How long it has been incarcerated we know not, but there it stands, within those thick stone walls of the old Montana State Prison, built in 1896, extended in 1911. Though it is no longer in anything resembling pristine condition, it must be remembered that it was born in the early '20s, possibly even earlier. An open touring car, though it once had a convertible top, that has long since departed the scene, as has the windshield and, in all likelihood, a few other miscellaneous parts.
The "T" has been given a place of honor in the prison, a gravel bed set out in the lawn against the south wall, facing the southwest guard tower.
The Model T, also known as the “Tin Lizzie,” changed the way Americans live, work and travel. Henry Ford’s revolutionary advancements in assembly-line automobile manufacturing made the Model T the first car to be affordable for a majority of Americans. For the first time car ownership became a reality for average American workers, not just the wealthy. More than 15 million Model Ts were built in Detroit and Highland Park, Michigan, and the automobile was also assembled at a Ford plant in Manchester, England, and at plants in continental Europe.
The Model T was an automobile built by the Ford Motor Company from 1908 until 1927. Conceived by Henry Ford as practical, affordable transportation for the common man, it quickly became prized for its low cost, durability, versatility, and ease of maintenance. Assembly-line production allowed the price of the touring car version to be lowered from $850 in 1908 to less than $300 in 1925. At such prices the Model T at times comprised as much as 40 percent of all cars sold in the United States. Even before it lost favor to larger, more powerful, and more luxurious cars, the Model T, known popularly as the “Tin Lizzie” or the “flivver,” had become an American folkloric symbol, essentially realizing Ford’s goal to “democratize the automobile.”
From History Dot Com