Model T
7
4.2
- noun
- /ˈmɒdəl ti/
:
Model T
- Through mass production, Ford witnessed a cost reduction for the Model T automobile of 65 percent between 1909 and 1923.
- Model T Ford
- selling the Model T
- produced the Model T
We saw the Amish rejecting, you know, the Ford Model T and electricity.
- We saw the Amish rejecting, you know, the Ford Model T and electricity.
- The the first one is the, of course, the Ford Model T, which is an obvious choice for this book.
- So think of it as first there was the Ford Model T.
- Yes, implying the first Ford Model T production car.
Examples
-
Ownership of the automobile exploded when Ford mass-produced the Model T with such efficiency that it was affordable to the middle class.
Academic text (2012) -
The first Model Ts were built in 1908 and cost $850.
Academic text (1998) -
- They stopped making the Model T, new cars came along.
-
Well, Professor, I see you finally got the old Model T in working order.
-
The Model T is less than twenty feet from the end of the dock.
Fiction book (1990) -
By 1915, seven years after the introduction of the Ford Model T, there were two million.
Academic text (2005) -
Ford continued selling the Model T until 1927, then introduced the updated Model A.
Academic text (2005) -
When Ford first conceived the Model T, it took 13 hours to assemble.
-
Riding in Joe Cochran's Model T was unsettling at first, my dad recalled, because the seat rested directly on the floorboard.
Fiction book (1998) -
The Model T was the first car affordable for many American families.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Knowing 'model' (a design or version) and 'T' (a letter) lets a B1 learner infer this is a particular version or product labelled 'T', so the basic idea of 'a version called T' is compositional. However, the specific historical referent — that it denotes Ford's early mass‑produced automobile and its cultural/historical significance — cannot be derived from the constituents alone, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Model T was Henry Ford's early car; he called it the 'Model T' and built many identical cars quickly on a simple assembly line. Because it was cheap enough for many families, the name now brings to mind the first affordable, widely owned car.