The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work

parts of equal strength considering their purpose—to put a motor in a one-
horse shay. Also it had to be fool proof. This was difficult because a gasoline 
motor is essentially a delicate instrument and there is a wonderful opportu-
nity for any one who has a mind that way to mess it up. I adopted this slogan:
“When one of my cars breaks down I know I am to blame.”
Ford next identifies vital design features as might be cited today by 
quality function deployment (QFD, House of Quality). These include 
ease of maintenance (Design for Maintenance, because most drivers are 
not mechanics), reliability, and lightness to reduce fuel consumption 
and, therefore, cost of operation. The description of the Model T under-
scores the importance of simplicity of design and ease of repair. The fol-
lowing material also reiterates the importance of simplicity in design, 
which makes the product not only easier to manufacture, but also sim-
pler to maintain.
* * *
From the day the first motor car appeared on the streets it had to me appeared 
to be a necessity. It was this knowledge and assurance that led me to build 
to the one end—a car that would meet the wants of the multitudes. All my 
efforts were then and still are turned to the production of one car—one 
model. And, year following year, the pressure was, and still is, to improve and 
refine and make better, with an increasing reduction in price. The universal 
car had to have these attributes:
 
(1) Quality in material to give service in use. Vanadium steel is the stron-
gest, toughest, and most lasting of steels. It forms the foundation and 
super-structure of the cars. It is the highest quality steel in this respect 
in the world, regardless of price.
 
(2) Simplicity in operation—because the masses are not mechanics.
 
(3) Power in sufficient quantity.
 
(4) Absolute reliability—because of the varied uses to which the cars would 
be put and the variety of roads over which they would travel.
 
(5) Lightness. With the Ford there are only 7.95 pounds to be carried 
by each cubic inch of piston displacement. This is one of the reasons 
why Ford cars are “always going,” wherever and whenever you see 

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The Secret of Manufacturing and Serving  •  51
them—through sand and mud, through slush, snow, and water, up 
hills, across fields and roadless plains.
 
(6) Control—to hold its speed always in hand, calmly and safely meeting 
every emergency and contingency either in the crowded streets of the 
city or on dangerous roads. The planetary transmission of the Ford gave 
this control and anybody could work it. That is the “why” of the saying: 
“Anybody can drive a Ford.” It can turn around almost anywhere.
 
(7) The more a motor car weighs, naturally the more fuel and lubricants 
are used in the driving; the lighter the weight, the lighter the expense of 
operation. The light weight of the Ford car in its early years was used 
as an argument against it. Now that is all changed.
The design which I settled upon was called “Model T.” The important fea-
ture of the new model—which, if it were accepted, as I thought it would be, 
I intended to make the only model and then start into real production—was 
its simplicity. There were but four constructional units in the car—the power 
plant, the frame, the front axle, and the rear axle. All of these were easily 
accessible and they were designed so that no special skill would be required 
for their repair or replacement. I believed then, although I said very little 
about it because of the novelty of the idea, that it ought to be possible to have