As someone born and raised in Michigan, and a fan of LEGO it’s fair to say that I was excited for this set. In the past LEGO has released sets representing other cities, and countries that meant something to the other Toy Photographers writers, and in reading their articles I was simultaneously happy and jealous of them. When I read Sunny’s article on The Singapore Skyline LEGO set, I thought to myself that if there is ever a LEGO set “reppin’ the D (Detroit) ” I hope I get to write it. I thought to myself I hope I get to share my hometown with my fellow toy photography enthusiasts, the way zekezachzoom did. That being said, this is my review, and homage to The Ford Model T and the City of Detroit where it and I come from.
Start Your Engines: The “First” Car
Henry Ford, once said ” the most important history is the history we make today.” a hundred thirteen years after Henry Ford’s novel idea of the use of the moving assembly line in the production of motor vehicles , LEGO has deemed the Ford Model T an Icon and deserving of it’s own set. It’s safe to say that without the Model T, Henry Ford and the assembly line our lives would be much different. While The Model T is not the first car ever built, it is the one that all modern day cars owe a debt to. Even if you know nothing about cars, you know a Model T when you see one. In the 1900s it was sold as the car for the everyman who knew nothing about cars.
Today, Henry Ford is considered a true entrepreneur and a rich business man with The Ford Motor company a conglomerate. But, in the early 1900s before the assembly line and the Model T he was a young engineer from a family of farmers, who wanted to bring the luxury of the automobile to the farmlands of rural America. The Model T connected people, before if you moved 20 miles away from your family, you might never see them again. Because, of the Model T people were able to visit family who moved away. They were able to take day trips, and work far from home. They were able to travel for leisure. The Model T opened up the world to people. Today, cars are everywhere but in the early 1900s, they were expensive, few and far between. Henry Ford was an everyman and he wanted everyman to be able to own a car.By the time the 15 Millionth ford came off the line, half the cars in the country by 1927 were Ford Model Ts. It would be an understatement to say the Model T and Henry Ford changed not just American history but World History.
Ready Set Ford : Parts Before Assembly
The model in this 1,060-piece set, measures over 7.5 in. (20 cm) high, 11 in. (29 cm) long and 5 in. (13 cm) wide
1 printed Ford 1×2 [ no stickers in this set ]
4 new wheels and tires
1 fabric soft top
2 windshield pieces
This comes in a total of 9 bags [ 8 for the pieces] with the 9th bag holding the wheels and tires, and the instruction booklet.
Assembly Line : Building A Ford
Henry Ford introduced the Ford Model T in 1903. It was engineered by Childe Harold Wills , Joseph A Galamb and Eugene Farkas. It was produced from 1908-1927. This Lego set is based on the 1913 Model T Runabout.
In 1913, in Highland Park Ford built a 60 acre factory, to assemble is Model Ts. at that time it was the biggest factory in the world. It was the first moving assembly line, using conveyor belts. Before the assembly line it took 12 hours to build a car, after it took 90 mins, an hour and a half. We owe the idea of the 8hr, 5 day a week shift to Henry Ford. Henry Ford single handedly created America’s middle class. To work on the line building the Model T, workers got paid $5 dollars an hour and from that the middle class was born.
A Car For The Masses: The Model T : Disassembled
This was probably one of the hardest LEGO set’s I’ve had to build. To be fair I am not a big Technic builder, so I don’t have many other vehicles to compare it to. I’ll be honest when I was building because I was concentrating so hard, I forgot to take photos as I was building. As this is a review from a toy photographer it will be less detailed when it comes to LEGO building technique. I did hear that there’s some illegal LEGO building techniques in this set. If that is what you are interested in this is the wrong review for you to read. Instead, I built the set and then I took it for a spin around Detroit.
Part of my review for this set will include the historical accuracy of this build. Throughout the build in the instruction booklet there are little history lessons, and tidbits about the Model T for example, how a new feature was that the fuel tank was placed under the driver’s seat, and drivers would have to lift the seat cushion to fill the tank. Because, I am not a mechanic or very familiar with the inner workings of the Model T, I did a lot of research and brought it to the one place I could compare the set to the actual car in real time, The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village- more on that later.
Henry Ford built the model T, because at the time cars were only for the rich. Growing up as a poor farm boy, who hated horses he wanted to make life easier for his family so he set out to make a cheaper but still utilitarian vehicle. After many tries the Model T ended up being the one to change the world. One of the things Ford wanted was for the car, to last a lifetime. He wanted people who bought it to be able to fix it themselves if it broke down. He spent years innovating testing and building different versions. Even in his kitchen.
I can’t imagine being Clara Ford, going into the kitchen only to find an experimental engine on my kitchen sink. You couldn’t even DoorDash then. But, then again she must have believed in her husband so much that didn’t matter. I don’t think she would have guessed that she’d be sitting in the Ford Model T ten years later though.
The 1913 Ford Model T was powered by a 20 horsepower, four-cylinder engine, the Model T could reach top speeds of up to 40 to 45 miles per hour (65-70 km/h). If you didn’t know horsepower is a unit of power that compares the output of engines or motors with the work of horse. This was pretty important back when Henry Ford was trying to sell the model T to the masses. Why buy a car? Which wasn’t even called a car then, in 1913 they were still trying to come up with names, like the quadracycle. Because of the assembly line, and the parts the Model T went from $800 to just under $300. Not only was it priced well, but it could carry more weight than horses, and didn’t get tired.
Some say that the writing on the FORD logo is based on the Henry Ford’s actual penmanship. I am not sure how accurate that is, but from what I’ve read even if its not his exact handwriting, it is very close. Which is one of the reasons why that part of the Ford logo has remained unchanged since 1903.
The 1913 Ford Model T Roundabout had one door, located on the passenger side. The seats were upholstered with leather and padded with a blend of raw cotton and horsehair for extra comfort.
Exploring The Henry Ford Museum of Innovation and Greenfield Village – With The LEGO Ford Model T
As mentioned in the beginning the purpose of this review is to showcase the LEGO Icon Ford Model T set, and honor it’s history. Which is why, after building this set I brought it to the place where Henry Ford came up with the idea, built, and manufactured the Ford Model T, The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village. Throughout this review, you will see pictures of my trip to the museum and village, because I really wanted to take photos of The LEGO FORD MODEL T, where Model T’s came from. I spent a whole weekend walking around carrying the LEGO Ford Model T, around a museum, and it was not awkward at all. There’s something magical about walking around Greenfield Village, seeing the old buildings, riding in the old cars, trains, and horse drawn carriages and seeing what it would be like to live in 1920s America. To be able to take photos of the LEGO Model T in front of buildings it would be parked in front of was surreal.
If you ever come to Michigan I highly recommend you visit. According the the museum website “Containing 26 million artifacts, with more than 100,000 digitized for online access, The Henry Ford Archive of American Innovation™ is the greatest collection ever assembled documenting American innovation, ingenuity and resourcefulness.” The museum is full of not only artifacts of engineering innovation, but of historical significance from the iPod to the chair Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in. Crazy. If that’s to depressing of a seat for you, then you can also sit in the seat Rosa Park refused to give up. Which is a powerful experience.
Greenfield Village is full of historic homes, buildings and workshops, which includes Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park Laboratory which was moved to Greenfield Village in the 1920s, where you can literally walk inside and see where the lightbulb and the phonograph was developed. You can even visit the Wright Brother’s Bike Shop and childhood home, where you can see how they built their airplane. You can see where President Abraham Lincoln served as an attorney. It’s this incredibly small building painted all black, that when it opened that There’s over 300 historical buildings throughout the village, all full of artifacts laid out exactly as it was. You might say those are replicas, well yes its true some of them are. But, others most are the real deal, transported across the country to Michigan.
Before The Museum was called The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation – It was actually called The Thomas Edison Institute. It was opened 50 years after the first successful Incandescent lightbulb, and Henry Ford dedicated it to Thomas Edison. Which is why Menlo Park and much of Thomas Edison’s equipment is housed here in Michigan. Below is 1/2 working phonographs built by Edison, the other is in The Smithsonian. The phonograph really does work. A guy recorded himself singing Mary Had A Little Lamb – shouting at the top of his lungs, because well let’s just say you have to scream for it to record well. It’s honestly pretty impressive.
While this has nothing to do with the Lego Model T, I thought I would include this section, for the reason that The Henry Ford Museum doesn’t exist because Ford wanted to celebrate his accomplishments. It exists to celebrate innovation, and he built it to preserve that part of American history. The Wright Brothers, Marie Curie, George Eastman (Kodak), John D, Rockefeller came to the opening which was presided by President Herbert Hoover in October 1929. Ford spent over 20 years collecting historical artifacts and curating the museum. So, when you in Greenfield Village and in The Museum it really feels like the 1990s. There are no modern cars, even the rides are old.
When you are at Greenfield Village you can take a ride in a Ford Model T. While waiting I snapped some photos of The Lego Model T, next to a real one. The driver has been working at the museum for 40 years, and while he drove us around Greenfield Village he talked to us about the buildings, and the Model T. He even told me he was impressed with the LEGO version. While I didn’t get to ride in a 1913 Model T like the set, the one I road was a 1914 Ford Model T.
Seeing the Lego version next to a real Model T, you can tell that the LEGO designers really tried to get a historically accurate version for us to build and enjoy. Just look at the tail lights. The gentleman you see in the photo below has been working at Greenfield Village for over 20 years. As you can see the top is rolled down on the vehicle we rode in. It is quite a process to take the top up and down so at the museum once it’s down or up on that day, they usually don’t switch.
You might notice that the wheels on the 1913 Lego Model T are white, that is because automotive tires used to be all white – which is the color of natural rubber until manufacturers started using carbon to produce black tires, which made tires more durable. Adding zinc, or carbon in the process of making rubber tires is what changed the color, strength and durability. Eventually carbon won out, which is why tires are black in color now.
The Ford Model T was used for everything. Which is why it was known as the car for everyman. It was a bus, a firetruck, it was an all terrain vehicle before those even existed. At Greenfield Village there are no cars allowed other than the Model T’s that are driving people around the village. It’s very similar to Mackinac Island another Michigan destination where there are no vehicles allowed. I can’t think of too many places that are like this left in America, but both Greenfield Village and Mackinac Island make it a point to try and capture that feeling of 1900s America.
It was a semi cold day, when we went to Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford museum, so even though it was a weekend, it wasn’t crowded. That really enabled me to just run around with the Model T in the place it came from freely. I met a lot of cool people, and everyone was so kind when they noticed me taking the photos. I was able to talk about toy photography and history two of my favorite things. As a side note- if taking toy photos in public scares you I say just go for it. You’ll find there’s a lot of people who will find it interesting, and the rest won’t notice. So, just go out there and do it.
The fact that you can just roam around Greenfield Village looking at historic buildings, going inside them and learning about what some famous inventor came up with in their tiny one room home. The fact that you can stand on the steps of a courthouse Abraham Lincoln worked at before he was president, all in one small place where there’s no cars allowed is mind blowing.
The above might be a blurry photo, but I was having a great time riding around in an actual Model T. Which is only $15 for a ride, or you can add an all day ride pass to your entrance fee to Greenfield Village/ Henry Ford Museum.
The End Of The Line : Made In Detroit
In the end, I hope you learned a little bit about the Ford Model T. I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse of my day at The Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village and Michigan the place I call home. The Model T is an Icon, and LEGO did a wonderful job with this set. It looks historically accurate. It captures the essence of the Model T to well a T, and that’s all I could as for in a set like this. It’s not very sturdy. It’s meant to be a model. It’s not meant to be played with, and you probably shouldn’t walk around with it for 12 hours at a museum. But, I did. And it held up. You can get this set for basically the price of a Ford Model T after the assembly line. And you can take historically accurate photographs.
As a toy photographer, who mostly takes LEGO photos. This set isn’t minifigure size. It’s bigger. You could use this set as car for bigger action figures, or get really good a forced perspective. I probably won’t be using this set to take toy photos all the time. It isn’t a set I’d buy because it has a lot of useful minifigures or LEGO parts I could use in other ways for toy photography, so if I was following the rules I made for myself in my other reviews, I’d have to say it’s not worth it. But, I didn’t get this set for the parts. I got it for what it means to me, which sometimes is worth more than money.
As someone who was born and raised in Michigan, I can’t help but love it. I work an 9-5 job at a Henry Ford Hospital, my husband is in the business of cars, my grandma picked to immigrate to Michigan because of the cars this set is a part of me whether I like it or not. The Model T is an Icon, it represent middle class American. It represents the story of a young man born on a farm, who became an engineer, then a millionaire. It represents the history of American manufacturing. It represents the history of cars, the history of America, and the history of the world.
It represents me. That’s why I got it. And sometimes that’s the only reason you need. If it means something to you, if you take one meaningful photograph to you with it then it’s for you. To me this is a set for people who love the story of an underdog who rose to the top, it’s for the Detroiter in all of us.
and I’ll just end this with some Detroit love, because Detroit is full of people who hustle harder. And if you want to argue with me well meet me on 8 Mile because it’s Detroit Vs Everybody.
Let me know if you think you’d visit The Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village or Michigan in general.
Have you ever been to Michigan?
Do you buy LEGO sets for the parts or the model?
My Deep Dive: Research
Look under the hood of the LEGO Icons Ford Model T set
Ted Ryan’s Article – Ted Ryan is the heritage brand manager and archivist at Ford Motor Company (he helped provide historical accuracy to the Lego build)
Wikipedia – The Henry Ford
Henry Ford: Extra History Youtube – I watched this video for more information on Henry Ford
Ford Model T : The Car That Changed The World
Why The Ford Model T was a No Brainer – Part of this article is based on an article from 1914 about why you should buy a Ford instead of a horse
Visiting Michigan But Just For Cars – It is the Motor City
The Place Where The Model T was Built – Ford Piquette Plant
The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village – Visit The Museum And The Village
The Largest Automobile Museum in America – The Gilmore Car Museum [ note that this is 2 hours away from The Henry Ford Museum ] if you love cars this place is amazing plus you can drive a Model T here.
Other LEGO reviews:
Singapore Skyline Review – Sunny’s Review I was Inspired By
One Piece Windmill Village Hut
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