TEMECULA -- America's automobile companies may be deteriorating, but Temecula Valley Museum officials are inviting the community to recall the industry's better days.

"The Model 'T' Ford: 100th Anniversary" is a new exhibit set for viewing at the museum from Saturday through Feb. 22.

"Three major automobile makers, including Ford, are having a hard time," said museum manager Wendell Ott.

Ford, General Motors and Chrysler are asking for billions of dollars from Congress to help them recover from significant financial shortfalls.

"Here is the beginning of that story," Ott said, referring to the exhibit. "Here is where it starts."

Ford's Web site notes that "as of 2008, 100 years after Ford Motor Company's Model T changed the world by making personal transportation affordable, the Tin Lizzie is still regarded as a major influence in human history."

Temecula's exhibit features a 1915 Model T Roadster and a 1922 Model T Center Door. They are on loan from a local private collector who asked to remain anonymous, Ott said.

"They barely fit," Ott said of the effort to get the vehicles in through the museum's door. "There was a quarter of an inch to spare."

Ott said the closest other Model T exhibit he is aware of is in Los Angeles.

Photographs, original footage of the car's production and antique signs from gas stations and dealerships of the era also will be on display.

Ott said the exhibit is not just relevant to the changing face of the country's automobile industry, it is an early example of a car that was beyond its time.

"We're talking about a car that went 45 miles an hour and 35 miles per gallon -- and it cost $500 to buy," he said.

Chuck West, a historian and a member of the San Diego Model T Club, will give a talk at 6 p.m. Thursday at the museum. Ott said he expects the talk to touch on the social, economic and political impacts of the automobile in the United States.

The exhibit is free, but a donation is requested. The museum is at 28314 Mercedes St. in Old Town Temecula. It is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m Sundays. For information, call 694-6450.