield, Wisc., cruises his 1912 Model T touring car into a Model T event at the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Richmond, Ind., on Monday. About 750 of the iconic vehicles were on display in what is being called the largest gathering of Model Ts since they left the factory.