The Model T was a revolutionary vehicle that is credited with changing how Americans made cars and drove them. This early vehicle was iconic for being mass produced in just 90 minutes thanks to Ford’s invention of the moving assembly line. Manufactured from 1908 to 1927, the Model T (which got its own name from Ford’s team going down the alphabet for each prototype) filled American roads — over 15 million units were sold during that time. Being so ever-present in American life in the early 20th century, it’s no surprise that the Model T was given dozens of nicknames, one of those being Tin Lizzie.
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While the nickname has endured for over 100 years, historians still aren’t in complete agreement over how it came to be. Was it due to the Model T’s construction or maybe its performance on the road? Here are the most popular speculations as to how the name Tin Lizzie came to be.
Historians debate the story behind Tin Lizzie
The origin of the nickname Tin Lizzie is not officially confirmed, but historians have a few ideas.
Ford Motor Company itself isn’t even quite sure how the Tin Lizzie name came about, but it could just be due to the name Elizabeth being a popular name at the time. Elizabeth was ranked 11th in the year 1920, meaning plenty of women were going by “Lizzie” around that time. But that doesn’t completely explain why the name would also transfer over to the Model T instead of more popular names like Mary and Dorothy. Well, the name Lizzie was so common that it also became a generic name given to horses around that time. This means that the name could have also been passed onto the Model T, which also was in races in that time period.
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So where does the “tin” part come in? One possibility is that tin was a reference to the Model T’s lightweight metal construction. Other possibilities include a San Antonio car dealer complaining about the way the Model T’s doors fit and asking if the vehicle could be shipped without doors (but he’d provide a tool kit so new owners could cut their own, sort of like a tin can opener). Another claim is that a Model T racing at Pikes Peak, Colorado, in 1922 was called “Old Liz,” but onlookers joked it was a “tin can” due to its missing paint and hood (this simply could have made the car even lighter for the race). Despite appearing sloppy, the car — driven by Noel Bullock — won, and this could have helped spread the nickname.
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