When there were still more horses in service than cars the Model T Ford brought affordable motoring to New Zealand.
At one time, no fewer than three local factories were assembling the ‘Car of the Century’ here
By Donn Anderson
History has a way of surrounding us, hidden in plain sight. I was one of a group who had been working for years in an editorial office in Augustus Terrace in the Auckland city fringe suburb of Parnell who had no idea that motoring history had been made right around the corner. Our premises actually backed onto a century-old brick building in adjacent Fox Street that had seen the wonder of the age, brand-new Model T Fords, rolling out the front door seven decades earlier.
Today, the building is an award-winning two-level office building, comprehensively refurbished in 2012. Happily, 6 Fox Street honours its one-time claim to motoring fame. Next door are eight upmarket loft apartments, also on the site where the Fords were completed. Elsewhere, at 89 Courtenay Place, Wellington, and Sophia Street, Timaru, semi-knocked-down Model Ts were also being put together, completing a motor vehicle that would later become known as the Car of the Century.
No one can verify when the Parnell plant first began completing Model Ts, but the decision for local assembly was made in 1920. At its peak in 1925, the Parnell factory had 165 workers producing a Model T every 35 minutes — equivalent to 16 a day or around 80 cars a week and around 4000 a year, which seems a stretch. Yet by the time the famous Ford ended production in 1927 at least one third of all cars on New Zealand roads were Model Ts. Just over 43,000 Model Ts were officially imported here between 1909 and 1927, and of these, 25,793 were touring versions.
In addition, there was an unknown number of private imports since vehicle registrations were hardly universal in the early days of last century. For the princely sum of 10 shillings, New Zealanders could register their cars and receive a number plate. The process was supposed to be handled by local authorities, but many apparently did not enforce the regulations because there were so few cars in their territories.
Strict registration did not begin until July 1925, by which time New Zealand had a population of 1.4 million and 70,266 cars. New Zealand was building itself with the third highest number of motor vehicles per capita, behind only the USA and Canada. A lack of railways virtually forced New Zealand into becoming one of the ‘most motorist’ nations on the planet.
Fords took part in a 1917 parliamentary tour to highlight the lack of roads in Northland, with 33 cars braving tough conditions. Not until 1932 did motorists have an all-weather road from Auckland to Whangarei.
A relatively little-known fact is that, prior to the Model T, all cars in the United States were right-hand drive. Ford sent a mixture of left-hand and right-hand drive Model Ts to New Zealand, although the majority were the latter. Following the end of World War I in 1918, the shipments of Model T Fords to our country were all left-hand drive. The shift here to right-hand drive in 1923 saw the annual sales of Models Ts in this country doubling to more than 5000.
Ford by Canada
Coachbuilder Rouse and Hurrell, which built horse-drawn vehicles, was the first Ford distributor in New Zealand, initially securing a one-year deal to buy cars from Ford of Canada before changing its name in 1908 to The Colonial Motor Company (CMC). It still exists today. The first Model T, a green, left-hand drive five-seater with a £300 price tag, arrived in Wellington in 1909, just a year after the car launched in America. At that time the total number of all types of cars on our roads was little more than 3000 while the number of horses registered exceeded 300,000!
Because of strong British Empire ties, it was deemed appropriate for New Zealand to source product from Ford of Canada, which meant virtually all Model Ts sold new here had come from north of the USA border. New Zealand became Ford of Canada’s second largest export market, behind Australia. The cars initially arrived in lots of 12, but in 1913, a total of 303 Model Ts arrived in Wellington — the largest single shipment of cars in the southern hemisphere at the time.
Until 1920, almost all the Fords arrived fully built up but following World War 1 CMC built the assembly plant behind the Courtenay Place property. Parts arrived in bulk lots of 100 and were carried in Ford trucks to Taranaki Street, where an elevator took them to the seventh floor of the nine-storey building. The cars progressed down each floor in the part assembly operation until they emerged at street level as completed vehicles. Dealer names and locations were prominently marked with whiteboard paint on the radiator grilles for ease of despatch.
The smaller Auckland and Timaru plants were also pre-assembling Model Ts, adding wheels, windscreens, and hoods. Local content included fuel tanks, upholstery, and trim; some of the metal components were also fashioned here. Early Model Ts boasted brass trim and radiator surrounds, but this ended in 1917 when it was deemed unfashionable — although some mistakenly thought the brass was required for artillery shells and bullets during WWI. Smooth tyres were replaced by treaded versions in 1915.
With most of our rural roads in poor shape and damaged by wheel ruts left by horse-drawn vehicles, the Model Ts bound for New Zealand had wider axles and wheels than those sold in America. The generous 267mm ground clearance proved useful when the going got rough. Demountable rims were offered in 1919, and an electric starter became optional in the same year. It was standard equipment seven years later, just one year before the Model T finished production. A sloping windscreen was introduced in 1920, and 1924 saw styling upgrades, including a larger radiator, a larger bonnet, and a more rounded cowl. Sales fell as the model aged and rival brands grew stronger. A final restyle was made in 1926.
Fox Street continued final assembly until 1935, completing newer generation Model A Fords from 1928. Model A assembly was more complex than that of its predecessor, and only minor assembly was carried out in New Zealand. In 1936, Ford New Zealand was established and built the Seaview plant in Lower Hutt.
15 million Ts
Total local annual car sales increased swiftly from a mere 637 in 1912 to 17,000 in 1915 and 40,000 by 1919. Ford expanded rapidly in New Zealand, from 10 dealers in 1910 to 29 in 1914, 42 in 1915, and 56 in 1929. In the early ’20s, one in three cars on the road was a Model T. The flow of Model Ts swelled annually, aided by Ford’s introduction of the moving production line in 1913. More than 15 million were built worldwide by the time production of the car ended, including 761,000 from Canada.
Enthusiasts believe the car’s simple design and reliability explain why there are still more than three million Model Ts still in use worldwide and, given the comparatively large number sold in New Zealand, it is a tad surprising there are not more to be seen here. However, Aucklander David Lane, who has owned an immaculate 1912 Model T Rootlieb Speedster for several years, says it is not uncommon for between 70 and 80 Model T Fords to participate in local rallies.
He says replacement parts are freely available in the USA and are relatively inexpensive. The simplicity of the veteran Ford is a significant reason for lovers of old cars to own one.
“There are, for example, no left or right-hand headlights; they are both the same,” says Lane.
The Lane example had been in the ownership of one American family for 70 years when he acquired it on a trip to Pennsylvania; the owner had kept the car housed in a bedroom. David endeavours to drive the restored Speedster, resplendent in brilliant hand-painted red, once a week, and his journeys in the 109-year-old Ford have included a run from Auckland to Kaitaia.
After watching a veteran car run in Britain, the late Sir Len Southward — a stalwart of local motorsport and a cheerful identity in the New Zealand motor industry — was inspired to begin his extensive car collection with a then 40-year-old Model T, which he acquired in 1957 for £40 ($80). This 1916 example remains on display and unrestored in his Paraparaumu motor museum. How good is this car today, on show in the same state as it was when purchased 64 years ago!
Japanese was the new black
Until 1913, the factory offered five Model T body colours. Yellow was actually the most popular, but ‘Japanese Black’ varnish paint was then deemed mandatory by Henry Ford because it dried more quickly and reduced manufacturing costs. Some Kiwi owners made their own colour choices by repainting their new Model Ts. Of course, there were several different variants, including sedan, open touring, Surrey (or Tourabout), enclosed town car, coupe, and tractor/truck, with outsourced companies building bodies. Examples assembled in New Zealand often had poor paint finish, but this improved later when spray-painting techniques were introduced.
Two experimental Model T railcars were built in Petone in 1926. Accommodating 11 passengers and the driver, these examples of local craftsmanship were sent to Greytown in the Wairarapa and to a railway line between Waikaia and Wyndham in Southland, but they were slow and under-patronised. The railcars were soon out of service.
The popular standard tourer measured a mere 3.4 metres in length and weighed between 540kg and 750kg. The top speed was 72kph. The car was light and strong, largely because of the extensive use of vanadium and heat-treated steels.
All were powered by a 2.9-litre, in-line, three main bearing, four-cylinder engine with side valves and reverse-flow, detachable cylinder head, developing 20 horsepower (16 kW). The block was cast in one piece with an integral water jacket, and a simple magneto built into the flywheel supplied current for ignition and, later, lights.
The motor ran on a compression ratio of 4.5:1 until 1913 when this was lowered to 4:1. It should be noted the driving controls are significantly different to the modern standard. An ingenious pedal-operated planetary transmission had only two forward speeds. Instead of an accelerator, a hand-lever throttle under the steering wheel activates engine speed, with foot pedals selecting gears. It was claimed anyone could adjust the transmission with a spanner and an informative instruction manual.
The car has a shaft drive to a bevel rear axle, and the suspension is by transverse single semi-elliptic springs front and rear. Mechanical rear-wheel brakes were never brilliant, although seemingly were up to the task of the modestly powered machine.
While many early motorists struggled with the controls, they were soon exploring rural New Zealand like never before. Colonial Motors sponsored a Wellington to Auckland drive in 1912. The three occupants related tales of impassable tracks in the King Country and of draft horses dragging their bogged Model T out of the mud. The journey took the motoring pioneers eight days and 13 hours, but they experienced no mechanical issues or punctures.
There was rarely any question of poor reliability. T Baldwin, a Wellington taxi driver, proudly showed off his Model T Town Car in 1924; it had completed 300,000 miles in service.
There was a strong desire to buy English cars, but to counter this, several Canadian-sourced Model T Fords toured the main street in Timaru in 1926, some wearing windscreen banners declaring “Fords are British”. Local press advertisements proclaimed, on the basis that Canada was a member of the Commonwealth and therefore British, “Ford cars are British produced”.
As seen on Muriwai Beach
Henry Ranger opened the first Ford agency in Christchurch’s Chester Street in 1910, selling many Model Ts, often with local leather seating. By 1914, seven Model T vans were being used in South Canterbury for rural mail and newspaper deliveries, and soon after, an ambulance was built on a Model T chassis in Wellington. In 1915 a Model T fire appliance was built for the Devonport Fire Brigade in Auckland, crashing on one corner during a call-out in 1924 and killing the local fire chief. Two police paddy wagons were built on Model T chassis in Wellington, and the longer Ford TT chassis became the basis for a school bus in 1924.
Stan Andrew, brother of John Andrew, founder of the prominent John W Andrew Ford dealership that still exists today, set a five-mile speed record in the red JWA Model T racer at Muriwai Beach, averaging an impressive 86.1 miles an hour (138.5kph). He also led the 50-mile New Zealand Motor Cup in the modified JWA before retiring near the end of the race.
Motorists remained suspicious of closed cars, but a sedan variant arrived here in 1915, followed by a convertible that was known as the runabout. Finally, electric lights were offered, powered by the magneto, which meant bright lighting only when the engine revs climbed!
By 1914, Ford’s plants in England and Ontario in Canada were turning out 100 Model Ts a day, while the much larger Highland Park complex had 1000 rolling off its lines. The Canadian Fords were fitted with larger top radiator tanks than the US versions, apparently to cope with hotter weather.
Henry Ford’s masterstroke was to reshape manufacturing technology and bring down the cost of a new car to attainable levels. So, while the first Model T in 1908 retailed for an expensive US$850 in its home market, by 1916 a basic model was a mere US$360 (US$7000 in today’s money). The same year, the New Zealand retail price for a basic Model T fell to a remarkably low £180 ($360). Today, international prices range from $15K to $50K. New Zealand examples on recent offer included a 1924 roadster for $24,500, a 1920 sedan for $28K, and a 1926 roadster in parts for $10,000K.
John Stokes from Rangiora has written a splendid book Ford in New Zealand, released by New Holland Publishers in 2017. Subtitled Putting the Car before the Horse, it details the early days of the Model T in New Zealand and has a wealth of information on Ford’s influence on local motoring more than a century ago.
The affectionate label ‘Tin Lizzie’ came from the name Lizzie being slang for a good, dependable servant.
The arrival of the Model A heralded a significant change. It had twice the horsepower, better appointments, and a more modern appearance. Yet it was Ford’s pioneering Model T, the ‘universal car’, that made the greatest impact on early life in New Zealand, transforming motoring from a rich man’s hobby to a vital facet of everyday life – indeed, putting our world on wheels.
