Early model T fords. The Model T was built by the Ford Motor Company from 1908 until 1927. Henry Ford conceived it as practical, affordable transportation for the common man. More than 15 million Model Ts were built in Detroit and Highland Park, Michigan. Assembly line production allowed the price of the touring car version to be lowered from $850 in 1908 (equivalent to about 18 months salary for an average wage) to less than $300 in 1925 (equivalent to about 4 months salary for an average wage). At such prices the Model T at times constituted as much as 40 percent of all cars sold in the United States. Even before it lost favour to larger, more powerful, and more luxurious cars, the Model T had become an American folkloric symbol, essentially realizing Ford’s goal to “democratize the automobile.”