Ford customers made it clear in the mid-1920s that the venerable Tin Lizzie – the Ford Model T - had run its course and that it was time for Ford to develop the “next big thing” for the automobile market.
While competitors were building cars that were better suited to the quickly modernizing roads and consumer tastes, Henry Ford believed that the Model T was still the best option for those living in rural areas, as well as those who desired accessible prices.
It became clear to everyone that updates and lower prices for the T would no longer suffice, so in late 1926 Henry Ford directed his engineers to start work on a new Ford – the Model A.
Those people have all been dead for decades.