To mark the anniversary of the introduction of the Model T, and the outset of fall colors, we’re looking back at one of the most famous traits of the universal car, or lack thereof – color choices. It’s often asserted the vehicle was offered only in black over the course of its nearly 20-year run, but that’s not so. In peak production years, Henry Ford restricted choices in favor of increased productivity, but from 1908 to 1914 and again in 1926-27, the Model T was available in a variety of colors.
Early Model Ts were available in red, green, blue, gray and black, though the original blue and green were so dark that many considered them black. A select number of early Model Ts also were available in white, as they were painted prior to arriving at Ford for production. While customers could still choose black in the last two years of production, they also now had the option of four shades of green and two shades of maroon, plus Fawn Gray, Gunmetal Blue, Phoenix Brown and Moleskin (gray). Closed car models were available with thin stripes below the body molding, in Champagne, Cream, Emerald Green, Orange and Vermillion. Exposed parts, including nuts, bolts and small assemblies, were painted to match the body colors, while wire wheels available on later models came in Casino Red, Emerald Green and Straw.
Throughout much of the black era, 1914-22, when roughly 11.5 million of the 15 million Model Ts were produced, bodies were painted with four coats of air-drying varnish. The vehicles were stacked for drying for 24 hours after each step of the process. By 1916, storage was needed to dry as many as 8,000 bodies at a time, forcing the company to add four six-story buildings at the Highland Park Plant to accommodate the drying process.
The painting process had created a bottleneck by the early 1920s, bringing about more innovation. Faster drying paints were developed and implemented in 1922. Wood content in the Model T was reduced, allowing for use of Japan-type oven drying paints, condensing the process to just two phases. Oven drying also cut down on the amount of prep time needed for metal parts, further reducing time and labor demands.
More than 30 types of black paint were used as a result of the painting methods employed, including brushing, plus flowing and dipping, as well as the type of drying – either air or oven drying. Spraying didn’t become common in Ford plants until 1926.
While Henry Ford’s quote about limiting color selection to only black has been well documented, the notion that the color was chosen because it dried faster than others is more difficult to ascertain. (Authors on the subject have concluded Ford archive material from that time does not support this.) Rather, it seems black was chosen for its cost effectiveness and durability, likely helping add to the significant price reductions over the course of the Model T’s run.
