Model T Secrets In Plain Sight; Bring Cash or Go Home; Uncharted Subaru

The Ford Model T gets talked about like a simple origin story, but the real history is full of weird details and big misunderstandings. We walk through the facts that actually explain how the Model T changed American transportation and manufacturing, including what it cost in 1908, why “black only” became a thing, and how Ford’s choices around simplicity and efficiency helped put everyday drivers behind the wheel. We also clear up a major myth: the Model T didn’t launch with the moving assembly line, and the timing of that innovation matters if you want to understand how mass production really took over.

From there, we widen the lens to the human side of early cars and car culture. Starting a Model T could be physical and even dangerous, and the engineering workarounds like early ignition solutions show just how fast the auto industry was evolving. We also connect the Model T to a bigger story about roads and infrastructure, because the car shows up before America has proper roads, then helps create the demand to build them.

Then we shift gears into practical present-day fun: swap meets. We talk about how parts hunting has changed, which Texas swap meets still feel like the real deal, and the simple rules that make the day a win, like bringing cash, arriving early, and preparing to walk a lot. 

Finally, Don shares a straight-shooting car review of the 2026 Subaru Uncharted EV, covering design, interior tech, comfort, range expectations, pricing, and competitors, plus a teaser about what happens when you actually commit to plugging in a plug-in hybrid. If you like car history, EV talk, and real-world ownership advice, hit subscribe, share this with a car friend, and leave us a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Transcript

Don Armstrong 0:05

Time now for Jeff's Car Culture. Launch of the Model T Ford.

Model T Price And Mass Appeal

Colors, Wages, And Word Of Mouth

Assembly Line Myth And Scale

Jeff Dziekan 0:09

It's about time. So the things that you really didn't know and the kind of speculation, but the Model T revolution revolutionized transportation and manufacturing in America when it debuted in 1908. While many know it was the first affordable automobile that put American on wheels, Henry Ford's vision created the new car for the common person. So here we go. Talk about price. Well, initially the car sold for$825 in 1908, equivalent to about$25,000 today. The affordable compared to other automobiles of the area, which typically cost about two grand. Ford managed the price point by focusing on simplicity and efficiency. And then you talk about the color. Well, despite the popular saying that customers would have had any color as long as it's black, the earliest model T's weren't actually black. The first production models came in gray, green, red, and blue. Really? Black became standard in 1914 because black paint dried faster. That's why? And it sped up production. Wow. Who knew? Who knew? So you talk about the people doing that? Well, workers were paid five dollars a day in 1914, which was just generous. It was revolutionary. The wage doubled and the industry standard uh to follow. Allowed workers to afford the very cars they were building, and that's what Ford wanted. He wanted uh understanding that the customers create what was important to them. Talk about the budget. Ford's budget was uh not anything uncommon, but modern vehicles launched with massive marketing campaigns. Ford spent almost nothing on advertising for the Model T. The car essentially sold itself through word of mouth and newspaper coverage. Ford relied on the product's quality and affordability to generate the buzz. The assembly line? Well, contrary to popular belief, the Model T didn't launch with the famous moving assembly line. The innovation came five years after the release in 1913.

Don Armstrong 1:59

I was gonna say by 1914 when everybody got it right.

Driving A Model T Was Risky

How Swap Meets Changed

Jeff Dziekan 2:02

Yep, yep. Uh before that, cars were built in stationary position with workers moving between them, taking about twelve hours per vehicle. Wow. The capacity? Well, Ford's factory could produce eleven cars per day by 1914 and implementing the moving assembly line. The numbers skyrocket to about 93 uh a car every 93 minutes, which was very good back then. Efficiency allowed Ford to continue dropping prices throughout production. The first global car, well, it's what they called it. It was designed as the world's first global car. Ford built factories across six continents, and the Model T was manufactured in twenty countries. That was that's pretty crazy back then in nineteen thirteen, nineteen fourteen. Talk about the procedures. Well, uh the Model T wasn't as simply as simple as turning the key. Drivers had to set multiple levels to adjust the throttle, physically cranking the engine by hand. The crank would kick back dangerously and sometimes breaking a wrist or a finger if the unprepared person was operating it. The innovations that they had, well, that the unique material solutions, it's a magneto, part of the ignition, was built in the flywheel using materials that had been used in automobiles before. The innovation eliminated the need for batteries in early mod in the early models through significant engineering achievements. Transfer transformation of it was uh the Ford specifically designed the Model T with high ground clearance, flexible suspension to handle America's most unpaved rural roads. Don't forget, there wasn't any concrete back then either. The Model T arrived before proper roads did, actually driving demand for better infrastructure nationwide. So kind of contributed to that for Now that's a Model A. Yeah. Mm-hmm. There's other pictures in there too. Uh the the source, many farmers used the Model T as a stationary power source by jacking up the rear wheels and attaching a belt to the axle, the Model T could perform uh farm equipment like saws, pumps, and threshers, effectively serving as a mobile generator. The name, well, the T designated s uh seems obvious now, but few know it represent represented the Ford's twentieth design attempt. This previous model ran through much of the alphabet. Several f several of them failed prototypes uh before the Model T was a success. The earliest prototypes from 1903 were simply named with letters in sequence. So the T finally was at the end of the alphabet, basically. Other milestones, the production ended in 1927. Ford uh manufactured an astounding fifteen million model T's. The record stood until 1972 when the Volkswagen Beetle finally surpassed it. No other single model dominated the market so completely for so long. So there you go. You're just gonna drive it through America, and that's little tidbits and facts about that, and that people didn't know all that, and now you do.

Don Armstrong 4:45

That is that was interesting, actually. I didn't I didn't realize I always thought that the Model T was uh a assembly line made at the from the very beginning, but now five years later.

Jeff Dziekan 4:56

He was very innovative back in the beginning, so you know thank you, Henry Ford and all the Ford family.

Don Armstrong 5:01

You know, but he let's go recall something.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

He wasn't a very nice uh Mr.

Don Armstrong 5:11

Mars, um it's time for your driving destinations and five swap meets, and it's time for you to go. You want me to get a mic?

Biggest Texas Swap Meets To Know

Mike Marrs 5:18

If you would, sir, I'll pull it up and get you started. There you go. All right. So swap meets are something that we used to. I remember when I was much, much younger that that was something that we always went to looking for parts. It was a big deal. It was almost like almost every car show had a swap meet, and it's not so much anymore. Now, if you're gonna find something generally it's tied into a flea market, but there are several swap meets. Or you go online and get it, yeah. It takes all the fun out of watching, walking through it. So, but one of them that's going on that is still a pretty big deal is the Southwest Swap Meet at Lone Star Park. Now, this is right between Dallas and Fort Worth. Happens twice a year. In fact, it's going on this weekend, is the spring event, and there'll be one later on in the fall. Now, this has been around since 1968, and it's set up on a six on a 300-acre horse racing facility. So it's not a lot of open fields and stuff. You've got parking lots and grandstand, the tracks all right there in the background, but there's like 5,000 spaces available for vendors, food trucks, and the auto corral. So if you want to go looking for something in a little bit more of a laid-back atmosphere that's not totally too big, put on your walking shoes and go check out this one. Now, getting a little bit closer to home down here in the Dallas part of the world, Hot Rods of Texas swap meet happens up in Conroe. Again, this one is twice a year, and this is the second largest swap meet in Texas. Now, uh the October event is set for October the 23rd and the 25th. Again, Montgomery County Fairgrounds out on Airport Road. We've been out there a couple of times with some other event. It is a real fairgrounds, it is a large place, and they use the whole thing. Hot rods, muscle cars, project builds. And the great thing about this one is if you're gonna be a vendor there, if you're gonna come in there and set it up, you've got to have at least 75% of your content or your stuff you're bringing in, it's gotta be auto-related. So you're not really gonna turn this into some sort of flea market with a lot of handicrafts on it. And uh usually draws a lot of a pretty big crowd because isn't that a cute person?

SPEAKER_02 7:26

A lot of car on it.

Swap Meet Survival Tips

Mike Marrs 7:30

So um then we're gonna go to the big one. Now, this is the biggest in Texas, and it is considered one of the largest in the country. Now, this is the Pate Swap Meet. Happens April the 23rd through the 25th, so still got time to get there. Now, this was started in 1972 by several Texas car clubs who were going off to Pennsylvania, to Hershey, and places like that, and they got tired of making the drive. So they decided to set one up here, and it's been through several different places, and now is home at the Texas Motor Speedway. 14 clubs get together to put this together. They have 2,000 vendors, and they have 9,900 spaces for people to set up and swap parts and swap stories. Then they have an auto corral. And here's some pictures. Part of these pictures are from the top seating of the track looking out over the the field. It uses the in the whole track. And uh a lot of people, I mean, they now have uh golf carts, a lot of people use scooters, a lot of people to get around. Um last time I was up there, it wasn't quite this big, it was pre-COVID. I was there two days, it still didn't get to walk through all of it. So there's a lot of stuff up there and lots of things, and if you buy something, if you can't carry it, they got people that'll actually carry it to your car. So, one thing about these car these swap meets, whether it's these big ones or the small ones that you can find, the biggest thing you've got to remember is bringing cash. Cash is king because out there in the middle of the parking lot, you're not gonna necessarily have access to a credit card. And the other thing is if you want to get something in particular, if you're really looking for a hard-to-part find, you ought to get there a little bit early and get started on it. Bring your walking shoes. And um a couple other swaps. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You walk your feet off with that. A couple other things I want to mention quite real quick. Greenville swap meet, that's an old school option early in the spring that's up there. And then the other one is the Corvette Chevy Expo down in Galveston. It's pretty close. That one also has uh a swap meet, but it's primarily GM focused, uh obviously heavy into the Corvettes. But swap meets are still out there and you can find them. Uh you just gotta kind of look for them. They're not uh as plentiful as they used to be, but they're still a lot of fun.

Don Armstrong 9:42

All right, thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Gotta take it.

unknown 9:49

There you go.

2026 Subaru Uncharted First Look

Interior, Cargo, And Usability

EV Power, Range, And Pricing

Plug In Hybrid Charging Surprise

Don Armstrong 9:50

All right, thank you. Time now for this hour's car review. I had an opportunity to drive something that's all new. All new. And it's the 2026 Subaru Uncharted. And you're thinking, that looks pretty darn good. And it does. So it comes in these trim levels premium, sport, and GT. I had the middle trim level, the sport, and it was orange like that. It is considered a subcompact SUV, about the size of the cross-trek. Seats including the driver, five. All new for this year, as I mentioned. Best looking vehicle for its size, period, according to Don Armstrong. I I really like it. Um, front fascia, clean design, doesn't look EV-ish, which is a big thing for me. Why do they have to have EV cars look different than the rest of them? Granted, you don't have to have a big opening in the front for cooling the radiator. It's not moving. But pardon? It's moving. It's moving. Okay. Um but this one, it does have kind of a grill-like thing. It's an air intake, but good. They put it in the front like it's supposed to be. Um the fastback rear hatch gives it a sports car look. The rear door handle is disguised in the C pillar. What I liked, just the right proportions of curves that will give it extra appeal, in my opinion. What could use improvement? Nothing. Don't touch it. I think they've got a home run here. Granted, it is a small SUV. Interior highlights. Dual horizontal phone chargers are superb. Yes, dual. So you can see part of it right up there. You can put two phones up there, one for you and one for your passenger. Isn't that nice? Huge screen on the center dash is easy to read and use. Comfortable seating, uh, but rear leg room is a bit tight. As you can imagine, this is a subcompact. Steering wheel controls are kind of hard to read, but I've got old tired eyes, so don't blame it on Subaru, blame it on me. Um as far as cargo, it's tight in the back, especially with its fastback design. So you give up a little bit of room back there in the back. But I'll tell you what, I I just I like the whole thing. Uh what I liked about it back there, um, the dial gear shift on the center console is handy, but why not use a stalk style shifter on the column that would save the center console space for something else? Just saying. Uh to me, this gets an urban vehicle award. Uh, it is awesome. Engine is a 3.47 kilowatt hour high capacity lithium battery that has drum roll, please, 338 horsepower. Dude, that's a lot. It's a direct drive, dual motor motor, uh, front or all-wheel drive. Uh all-wheel drive obviously is an option. Uh well, it got 3.8 miles per kilowatt or hour over 481 miles. Now I charged it both at home and at work. Uh, and obviously you have to charge it because it's strictly an EV. Nothing but uh electricity there. What I liked about it, plenty of power, plenty of power. What could use improvement? The range, 287 miles. Now I've got another EV that I'm driving. It'll be the third one in a row that I'm driving now. And it also different size vehicle, but it also has 287 miles of range on it. I think that that's just kind of like, oh, well, we'll just throw it 287 miles. Yeah, and that's 287 miles. Uh but it depends on how you drive. Do you floor it a lot? Do you drive it at high speed a lot? It ain't gonna do 287 miles. But for an urban vehicle, which this is classified as, in my opinion, uh, 287 mile range should be enough for you to get around town and one day of driving. One day. One day. Not two days, but one day. Ride and handling, eight inches of ground clearance gives it a true off-road look. Ride and handling, smooth ride for such a short wheel base EV. What could use improvement? Nothing. Okay, here comes the pricing. You ready? Base trim price. Now I had the sport model, which is middle of the road, 39, 795. The price is tested, 41,720 because of some extra options on it. Base model price you can get in this vehicle. 34,995 is where it starts. Excluding the tax title and license. Competitors, the Hyundai Ionic 5, the Tesla Model Y, and the Mustang Machi. Next week I'm going to review the Kia Sportage plug-in hybrid electric. And here's what I here's what I want to tell you about that. This is the first vehicle that I've actually made it an effort to plug it in. Because it's got a gasoline motor. Yeah. And so you plug it in, and it's going to give you, I don't know, 40, 50 miles. Yeah. So I've plugged it in, and I think that you're going to be surprised by what I have found by plugging it in. This one out here is a true EV, so you it has to be plugged in.

Jeff Dziekan 15:37

So the plug-in hybrid, that is the same relation as having a donut spare, because the donut spare tire only goes about 50, 60, maybe 70 miles. So the hybrid plug-in is basically the donut spare for the car.

Don Armstrong 15:53

But oh my gosh, what a difference it makes in the gasoline total calculations gives you higher mileage. I was shocked. And you know, I don't know why. I have not done it in the past because it's a pain. But I've got the pain worked out. I charge it at work, and then I charge it here at the house and I run an extension cord. And by golly, it works. So there's that.