This 1918 Ford film shows the making of the Model T wheel step by step and it's fascinating

This 1918 Ford film shows the making of the Model T wheel step by step, and it’s fascinating.

The Ford Model T was produced between 1908 and 1927, and is generally regarded as the first mass-produced, affordable car.

It had a huge impact on the world – but have you ever thought about how it was made?

This film from Ford itself goes through the process step by step.

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How was the Ford Model T wheel made?

This film was produced by Ford Motor Company as an educational tool to take people through the steps of making a wheel for the Model T.

It captured every major step: preparing and shaping the hub (nave), cutting and fitting spokes, assembling rim segments (felloes), fitting iron or steel tires, machining, finishing, and painting.

Labor-intensive doesn’t do justice to how laborious and precise wheel production was during this period.

Each wooden component had to be shaped, fitted, glued, and secured before being mounted with metal tyres.

The wooden components wouldn’t last, however, and were being phased out towards the end of the Model T’s life.

To say that this car had a big impact on the world would be an understatement.

After all, we are talking about the car that made automobile travel possible for middle-class Americans, thanks to its relatively low price.

Starting at $780 in 1910 ($26,322 in 2024), it would later dip to $290 in 1924 ($5,321 in 2024).

Can you imagine getting a car for that sort of price nowadays?

You’d have to bet on the car being a bit of a dud, like this Porsche 911 GT3.

The Model T would later be named the most influential car of the 20th century in the 1999 Car Century competition.

It also held the distinction of being the most sold car in history until the Volkswagen Beetle came along, with more than 15 million cars sold.

Car factories look a lot different these days

Nowadays, car factories aren’t quite so labor-intensive.

And we can only imagine how different car factories 100 years from now will look.

If modern factories are anything to go by, there’ll be a whole load of robots.

In one Chinese factory, more than 800 robots work in synchronization to produce hundreds of EVs a day.

And it’s hardly an isolated case – Dongfeng Motors also makes use of humanoid robots on production lines.

China is pretty exceptional in its use of robots, as it reportedly has 12 times as many within its workforce than predicted, making it the largest robotics market in the world.

Will there be any human faces in the car factories of 2125? Only time will tell.

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