It was on July 23, 1903 that Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago, Illinois took delivery of the very first Ford automobile, an original Ford Model A. This original Model A was born of a partnership between Henry Ford and Alexander Malcomson, a Detroit coal merchant that Henry had met while working at the Edison Illuminating Company. The vehicle was primarily designed by C. Harold Wills and it served as an affordable vehicle that Ford could use to begin aggressively marketing stock in his company.
This original version was built only during 1903 and 1904. In total, 1,750 of these cars were made, providing Ford with enough revenue from stock sales to incorporate as the Ford Motor Company and release a new model of automobile, the Model C. Good thing, too, as by the time Ford finally came to market the Model A, he had spent all but $224 of his initial $28,000 of investment funds.
While the 1903 Model A was designed and built as a two-seat runabout with a base price of $750 USD, a factory-installed rear tonneau option, which included two additional seats and a rear door could be purchased for $100. Other options included a rubber roof priced at $30 or a higher-end leather roof, which was available for $50. Another item of interest is that 100% of the first-generation Model A vehicles were only offered with red paint from the factory. What makes this so interesting is that it was only a few years later, while speaking about the Model T in 1909, that Henry Ford uttered the famous words: “Any customer can have a car painted in any colour that he wants so long as it is black.”
Power for the 1903 Model A was provided by a horizontallly mounted "flat-twin" two-cylinder engine. The engine produced a whopping eight horsepower and was mated to a three-speed planetary transmission which propelled the 1,240 lb., 72 in. wheelbase vehicle to a top speed of 45 mph. Sold as the Model AC, some of the late-built 1904 Model A automobiles were equipped with a larger, ten horsepower flat-twin engine which was developed for the Model C. These unique AC models also came equipped with a larger flywheel and increased radiator capacity.
The more well-known Model A was not actually introduced until late 1927 as a replacement for Ford's hugely successful Model T. By comparison to the original Model A, this later cousin saw production of 4,849,340 vehicles from 1927 to 1931.
Happy Motoring!
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