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Automobile In The 1920s Essay

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Automobiles the in 1920’s The 1920’s was a decade of great change in the American automobile industry. By 1920, the automobile industry had developed in Detroit, although there were plants in other cities in United Stated. Even though the percentage of automobile produced overseas would grow during this time period, the majority were produced in the United States. The number of vehicle produced by American grew from approximately 2.3 million in 1920 to over 5 million in 1929.(Mazzeno,“Automobiles and auto manufacturing.”) In 1920, the Model T, introduced by Henry Ford in 1908, was one of the most popular automobiles in America. Model T was at such a low price that nearly two-thirds of the cars on American road at that time was Henry Ford’s Model T. (Mazzeno,“Model A Ford” ). The four cylinder, twenty horsepower Model T, first offered in October 1908 was sold for $825. It only had two speed planetary transmission, which made it easy to drive. …show more content…

The assembly line made the mass production possible, which lead in lower consumer cost. In 1920 the price of a Model T fell to $290 and that was about three months salary for a average person at that time period (Ewing). Also with Ford’s new idea of the installment plan, the Model T became affordable for people who could pay a portion of the cost up front, and then pay a reasonable monthly payment (Burchett). In 1920, the Ford company manufactured one million Model T vehicle, four years later that number had doubled. However, by 1926 the sales had declined because General Motors (GM) came up with a, Pontiac, that drew customers away from Ford’s Model T. GM was not the only company whose sales where going up. Chevrolet sales in 1927 reached over a million dollars, this was the first time since 1908 that a company other than Ford whose sales went up (Foner and

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