In our first year we built “Model A,” selling the runabout for eight hundred and fifty dollars and the tonneau for one hundred dollars more. … We made and sold 1,708 cars in the first year. …
In our first advertisement we said: “Our purpose is to construct and market an automobile specially designed for everyday wear and tear—business, professional, and family use; an automobile which will attain to a sufficient speed to satisfy the average person without acquiring any of those breakneck velocities which are so universally condemned; a machine which will be admired by man, woman, and child alike for its compactness, its simplicity, its safety, its all-around convenience, and—last but not least—its exceedingly reasonable price, which places it within the reach of many thousands who could not think of paying the comparatively fabulous prices asked for most machines.”
And these are the points we emphasized:
Good material.
Simplicity—most of the cars at that time required considerable skill in their management.
The engine.
The ignition—which was furnished by two sets of six dry cell batteries.
The automatic oiling.
The simplicity and the ease of control of the transmission, which was of the planetary type.
The workmanship.
We did not make the pleasure appeal. …
The business went along almost as by magic. The cars gained a reputation for standing up. They were tough, they were simple, and they were well made.