Shrinking Magic

While Theodore Roosevelt preferred the stately formality of the horse drawn carriage, successor William Howard Taft Motorized the White House Fleet.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, born into a wealthy family, could afford the best luxury automobiles. But it was a part of his "everyman" appeal that, when at home, he drove humble cars like this 1929 Ford Model A. Many of his cars were equipped with special controls that allowed the partially paralyzed Roosevelt to oper-ate the foot pedals with his hands.

O'Keeffe's Model ‘A’ Ford became an integral part of her artistic process, serving as both transportation and a mobile studio. It provided her with the means to venture into the desert and capture the es- sence of the Southwest, which became a significant influence on her art. The car's simplicity and reli-ability allowed her to travel to remote locations, enabling her to create her iconic paintings of the New Mexico landscape.

A relatively unknown yet highly influential woman in the Model A era was Mary Brooks Picken. Mary transformed millions of women from clothing vendors to seamstresses capable of improving their lives and making money with their sewing machines. Mary published 96 books on sewing, needlework and textile arts.

Garrett Morgan (March 4, 1877–July 27, 1963) was an inventor and businessman from Cleveland who is best known for inventing a device called the Morgan [...]

One hundred years ago, as 1923 ended, Ford had produced 2,011,125 Model T’s that year alone. This is still today the highest figure ever achieved by a single model in a single year. Thanks to these production numbers, Ford was able to sell these cars at a low price. For example, you could buy a Runabout for $260, the equivalent of $4,815 today.

Basically, the points fire the coil, the coil fires the plug, the spark at the plug starts the flame and the ignition systems job is done for that cycle. But of course, now for a few more details.

Henry Ford once said something of this nature: "A customer may have a car in any color he desires, so long as it's black." Today, many people have taken this quote to mean that every Model T Ford, the car which undoubtedly made the American automobile affordable and "put America on Wheels," was painted black.

Henry Ford had been experimenting with unusual multi-cylinder engines even before the Model A. He rejected an inline six as being a copycat, seeking something distinctly different to perpetuate the image of Ford as the automobile innovator. A more powerful V-8 for a low-priced car offered that innovation.