The most successful automobile ever made was Henry Ford’s Model T. From 1908 to 1927, it was the earliest effort to make a car that most people could actually buy, and the first American cars in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1893. But just because they were available didn’t mean that ordinary people could afford them.

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The Model T was actually affordable and it became so popular at one point that a majority of Americans owned one, directly helping rural Americans become more connected with the rest of the country and leading to the numbered highway system. The manufacturing needs of the Model T went hand in hand with Ford’s revolutionary modernization of the manufacturing process. By day he was chief engineer at Edison Illuminating Company of Detroit, but at night Henry Ford labored over a gasoline engine. He successfully tested one on Christmas Eve, 1893, with the help of his wife, Clara, taking a break from Christmas cooking. The engine worked for 30 seconds, long enough to confirm for Ford that he was on the right track.