When Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908, he didn't just sell a car. He sold a philosophy wrapped in steel. His real invention wasn't the "Tin Lizzie" - it was the moving assembly line, a system of such ruthless efficiency that it slashed the car's price by more than half in a decade.
This was the goal: a car so affordable that every "average Joe" could own one. And to achieve that, Ford needed to cut every possible corner.
Which brings us to the legendary, stubborn, and slightly sinister slogan: "You can have any color you want, as long as it's black."
Here’s the mind-blowing truth behind the phrase:
Black Japan Enamel was the only paint that dried fast enough to keep up with the relentless, world-first assembly line. Any other color added hours of delay, which added dollars of cost. The "choice" of black wasn't about style; it was about the tyranny of speed and scale.
For a brief, weird moment in history, an entire industry’s aesthetic was dictated not by designers, but by a paint chemist and a conveyor belt. The Model T didn't personalize freedom - it standardized it, in the most efficient color possible.
So the next time you're stuck in traffic, remember: you're participating in a system born from a factory that was, quite literally, colorblind by design. The car that put the world on wheels did so by offering the greatest false choice of the 20th century.