Initially it took 14 hours to assemble a Model T car. By improving his mass production methods, Ford reduced this to 1 hour 33 minutes. This lowered the overall cost of each car and enabled Ford to undercut the price of other cars on the market. Between 1908 and 1916 the selling price of the Model T fell from $1,000 to $360. Following the success of Ford's low-price cars, other companies began introducing mass production methods to produce cheaper goods.

With cars came roads and more roads. All of a sudden we became a mobile people, unbound by schedules or railway constraints. We could go anywhere, any time. Interstate highways connected people and place. We now, more than ever in history, became one nation, restricted only by two oceans.