The Ford Pickup Turns 100 This Year. How Much Has The Time Price Changed?

How many 1925 Model TTs would you take in trade for your 2025 F-150?

Our friend Bill Bonner has taken up the topic of houses and Ford pickups once again. Let's start with houses. Bill poses a question and then provides his answer: “Is Monticello inferior to a modern McMansion? We don’t think so.” While Monticello is undeniably a beautiful architectural masterpiece, I would not choose to live there, and I suspect neither would Bill's wife.

Consider the amenities—or rather, the lack thereof—in Monticello. There was no indoor plumbing, electricity, or natural gas, which means:

• No modern toilets, showers, or hot water systems.

• No dishwasher, clothes washer, or dryer.

• No double-pane windows or insulation for temperature control.

• No gas stove, oven, refrigerator, or freezer.

• No lighting, air conditioning, or central heating.

• No vacuum cleaners, microwaves, or electrical outlets.

The absence of these conveniences would make daily life quite challenging by today’s standards. Thomas Jefferson relied on hundreds of slaves to manage the estate's operations. Today, we benefit from what could be termed “energy slaves.” It's estimated that the average American uses the equivalent of over 150 slaves’ worth of labor through modern electricity and appliances. This comparison highlights how much our lifestyle has improved with technological advancements.

So what about the 2025 Ford F-150 pickup truck versus the 1925 Model TT? On April 15th, 1925, the first factory-assembled Ford Model TT truck was introduced, priced at $325. Blue-collar workers in 1925 were earning 50 cents an hour. This would put the time price at 650 hours ($325 ÷ $0.50). Today, Ford lists the price of a basic 2025 F-150 at $38,810. Since blue-collar workers today are earning $37.15 an hour, their time price is 1,045 hours. This means that today’s pickup costs 61 percent more, or 395 more hours than the 1925 model.

Is the 2025 model worth 61 percent more considering differences in reliability, power, safety, and comfort factors? The 1925 model had a 2-speed manual transmission. The 2025 model sports a 10-speed automatic transmission. The 1925 model had a 20 horsepower motor, compared to 352 for the 2025 model. Fuel mileage was 13-21 in 1925 compared to 19-22 today. But the modern F-150 weighs 4,021 pounds versus 1,480 for the Model TT. Gas mileage is 86 percent better on a per pound basis. The 1925 model had no air conditioner, entertainment center, power steering, anti-lock brakes, rear view camera, airbags, safety belts, or tire pressure monitors.

The 1925 Ford Model TT came with a notably basic warranty, offering coverage on parts for just 90 days and labor for only 30 days. In stark contrast, the 2025 model boasts a comprehensive warranty system with two key tiers:

• Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty: This provides 3 years or 36,000 miles of coverage, encompassing all major components from the headlights to the taillights, including all electrical systems.

• Powertrain Warranty: Extending to 5 years or 60,000 miles, this warranty specifically protects the critical components like the engine and transmission, ensuring long-term reliability and peace of mind for the owner.

This significant evolution in warranty coverage reflects modern expectations for vehicle durability and manufacturer accountability, highlighting a vast improvement over the rudimentary assurances of nearly a century ago.

Another way to make comparisons of the 1925 Model TT is to look at the Chang Li Explorer, an electric vehicle made in China and priced at $2,000. This would put the time price at 54 hours for blue-collar workers. You would get 12 of these today for one Model TT in 1925.

While the Chang Li Explorer has additional import duties and shipping costs and is not street legal in the U.S., it does provide a somewhat reasonable comparison to the Model TT. Here is a nice video describing the little pickup.

Bill Bonner is justified in complaining about the monetary inflation that’s occurred over the last 100 years. This is why we must look at time prices instead of money prices. From this perspective we see that innovation is growing much faster than inflation. Inventors and entrepreneurs around the planet continue to lower the time prices of all kinds of products as they discover and share valuable new knowledge with the rest of us.

Final question for Bill: Without considering collector value, how many 1925 Model TTs would you take in trade for your 2025 F-150?

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Gale Pooley is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute, an Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, and a board member at Human Progress.