The Road to the Model T: Culture, Road Conditions, and Innovation at the Dawn of the American Motor Age

摘要: In 1920, a single vehicle dominated the American market for automobiles: Ford's famous Model T. Plain, powerful, and utilitarian, its success peaked in 1923 when Ts accounted almost 55 percent of automobile production.1 Introduced 1908 at $850, by efficiencies mass production had allowed Ford to cut price T touring car just $298, enabling ownership United States move steadily down income ladder. Few could have foreseen this result twenty years earlier, however. Then, first motor vehicles, owned exclusively wealthy elites, represented dizzying variety designs that inspired spirited debate over such basic technological questions as best type engine use, where locate it vehicle, how design vehicle's body. recent years, scholars generated host fresh insights into shifting contours early auto industry, both before after advent Much work has been observation social context actively shapes definitions merit thus failure different technologies. Why did internal combustion triumph steam electric alternatives?