In 1923, annual production of the Model T Ford reached the astounding rate of two million cars. Here’s a look back at that remarkable year.

How Henry Ford put America on wheels with the Model T is one of the best-told tales of the Motor City. By continually standardizing the product, increasing manufacturing effiency, and then lowering the price, Ford conquered and then utterly dominated the automobile market. At one point more than half the cars on the road in the United States were Model Ts.

While other carmakers added more features and gimmicks every year, Ford held the line with the same basic model introduced in October of 1908. Every last fastener was scrutinized in the effort to simplify and speed production. Starting in 1914, black was standardized as the sole available color due to its shorter drying time. There’s some doubt as to whether Ford himself originally said, “You can have any color you want as long as it’s black,” but he certainly embraced the principle. Through the relentless reductions in manufacturing cost, by 1923 Ford was able to lower the price to a seemingly impossible $269. Adjusting for inflation, that works out to a little more than $5,000 in modern dollars.

However, the astounding price of $269 for a two-seat Runabout or $298 for a five-passenger Touring wasn’t entirely due to the miracle of mass production. The advertised price was lowballed by stripping the Model T to the bone: It didn’t include an electric starter, demountable rims, a spare tire, or a floor mat. An electric starter was available for $65, and more than 80 percent of the Ford buyers that year opted to pay extra rather than crank their engines by hand.

Along with the two open-top models, the Model T was also available as a Coupe ($530), a Tudor Sedan ($595) or a Fordor Sedan ($725), and on the closed models, an electric starter was included. However, the Touring and Runabout represented the bulk of the sales volume by far. Closed cars would not really catch on with the American public for a few more years, while the flexible Model T chassis was not well-suited to enclosed body styles anyway.

As there were no formal annual model changes at Ford back in those days, sales and production were tallied by the calendar year. And in 1923, Model T production (global, but not including Canada) reached its all-time record of 2,011,125 cars. Also that year, total Ford production passed the nine-million mark, and by the time production ceased in 1927, more than 15 million Model Ts had been sold. The volume numbers dwarfed the other automakers.

But 1923 was indeed the peak, as sales began to taper off from there: 1.9 million in 1924 and 1925, 1.5 million in 1926. While the Model T was the ideal first car for middle-class Americans, when it came time for their second vehicle purchase they were ready for more style, comfort, and performance. In 1927, Henry Ford finally gave in and discontinued the Model T, but he then made the incredible decision to halt car production for nearly six months as its successor, the Model A, was made ready. Due to the shutdown, Chevrolet was able to take the top spot in the sales charts for the first time. But that’s another remarkable story.