The first Ford car was called, not surprisingly, the Model A. It had a 1668cc flat-twin engine with a quoted output of six kilowatts, and weighed only 570kg, on a wheelbase of 1830mm.
Its light weight meant that an ordinary man could cover more ground in a day with a Model A Ford than with a horse and buggy, and the Ford didn't need to be fed on days it wasn't being used.
More importantly, its exhaust products didn't have to be cleaned out with a shovel!
The car you see here is the earliest one still in existence; it's had only five owners in 109 years, it's still running and on Thursday it was sold to its sixth owner for $264 000 (R2.32 million).
Here's the story:
Henry Ford started building production Model A's in early 1903 but, while cash was going out to pay suppliers and employees' salaries, there were no cars ready to deliver and no money coming in.
By early July, Ford's bank balance was down to $223.65 and it was doubtful whether he could cover his wage bill long enough to finish the cars that were already standing scattered all over the Mack Avenue workshop in various states of half-completion - it was to be another two years before Ford would invent the production line.
Then, on Monday, 13 July, 1903, the first three orders came in.
Dr E Pfennig sent his full payment of $850, the Indiana Automobile Company sent a $300 deposit and Herbert L McNary a $170 deposit against an $880 order for a Model A with a tonneau body and $30 of optional extras.
Those three cheques kept the Ford Motor Company in business and it is part of the company legend that Henry Ford and co-owner James Couzens helped load up the first three cars that were ready to go.
Without an assembly line, the cars weren't built in any sort of order and nobody was sure, even then, which one was finished first. What is known, from the original ledger which is still in the Henry Ford museum, is that Dr Pfennig got chassis No.11, Indiana Automobile got chassis No.9 and McNary got No.30 - the only one of the three that survives.
Which makes it the oldest production Ford in existence.
Over the next 15 months more than 1700 Model A Fords rolled out of the Mack Avenue plant, starting the process led to the Model T and, ultimately, changed the way the world moved.
JUST FIVE OWNERS
McNary was a butter maker at a creamery in Britt, Iowa. He and his family owned this Ford for about 50 years until, after three years of negotiations, it was sold to car collector Harry E Burd, of Waterloo, Iowa, for the substantial sum of $400 - which was a lot of money for an old car in 1953.
Burd spent still more money having it restored by Ford expert Lloyd Sievers; he knew he had something special, but it was only when he read an article in the May 25, 1953 issue of Life magazine about Ford's 50th anniversary that he realised he had one of the first three Model A's ever built.
In 1961 Burd sold the Model A to a Swiss Ford dealer, who displayed it at Ford's European headquarters in Cologne, among other places, until it was sold again in 2001.
It has always been kept in running condition and has taken part in numerous veteran-car tours - including a trouble-free London to Brighton Veteran Car Run in 2003, the year of its centenary.
In 2007 the car's engine was completely rebuilt (after 104 years!) to original specifications, including the extremely rare Kingston carburettor and the original coil-box stamped with the car's chassis number. It was then sold to the late John M O'Quinn, on whose death it was put up for auction by his executors.