Bibliography: Ford Model T

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Ford Model T Bibliography

This bibliography was compiled by staff of the Benson Ford Research Center’s Archives and Library Department based on materials in our collections. If you have questions about these resources, please use our Submit a Question feature. If you are interested in duplication, please see our Duplication Resources FAQ.

Archival

  • Acc. 1701 Model T Drawings
    • Parts and assemblies used in the Model T, arranged by factory number on 70mm microfiche. There are often multiple drawings of changes to the part which are arranged in reverse chronological order. 
       
  • Acc. 1701 Model T Releases
    • Record of Change for each part of the Model T, arranged by factory number on 70mm microfiche. These records list the date of a change, the factory letter number which authorized the change, the name of the official who authorized the change, and a description of the change.
       
  • Acc. 1701 Parts Lists
    • Factory Parts Lists on 70mm microfiche. These lists fall into three categories. Complete Lists show every Model T part and the materials used to produce it. Assembly Lists show the parts used on a particular subassembly of the Model T. Accessory Detail Parts Lists show all the parts and factory numbers for each part supplied by outside vendors, 1910-1915.

  • Bruce McCalley Model T Parts Database
    • Comprehensive but not complete database of Model T factory part numbers compiled from parts books. 
       
  • Acc. 181 Miscellaneous Ford Motor Company Blueprints and Drawings Collection
    • box 3 Model T drawings, 1911-1927
    • box 6 Model T drawings, 1918-1927
    • box 7 Model T parts, 1908-1927
       
  • Acc. 175 Automotive Product Literature Collection
    • Ford Motor Company, 1908-1927 (includes sales literature, color and upholstery information, owner’s manuals, and specifications)
       
  • Automotive Parts and Service
    • Ford Motor Company, 1908-1927 (includes part catalogs, repair manuals, and pricing)
       
  • Acc. 19 Advertisement Collection
    • box 2 Ford, 1903-1915
    • box 3 Ford, 1922-1924
    • box 4 Ford, 1925
    • box 5 Ford, 1926-1928
    • box 54 Ford, 1907, 1910, 1912, 1922, 1925-1928
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  • Acc. 125 Model T Cost Records
    • Beginning in December 1913, Ford Motor Company kept detailed records of the costs of producing each part, sub-assembly of parts, and entire cars. These costs were tabulated monthly and distributed to executives. Costs are broken down into four categories: labor, material, overhead, and total. These books also contain detailed information on the quantity of each part used in cars and in many instances the total monthly production of the different styles of cars.
    • box 1-2 1914-1914
    • box 3-4 1915
    • box 5-8 1916
    • box 9-11 1917
    • box 12-13 1918
    • box 14-18 1919
    • box 19-24 1920
    • box 25-29 1921
    • box 30-33 1922
    • box 34-39 1923
    • box 40-45 1924
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  • Acc. 368 Niels HF Olsen Papers
    • box 1 
      • Wire Wheel Patent Suit - Kennedy vs. Ford Motor Co.
      • Selden Patent Suit
    • box 2 Selden Patent Suit
    • box 3 Proving Grounds
    • box 4
      • Model T steering gear lock
      • Steel Piston Case
    • box 5 Transmissions
    • box 6
      • Model T Prints and Specifications
      • Ford Patents
      • Experimental Engineering
    • box 7
      • Bumper Design
      • Streamline Tests
      • Crankshaft Design Blueprints
      • Suspension
      • Tanks, World War I
      • Titman Case
    • box 8 Acoustics
    • box 11 Model T Photographs
    • box 12 Oversize Blueprints (Rolled-See Proving Ground and Model T)
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  • Acc. 402 Consignment Records
    • Model T vendor contracts listed alphabetically from 1906 to 1915. Information includes vendor address, lists of parts supplied, and prices. In many cases, files also include drawings of the parts supplied and identifying the part’s factory number.
    • box 1 A-I
    • box 2
      • J-W
      • Steering Gear assemblies, 1911
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  • Acc. 166 Model T Part Specification and Machine Operation Sheets
    • box 1-2 contain Part Specification Sheets. Beginning about 1917, Ford Motor Company began creating detailed specification sheets for parts obtained from outside suppliers. The sheets were distributed to potential vendors and bids were solicited. In addition to detailed specifications for the parts, these often list the names of vendors who supplied these parts. While incomplete, many part specification sheets survive.
    • box 3-7 contain Process Sheets for Model T and Model T Ton Truck. These sheets describe in detail how parts were made and in what order they are assembled into complete cars and trucks.
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  • Acc. 1003 Obsolete Material Specifications
    • Material specification sheets for the raw and semi-finished materials 1917 and later. Includes paints, wires, steels, brass, upholstery materials, etc.
    • box 1
      • Obsolete Process Spec. MS1 – MS100-10
      • Obsolete Process Spec. C1 – C261
      • Obsolete Process Spec. PL-01-01 – PL 100-07
      • Obsolete Process Spec. P8 – P132
      • Obsolete Data SK-3517A – SK-3535C
      • Obsolete Material Spec. M-101 – M-1942
    • box 2
      • Special Section #13 SK-3546
      • Obsolete OPT Spec. MFG STD Tires, Steel Foundry
      • Obsolete Material Spec. M-1950 – M-5003-UR
    • box 3 Obsolete Material Spec. M-5003-B – M-6145
    • box 4 Obsolete Material Spec. M-6146 – M-20040
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  • Acc. 575 Factory Change Letters Subseries
    • Letters describing engineering changes in the Model T, 1908-1921
    • box 1 1908-1910
    • box 2-3 1911
    • box 4 1912
    • box 5 1913
    • box 6 1914
    • box 7 1915
    • box 8 1916
    • box 9-10 1917
    • box 11-12 1919
    • box 13-14 1920
    • box 15 1921
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  • Acc. 396 Ford Motor Company Production Reports
    • box 1 Ledger of production car assembly reports by month and branch, 1924
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  • Acc. 417 Engine and Foundry Division Production Program and Control Department Records
    • Ledger books of production of Model T engines from January 1915 to the end of engine production in 1941
    • box 1 Charts of number of engines produced each day from October 1912 to December 1939
    • box 2 Bound volumes, 1915-1918
    • box 3 Bound volumes, 1918-1925
    • box 4 Bound volumes, 1926-1931
    • box 5 Bound volumes, 1931-1934
    • box 6 Bound volumes, 1934-1940
    • box 8 Bound volumes, 1940-1942
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  • Acc. 623 Account Receivable and Accounts Payable Records
    • Accounts receivable and accounts payable ledger books, 1904 to 1914. The accounts receivable cover March 1904 to 1914 and list the name of the dealer or individual a car was shipped to, their address, the date the car was shipped, and the car number. This is the sole surviving information on production and shipping dates for cars built between March 1904 to March 1909. Unfortunately, the books are not complete; consequently, only about 25% of all the cars produced can be documented in this collection. The accounts payable books list the creditors to whom the Ford Motor Company owed money, 1905-1909. These ledger books list the name of the vendors, dates, amounts billed, and payment date. These books are a useful tool to identify major suppliers. Special accounts receivable contains receivables from Ford Motor Company employees and stockholders for the years 1913-1920. For instance, these books list Model Ts Henry Ford purchased, the amounts that he paid, and the serial numbers.
    • box 1-9 Accounts receivable, 1905-1914
    • box 10-12 Accounts payable, 1907-1909
    • box 13-21 Accounts payable, 1918-1920
    • box 22-24 Special accounts receivable, 1913-1920
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  • Early Ford Shipping Dates Database
    • Lists of individual cars shipped by Ford Motor Company 1903-1909. Information includes shipping date, model letter, serial number, purchaser, location, remarks, and ID#. This information was gathered from ledgers in Acc. 85 and Acc. 623.
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  • Acc. 641 Shipping Invoices
    • Model T shipping records covering serial numbers 1,119-70,915, encompassing the years 1909-1911 stored on 16mm microfilm. Box 1 also contains the actual shipping invoice for Model T #1
    • box 1 Serial numbers 1,119 – 35,910
    • box 2 Serial numbers 35,911 – 70,915
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  • Acc. 235 Administration Building Third Floor Vault Records
    • Starting in 1915, Ford Motor Company issued General Letters to departments, branches, and dealers. Topics related to the Model T include product announcements, sales policy changes, and assembly changes. These letters are very useful in dating changes in parts, styles, models, and factory production techniques. This accession contains a nearly complete set of General Letters.
    • box 16 1926-1927
    • box 17 1926
    • box 18-19 1925
    • box 20-21 1924
    • box 22 1923
    • box 23 1921-1922
    • box 27 1920-1921
    • box 28 1918-1919
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  • Acc. 78 Administrative Records
    • box 1 General Letters, 1915-1919
    • box 44 General Letters, 1917
    • box 45 General Letters, 1918
    • box 46 General Letters, 1919-1920
    • box 47 General Letters, 1921
    • box 48 General Letters, 1922-1923
    • box 49 General Letters, 1923
    • box 50 General Letters, 1924
    • box 51 General Letters, 1925
    • box 52 General Letters, 1925
    • box 53 General Letters, 1926
    • box 54 General Letters, 1927
    • box 83 General Letters, to all branches, 1918-1920
    • box 84 General Letters, to all branches, 1921-1923
    • box 86 General Letters, to all branches, 1923-1925
    • box  86 General Letters, to all branches, 1925
    • box 87 General Letters, Traffic Department, 1924-1928
    • box 88 General Letters, 1919-1920
    • box 89 General Letters, 1920-1922
    • box 90 General Letters, Sales Department, 1922-1926
       
  • Acc. 509 Memorandums Subseries
    • box 1 General Letters, Sales Department, 1911-1913
    • box 2 General Letters, Sales Department, 1914-1915
    • box 3
      • Instruction and Assembly Change Letters, 1925-1926
      • Sales Letters & Service Bulletins, 1926
    • box 4
      • Sales Letters & Service Bulletins, 1926
      • General Letters, 1927
      • Instruction & Assembly Change Letters, 1927
      • Sales Letters & Service Bulletins, 1927
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  • Acc. 542 Cost Accounting Records
    • box 31 Cost information on Model T engines and miscellaneous assemblies, 1928-1929
    • box 32 Comparative cost information on Model T cars and parts, 1915-1917
    • box 87 Cost information on the Model T ambulance, WWI
    • box 88 summary cost data for Ford and Fordson production, 1919-1922
    • box 90 Summary cost data for Ford, Fordson, Lincoln and parts production, 1923-1925
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  • Acc. 94 Engineering Correspondence Files
    • This accession is divided into three sections. The first covers general office files and correspondence. The second section are files of William T Fishleigh which cover most of the major assemblies of the Model T, correspondence relating to design changes in the Model T, evaluation of parts and materials supplied by vendors, test reports of carburetors and complete automobiles, and many original Model T blueprint drawings, trade catalogs, and photographs. The third section contains the C. H. Foster files which is a general correspondence file responding to unsolicited offers of parts, materials, patents and improvements in the design of the Model T.
    • box 1-164 1923-1925
    • box 165-181 Fishleigh files, 1926
    • box 182-188 Foster files, 1926
    • box 189-195 Fishleigh files, 1927
    • box 196-218 Foster files, 1927-1928
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  • Acc. 76 Terminated Dealer Contracts
    • Contracts signed by the dealers, dealer’s financial statements, reports from the Sales Department’s roadmen and sometimes include pictures of the exterior of the dealers’ place of business and service department, 1915-1923.
    • box 1 Albany
    • box 2-5 Atlanta
    • box 6-8 Buffalo
    • box 9-14 Cambridge
    • box 15-18 Charlotte
    • box 19-27 Chicago
    • box 28-30 Cincinnati
    • box 31-33 Cleveland
    • box 34-38 Columbus
    • box 39-42 Dallas
    • box 43-46 Denver
    • box 47-53 Des Moines
    • box 54-60 Detroit
    • box 61-65 Fargo
    • box 66-67 Foreign
    • box 68-70 Houston
    • box 71-73 Indianapolis
    • box 74-75 Jacksonville
    • box 76-82 Kansas City
    • box 83-85 Long Island
    • box 86-87 Los Angeles
    • box 88-91 Louisville
    • box 92-94 Memphis
    • box 95-100 Milwaukee
    • box 101-109 Minneapolis
    • box 110-112 New Orleans
    • box 113-115 New York City
    • box 116-120 Oklahoma City
    • box 121-123 Omaha
    • box 124-129 Philadelphia
    • box 130-132 Pittsburgh
    • box 133-135 Portland
    • box 136-138 Salt Lake City
    • box 139 San Francisco
    • box 140-141 Scranton
    • box 142-143 Seattle
    • box 144-145 Spokane
    • box 146-151 St. Louis
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  • Acc. 75 Legal Department (Ford Motor Company) Records
    • Includes body and motor numbers for Model T’s involved in legal disputes, 1912-1933. Can be searched using “Motor [#]” or “Automobile [#]”

Ford Times

  • See Index

Ford News

  • See Index

Oral Histories

The Benson Ford Research Center has a number of oral histories which discuss the Model T, below is a selection. Researchers can search further in our Ford Reminiscences Oral History Collection.

Vertical File

  • Automobile Industry and Trade / Automobiles / Ford / Model T
    • Anniversary Articles
    • Canadian Motor Numbers
    • Centennial
    • Conversions
    • Floorboards
    • General Articles
    • Miscellaneous
    • Paint (Black)
    • Parts & Service Articles (2 folders)
    • Patent Plate
    • Photos
    • Prices
    • Production
    • Reminiscences
    • Service
    • Specifications
    • Suppliers
    • Torpedo

Books

The Benson Ford Research Center holds many books related to the Model T, below is a selection. Researchers can search further in our Library Catalog.

 

Topics

  • Last Updated Feb 13, 2025
  • Views 6
  • Answered By Kathy M

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