(Photos: The Ford Model T turns 100)

one correction: The model T first ran on alcohol. John Rockefeller was making kerosene for heating and lighting, and gasoline was a useless byproduct. He was literally dumping it into a river at night.

Then he realized there could be a huge market for this stuff. So he gave the equivalent of $60 million in today's dollars to an obscure group pushing for prohibition called the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

With that kind of jing they were able to buy off congress and prohibition was passed. But note it did not make the consumption of alcohol in America illegal, it outlawed the PRODUCTION of alcohol. The whole thing was to make Rockefeller's useless byproduct a necessity.

And of course you history lessons never tell the truth: that we could be running on alcohol you can make for free with your lawn clippings, and it's far less toxic coming out the pipe. (not to mention dependence on foreign sources)

I couldn't resist... the opening paragraph says "...gasoline powered." By the time the model A came out there was a knob on the dash that changed the fuel-air ratio, so you could use gasoline or alcohol. Alcohol has oxygen in it, you need far less air to get the power out of it.; Posted by: pgit Posted on: 09/30/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use