In 1927, Chevrolet knocked the Model T Ford from its perennial number one spot, with more than a little help from Henry Ford himself.

Let’s be clear. As much as anything, Henry Ford beat himself in allowing his Model T to lose first place in the U.S. sales race in 1927, a spot it had held almost from its introduction. He kept the Model T on the market years too long, and then he made the inexplicable decision in May of ’27 to shut down production for six months while a successor, the Model A, was developed. In the interregnum, Chevrolet blew past Ford to become the number one automaker, selling more than one million cars in 1927.

Still, credit where it’s due to the Chevrolet division of General Motors for being in the right place, at the right time, with the right car and the right plan. The architect of the plan was GM president Alfred P. Sloan, the dour-looking man clmibing into his ’27 Chevy in the lead photo above. While the Model T had truly put the nation on wheels and was an ideal first car for Americans, he saw that for their next car, they would seek out something better, with greater comfort, features, and style. And they were willing to pay a little more to get them. Chevrolet was already catching up with Ford even before he shut down his assembly lines.

Capitol Coach 

Meawhile, the architect of the car was William S. Knudsen, the former Ford production wizard, who became head of the Chevrolet division in 1923. Except for its standard steel disc wheels, a minor novelty at the time, the Capitol Series AA was a fairly conventional car. Still, it was considerably more advanced than the Model T, which was essentially a 1908 design under its updated sheet metal.. The Chevy offered a more powerful overhead-valve four-cylinder engine, a conventional three-speed manual transmission, finer appointments, and more standard equipment.

Seven body styles were offered at the January 1927 introduction, three open and four  closed, ranging from $525 to $745. By far the most popular was the $695 two-door Coach, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total volume. In May a super-deluxe four-door sedan called the Imperial Landau was introduced. It sold a respectable 37,000 units, demonstrating that there was demand for premium features even in the low-priced field, and buyers willing to pay a little more.

Capitol Imperial Landau 

While Ford had sold two million Model Ts in 1923 (see our feature here), that was the high point. Annual volume eroded from there while Chevrolet continually gained ground. After losing the crown in 1927 to the Chevy Capitol, the success of the Model A allowed Ford to briefly retake the top spot, but Chevrolet snatched it back in 1931. With rough parity, the USA’s two most popular makes traded the top spot back and forth through the 1930s. Never again would Ford dominate the low-priced field and the U.S. auto industry as it had with the Model T.