Everything To Know About Ford's Model T Depot Hack
The Ford Model T is an unquestioned icon of the automotive industry. After the Model T's introduction in the fall of 1908, Ford's assembly plant on Piquette Avenue in Detroit couldn't produce the car fast enough to keep up with demand, so Ford built a mechanized assembly line at a new facility in nearby Highland Park.
According to the Detroit Historical Society, innovations at that plant cut the manufacturing time for a Model T down to 93 minutes by 1914. By 1924, the price of a Model T had dropped to just $260, about $4,700 in today's money. Ford ceased production of the Model T in 1927, at which point more than 15 million had been sold.
Throughout its roughly 20 years in production, the mass-market Model T was issued in several different variants, including a two-seat coupe, three-seat runabout and roadster models, plus larger touring and town car versions. Beginning in 1917, Ford began building the Model TT, a one-ton truck chassis with a stronger frame and rear axle. The Model TT had to be outfitted with a bed and/or cab by a third-party builder, but many Model TTs were converted to fire trucks, dump trucks, or other utility vehicles.
The Depot Hack had a specific purpose
One such aftermarket variant of the Model TT was the Depot Hack, which was used to ferry hotel guests to and from train stations. It took part of its name from the word "hackney," an antiquated term for a horse-drawn carriage later applied to taxicabs of all types. The body of the Depot Hack was made mostly of wood, at a time when this was not seen as an aesthetic choice but rather a practical one. Wood was light and plentiful. As often as not, it was often sourced from the packing crates that suppliers used to ship parts to Ford. Wood could also be easily replaced when it was damaged from traveling over the unimproved roads of the era.
The Depot Hack was made from 1919 through 1923, during the Model T's peak production years. It was powered by a version of the Model T's four cylinder, four-stroke engine that put out 20 horsepower and 83 lb-ft. of torque. The engine was mated to a two-speed planetary gearbox, giving the Depot Hack a top speed of 42 mph.
Original Depot Hacks are hard to find, but several examples have sold at auction over the past few years, bringing in prices from $8,000 to $18,000.
[Featured Image by Ryan Hildebrand via Wikimedia Commons| Cropped and scaled| CC-BY 4.0]