Most of us have heard the phrase, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it’s black.” Henry Ford, the founder of Ford motor company and also a pioneer of scale production, uttered that phrase. The car in question was the model T, the car that kicked off automobile ownership to the masses in the U.S. Today black remains the second most popular car color in the world. Automobile color and car features would change the infant automobile industry forever.
The Model T was available in almost any color when it was first introduced. The very first Model T came in red. Colors the car came in include green, bright red, dark blue, maroon, brown, gray and black.
Painting cars in the early 1900s was a time-consuming and expensive process. The paint had to be manually applied and took many coats. On average, a car took 3 weeks to paint and dry. Some colors could take up to 8 weeks to finish. They needed many buildings to house the painted cars to keep the cars out of the elements as they dried.
In 1914, Ford introduced assembly line car manufacturing. The process not only increased efficiency but also increased the output of cars. Unfortunately, something had to give with the process and that something was a choice of colors. Ford defaulted to the color black for many reasons. Black dried faster than any color. Painting techniques back then were limited to baked enamel. Enamel paint was durable and hard and black was the only pigment it worked in. Black paint was cheaper than the other colors and doesn’t require the detailing and precision of other colors.
By limiting the car color to black and introducing the assembly line method, Ford cut time required to paint and dry a car to three days! The process also cut the cost of painting a car from $50 to $30.
The Model T was the one and only car Ford offered and was only available in black from 1914 to 1925. The savings for the move were $30 million a year or equal to 15-50% of Ford’s profits. During this time, the Model T topped all car sales list and Ford was the number one auto manufacturer in the United States.
In 1923, The Dupont company which owned part of General Motors (GM), invented Duco paint. Duco dried faster than baked enamel, was just as cheap to apply and could be made in any color. The paint was also brighter and more durable than baked enamel.
In 1924, GM offered the Duco paint, in a variety of colors, on all of its cars. GM’s CEO, Alfred P. Sloan, believed that eye appeal was the most important factor in car sales. Henry Ford believed cost and production were more important factors. In 1925, Dupont made Duco paint available to all car manufacturers.
GM also believed in offering different models of cars at different price points. GM was producing Chevrolet, the slightly more stepped up Oakland/Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and the top of the line Cadillac. Ford just produced the Model T. GM also offered bigger engines, more interior features and focused on enclosed bodies. Most Model T’s were made open top, which is not very usable in the Midwest and Eastern United States in the winter.
In 1927, Ford introduced the Model A, its first new car in over a decade. At this point GM became the market leader in the American auto industry, a position it held for most of the 20th century. GM would become the largest and most successful manufacturing company on earth in its heyday.
Mistakes were made:
Ford was the early innovator in the auto industry. By introducing and stream lining the assembly line car manufacturing technique, automobile production shot through the roof. Automobile companies still use the assembly line technique today. Once you become an industry innovator, keep innovating because your competitors are looking to catch and surpass you. The Model T sold like hotcakes and Ford rested on its laurels. Meanwhile, GM invented a new paint that cost the same as baked enamel but available in any color. GM also added different car features, different cars and enclosed cars to their lineup. They kept innovating and overtook and surpassed Ford.
Can you imagine going to a car dealer today and they only have one type of car in only one color on the lot? 2021 is a lot different from the early 1900s, but Americans have always liked to stand out and show their societal standing by the vehicle they drive. The Model T didn’t allow that and eventually become a relic of history, although an important one. Imagine if the iPhone was only available in one color and one size, some competitor would have swooped into the cell phone market and overtaken Apple just by offering different choices and colors. No matter how much of an innovator you are, keep innovating. A saying that’s incorrectly credited to Charles Darwin, one must “adapt or die.”
