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Centenarian helps Ford celebrate
Sid Curtis
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A former car worker who has just had his 100th birthday has helped motor giant Ford mark its centenary.

Sid Curtis, who used to work at the Dagenham factory in Essex, sat behind the wheel of a Model T and confessed he had never learned to drive.

Mr Curtis, known to his family as Centenarian Sid, retired in 1968 after installing dashboards and floors in Ford cars.

He said: "I worked for Ford for all those those years but I never learned to drive and I never owned a car.”

"I was a carpenter and used to install all the dashboards and floors in the early models, and lots of things were done by hand."

Production of the Model T ended 74 years ago, although it remains one of the company's most important models. But to mark the car company’s 100th anniversary the Ford Model T went back into production.

Six of the cars were made and one is now part of Ford of Britain's heritage collection at Dagenham in Essex.

The hand-made Model T, made to 1914 specifications, has been seen at a number of Ford centenary celebration events this year.

Two craftsmen helped by a team of engineers and suppliers spent two years sourcing and making the parts and assembling the six new Model Ts, which are known as Model T-100s.

More than 15 million of the cars, many of them made at Trafford Park in Manchester, were sold by the end of their run from 1908 to 1927.

It was the first vehicle built on Henry Ford's moving assembly line and the first to be offered in any colour "as long as it is black".

Ford was launched in a small converted wagon factory in Detroit on 16 June 1903.

It is now the world's largest car-maker, employing 350,000 workers in 200 countries.

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