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New York City’s Madison Square in 1900, with 51 exhibitors showing off their wares to almost 50,000 visitors. But many of these manufacturers dropped by the wayside or were merged into other companies so that by the end of the 1920s the industry was dominated by the Big Three of Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors. Henry Ford had been building automobiles since 1896, but the Ford Motor Company was not

set up until 1903 – a revolution was soon under way. The Model T arrived in 1908, but it was the introduction of conveyor-belt assembly lines five years later that truly changed the automobile industry and transformed Ford into the largest manufacturer in the US. By the time production of the Model T ceased in 1927, more than 15 million had been sold and manufacturing had already been outsourced to

 ABOVE:  The automobile industry presents its National Automobile Show in New York City in 1912.