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Skunk Works did the same. Ben Rich mentions how by the time #9 of a plane rolled off the manufacturing floor they had devised new methods or better way of doing things. With meticulous record keeping they would be able to go back and re-engineer earlier planes.

One doesn't even need to go that far back to find relevant examples. The head of manufacturing at Spacex recently started that no two Falcon 9 cores were built identically.

The Model T cost being so cheap due to supply and assembly line innovation is a big difference.

The Model 3 at $49k starting price messes up the comparison. A shame the $35k version remains vaporware since that would be a more apt comparison I think. People can and should be pickier for that extra $14k.