You Don't Need To Know...

As Byron might say, "You don't need to know exactly what the three required after-market modifications for Ford Model Ts were..." But if you're modeling railroads at the dawn of the automobile age, you might still want to learn.

E. B. White ("Charlotte's Web") noticed that the 1936 Sears Roebuck catalog had lost its section of Ford Model T modifications and repair parts. His goodbye note talked through what made the Model T both good and bad: the parts that everyone bought, straight off. The repairs you were sure to make. The expectation of patching tires, or learning how to crank the car.

Read the full article over at the New Yorker magazine website.