History of the automobile - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The history of the automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

begins as early as 1769, with the creation of steam engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

d automobiles capable of human transport. In 1806, the first cars powered by an internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...

running on fuel gas

Fuel gas

Fuel gas can refer to any of several gases burned to produce thermal energy.Natural gas is the most common fuel gas, but others include:* Coal gas or Town gas* Syngas* Mond gas* Propane* Butane* Regasified liquified petroleum gas* Wood gas...

appeared, which led to the introduction in 1885 of the ubiquitous modern gasoline- or petrol-fueled internal combustion engine. Cars powered by electric power

Electric power

Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...

briefly appeared at the turn of the 20th century, but largely disappeared from use until the turn of the 21st century. The early history of the automobile can be divided into a number of eras, based on the prevalent means of propulsion during that time. Later periods were defined by trends in exterior styling, and size and utility preferences.

Steam-powered wheeled vehicles, precursors to later automobiles

17th century

Ferdinand Verbiest

Father Ferdinand Verbiest was a Flemish Jesuit missionary in China during the Qing dynasty. He was born in Pittem near Tielt in Flanders, later part of the modern state of Belgium. He is known as Nan Huairen in Chinese...

, a member of a Jesuit mission in China

Jesuit China missions

The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th and 17th century played a significant role in continuing the transmission of...

, built the first steam

Steam

Steam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...

-powered vehicle around 1672, designed as a toy for the Chinese Emperor, it being of small scale and unable to carry a driver or passenger but, quite possibly, the first working steam-powered vehicle ('auto-mobile').

18th century

Steam-powered self-propelled vehicles large enough to transport people and cargo were first devised in the late 18th century. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot was a French inventor. He is believed to have built the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle...

demonstrated his fardier à vapeur ("steam dray"), an experimental steam-driven artillery tractor

Artillery tractor

Artillery tractor is a kind of tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, a vehicle used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights.-Traction:...

, in 1770 and 1771. As Cugnot's design proved to be impractical, his invention was not developed in his native France. The centre of innovation shifted to Great Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. By 1784, William Murdoch

William Murdoch

William Murdoch was a Scottish engineer and long-term inventor.Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton and Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten years, spending most of the rest of his life in Birmingham, England.He was the inventor of the oscillating steam...

had built a working model of a steam carriage in Redruth

Redruth

Redruth is a town and civil parish traditionally in the Penwith Hundred in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It has a population of 12,352. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road , and is approximately west of...

, and in 1801 Richard Trevithick

Richard Trevithick

Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall. His most significant success was the high pressure steam engine and he also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive...

was running a full-sized vehicle on the road in Camborne

Camborne

Camborne is a town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is at the western edge of a conurbation comprising Camborne, Pool and Redruth....

. Such vehicles were in vogue for a time, and over the next decades such innovations as hand brake

Brake

A brake is a mechanical device which inhibits motion. Its opposite component is a clutch. The rest of this article is dedicated to various types of vehicular brakes....

s, multi-speed transmissions

Transmission (mechanics)

A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...

, and better steering

Steering

Steering is the term applied to the collection of components, linkages, etc. which will allow a vessel or vehicle to follow the desired course...

developed. Some were commercially successful in providing mass transit

Public transport

Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...

, until a backlash against these large speedy vehicles resulted in the passage of the Locomotive Act

Locomotive Act

The Locomotive Acts were a series of Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom to control the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on British public highways during the latter part of the 19th century...

(1865), which required self-propelled vehicles on public roads

Highway

A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...

in the United Kingdom to be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag

Red flag

In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...

and blowing a horn

Horn (acoustic)

A horn is a tapered sound guide designed to provide an acoustic impedance match between a sound source and free air. This has the effect of maximizing the efficiency with which sound waves from the particular source are transferred to the air...

. This effectively killed road auto development in the UK for most of the rest of the 19th century; inventors and engineers shifted their efforts to improvements in railway locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

s. (The law was not repealed until 1896, although the need for the red flag was removed in 1878.)

The first automobile patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

in the United States was granted to Oliver Evans

Oliver Evans

Oliver Evans was an American inventor. Evans was born in Newport, Delaware to a family of Welsh settlers. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a wheelwright....

in 1789.

19th century

Among other efforts, in 1815, a professor at Prague Polytechnich

Czech Technical University in Prague

Czech Technical University in Prague is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic, and the oldest institute of technology in Central Europe....

, Josef Bozek

Josef Božek

Josef Božek was a Czech engineer and inventor considered one of founders of Czech mechanics. He put into operation one of the first steam engines in the Czech lands. His sons, Frantisek and Romuald, also became accomplished engineers....

, built an oil-fired steam car. Walter Hancock

Walter Hancock

Walter Hancock was an English inventor of the Victorian period. He is chiefly remembered for his steam powered road vehicles, but also received a patent for preparing and cutting indiarubber into sheets...

, builder and operator of London steam bus

Steam bus

A steam bus is a bus powered by a steam engine. Early steam-powered vehicles designed for carrying passengers were more usually known as steam carriages, although this term was sometimes used to describe other early experimental vehicles too.-History:...

es, in 1838 built a four-seat steam phaeton

Phaeton (carriage)

Phaeton is the early 19th-century term for a sporty open carriage drawn by a single horse or a pair, typically with four extravagantly large wheels, very lightly sprung, with a minimal body, fast and dangerous. It usually had no sidepieces in front of the seats...

.

What some people define as the first "real" automobile was produced by Amédée Bollée

Amédée Bollée

Amédée-Ernest Bollée was a French bellfounder and inventor who specialized in steam cars. After 1867 he was known as "Amédée père" to distinguish him from his similarly named son, Amédée-Ernest-Marie Bollée .-Biography:...

in 1873, who built self-propelled steam road vehicles to transport groups of passengers.

The American George B. Selden filed for a patent on May 8, 1879. His application included not only the engine but its use in a 4-wheeled car. Selden filed a series of amendments to his application which stretched out the legal process, resulting in a delay of 16 years before the was granted on November 5, 1895.

Karl Benz

Karl Benz

Karl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz...

, the inventor of numerous car-related technologies, received a German patent in 1886.

The four-stroke petrol

Petrol engine

A petrol engine is an internal combustion engine with spark-ignition, designed to run on petrol and similar volatile fuels....

(gasoline) internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

that constitutes the most prevalent form of modern automotive propulsion is a creation of Nikolaus Otto. The similar four-stroke diesel engine

Diesel engine

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

was invented by Rudolf Diesel

Rudolf Diesel

Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, famous for the invention of the diesel engine.-Early life:Diesel was born in Paris, France in 1858 the second of three children of Theodor and Elise Diesel. His parents were Bavarian immigrants living in Paris. Theodor...

. The hydrogen fuel cell

Fuel cell

A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel, but hydrocarbons such as natural gas and alcohols like methanol are sometimes used...

, one of the technologies hailed as a replacement for gasoline as an energy source for cars, was discovered in principle by Christian Friedrich Schönbein

Christian Friedrich Schönbein

Christian Friedrich Schönbein was a German-Swiss chemist who is best known for inventing the fuel cell and his discoveries of guncotton and ozone.- Life :...

in 1838. The battery electric car

Electric car

An electric car is an automobile which is propelled by electric motor, using electrical energy stored in batteries or another energy storage device. Electric cars were popular in the late-19th century and early 20th century, until advances in internal combustion engine technology and mass...

owes its beginnings to Ányos Jedlik

Ányos Jedlik

Stephen Ányos Jedlik was a Hungarian inventor, engineer, physicist, and Benedictine priest. He was also member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and author of several books. He is considered by Hungarians and Slovaks to be the unsung father of the dynamo and electric motor.-Career:He was born...

, one of the inventors of the electric motor

Electric motor

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...

, and Gaston Planté

Gaston Planté

Gaston Planté was the French physicist who invented the lead-acid battery in 1859. The lead-acid battery eventually became the first rechargeable electric battery marketed for commercial use.Planté was born on April 22, 1834, in Orthez, France...

, who invented the lead-acid battery

Lead-acid battery

Lead–acid batteries, invented in 1859 by French physicist Gaston Planté, are the oldest type of rechargeable battery. Despite having a very low energy-to-weight ratio and a low energy-to-volume ratio, their ability to supply high surge currents means that the cells maintain a relatively large...

in 1859.

The first carriage sized automobile suitable for use on existing wagon roads in the United States was a steam powered vehicle invented in 1871, by Dr. J.W. Carhart, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Racine, Wisconsin. It induced the State of Wisconsin in 1875, to offer a $10,000 award to the first to produce a practical substitute for the use of horses and other animals. They stipulated that the vehicle would have to maintain an average speed of more than five miles per hour over a 200 mile course. The offer led to the first city to city automobile race in the United States, starting on July 16, 1878, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and ending in Madison, via Appleton, Oshkosh, Waupun, Watertown, Fort Atkinson, and Janesville. While seven vehicles were registered, only two started to compete: the entries from Green Bay and Oshkosh. The vehicle from Green Bay was faster, but broke down before completing the race. The Oshkosh finished the 201 mile course in 33 hours and 27 minutes, and posted an average speed of six miles per hour. In 1879, the legislature awarded half the prize.

Steam-powered automobiles continued development all the way into the early 20th century, but the dissemination of petrol engines as the motive power of choice in the late 19th century marked the end of steam automobiles except as curiosities. Whether they will ever be reborn in later technological eras remains to be seen. The 1950s saw interest in steam-turbine cars powered by small nuclear reactors (this was also true of aircraft), but the dangers inherent in nuclear fission technology soon killed these ideas. The need for global changes in energy sources and consumption to bring about sustainability

Sustainability

Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...

and energy independence

Energy independence

The following articles relate to the topic of energy independence:* Energy resilience* Energy security* North American energy independence* Swedish Commission on Oil Independence* United States energy independence...

has led 21st century engineers to think once more about possibilities for steam use, if powered by modern energy sources controlled with computerized controls, such as advanced electric batteries, fuel cells, photovoltaics, biofuel

Biofuel

Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...

s, or others.

Electric automobiles

In 1828, Ányos Jedlik

Ányos Jedlik

, a Hungarian who invented an early type of electric motor

Electric motor

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...

, created a tiny model car powered by his new motor. In 1834, Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

blacksmith

Blacksmith

A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...

Thomas Davenport, the inventor of the first American DC

Direct current

Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...

electrical motor, installed his motor in a small model car, which he operated on a short circular electrified track. In 1835, Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of Groningen, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

and his assistant Christopher Becker created a small-scale electrical car, powered by non-rechargeable primary cell

Primary cell

A primary cell is any kind of battery in which the electrochemical reaction is not reversible, rendering the cell non-rechargeable. A common example of a primary cell is the disposable battery. Unlike a secondary cell, the reaction cannot be reversed by running a current into the cell; the chemical...

s. In 1838, Scotsman

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that attained a speed of 4 miles per hour (2 m/s). In England, a patent

Patent

was granted in 1840 for the use of rail tracks

Rail tracks

The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...

as conductors

Electrical conductor

In physics and electrical engineering, a conductor is a material which contains movable electric charges. In metallic conductors such as copper or aluminum, the movable charged particles are electrons...

of electric current

Electric current

Electric current is a flow of electric charge through a medium.This charge is typically carried by moving electrons in a conductor such as wire...

, and similar American patents were issued to Lilley and Colten in 1847. Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson

Robert Anderson (inventor)

Robert Anderson was a 19th century Scottish inventor, best known for inventing the first crude electric carriage in Scotland around the time of 1832 - 1839. The carriage was powered by non-rechargeable primary power cells.-References:...

of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage, powered by non-rechargeable primary cell

Primary cell

Internal combustion engines

Early attempts at making and using internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

s were hampered by the lack of suitable fuel

Fuel

Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...

s, particularly liquid

Liquid

Liquid is one of the three classical states of matter . Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container. Some liquids resist compression, while others can be compressed. Unlike a gas, a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container, and maintains a fairly...

s, and the earliest engines used gas mixtures.

Early experimenters using gases. In 1806, Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

engineer François Isaac de Rivaz

François Isaac de Rivaz

François Isaac de Rivaz was a French politician, chancellor, Deputé , entrepreneur and inventor. In retirement, as a Swiss citizen, circa 1807, he invented a hydrogen powered internal combustion engine with electric ignition...

who built an engine

De Rivaz engine

The de Rivaz engine was a pioneering reciprocating engine designed and developed from 1804 by the Franco-Swiss inventor Isaac de Rivaz. The engine has a claim to be the world's first internal combustion engine and contained some features of modern engines including spark ignition and the use of...

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...

and oxygen

Oxygen

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

mixture. In 1826, Englishman

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

Samuel Brown

Samuel Brown (engineer)

This article is about the English engineer and inventor. See Samuel Brown for other persons of the same name.Samuel Brown was an English engineer and inventor credited with developing one of the earliest examples of an internal combustion engine, during the early 19th century.Brown, a cooper by...

who tested his hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engine by using it to propel a vehicle up Shooter's Hill

Shooter's Hill

Shooter's Hill is a district and electoral ward in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. It lies east of Blackheath and west of Welling, south of Woolwich and north of Eltham...

in south-east London. Belgian-born Etienne Lenoir

Etienne Lenoir

-Sources:* Georgano, G.N. Cars: Early and Vintage 1886-1930. London: Grange-Universal, 1990 . ISBN 0-9509620-3-1....

's Hippomobile

Hippomobile (car)

The Hippomobile is an automobile invented by Étienne Lenoir in 1863 which carried its own internal combustion engine. It was based on his 1860 invention the Lenoir gas engine...

with a hydrogen

Hydrogen

-gas-fuelled one-cylinder

Single cylinder engine

A single-cylinder engine is a basic piston engine configuration of an internal combustion engine. It is often seen on motorcycles, auto rickshaws, motor scooters, mopeds, dirt bikes, go-karts, radio-controlled models and has many uses in portable tools and garden machinery...

internal combustion engine made a test drive from Paris to Joinville-le-Pont

Joinville-le-Pont

Joinville-le-Pont is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-History:The commune was created in 1791 under the name La Branche-du-Pont-de-Saint-Maur by detaching its territory from the commune of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés...

in 1860, covering some nine kilometres in about three hours. A later version was propelled by coal gas

Coal gas

Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made by the destructive distillation of coal containing a variety of calorific gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen...

. A Delamare-Deboutteville

Delamare-Deboutteville

Delamare-Deboutteville was a French car designed in 1884.Many people argue that Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville and his assistant, Leon Malandin had invented the first car. Mr. Édouard Delamare-Deboutteville described how he had built and driven his car in early 1884...

vehicle was patented and trialled in 1884.

About 1870, in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

(then the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

), inventor Siegfried Marcus

Siegfried Marcus

Siegfried Samuel Marcus was a German-born Austrian inventor and automobile pioneer.Marcus was born in Malchin in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He moved to Vienna, the capital of the Austrian Empire, in 1852....

put a liquid-fuelled internal combustion engine on a simple handcart which made him the first man to propel a vehicle by means of gasoline. Today, this car is known as "the first Marcus car". In 1883, Marcus secured a German patent for a low-voltage ignition system

Ignition system

An ignition system is a system for igniting a fuel-air mixture. Ignition systems are well known in the field of internal combustion engines such as those used in petrol engines used to power the majority of motor vehicles, but they are also used in many other applications such as in oil-fired and...

of the magneto

Magneto (electrical)

A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce alternating current.Magnetos adapted to produce pulses of high voltage are used in the ignition systems of some gasoline-powered internal combustion engines to provide power to the spark plugs...

type; this was his only automotive patent

Patent

. This design was used for all further engines, and the four-seat

Car seat

A car seat is the chair used in automobiles. Most car seats are made from inexpensive but durable material in order to withstand as much use as possible.-Ergonomy: Lumbar and thigh support:...

"second Marcus car" of 1888/89. This ignition, in conjunction with the "rotating-brush carburetor

Carburetor

A carburetor , carburettor, or carburetter is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. It is sometimes shortened to carb in North America and the United Kingdom....

", made the second car's design very innovative.

It is generally acknowledged that the first really practical automobiles with petrol/gasoline-powered

Petrol engine

A petrol engine is an internal combustion engine with spark-ignition, designed to run on petrol and similar volatile fuels....

internal combustion engines were completed almost simultaneously by several German inventors working independently: Karl Benz built his first automobile in 1885 in Mannheim

Mannheim

Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....

. Benz was granted a patent for his automobile on 29 January 1886, and began the first production of automobiles in 1888, after Bertha Benz

Bertha Benz

Bertha Benz was born on 3 May 1849 in Pforzheim, Germany. She married inventor Karl Benz on 20 July 1872, and died 5 May 1944 in Ladenburg...

, his wife, had proved - with the first long-distance trip in August 1888, from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back - that the horseless coach was absolutely suitable for daily use. Since 2008 a Bertha Benz Memorial Route

Bertha Benz Memorial Route

The Bertha Benz Memorial Route is a German tourist and theme route in Baden-Württemberg and member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage...

commemorates this event.

Soon after, Gottlieb Daimler

Gottlieb Daimler

Gottlieb Daimler was an engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf , in what is now Germany. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development...

and Wilhelm Maybach

Wilhelm Maybach

Wilhelm Maybach was an early German engine designer and industrialist. During the 1890s he was hailed in France, then the world centre for car production, as the "King of constructors"....

in Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

in 1889 designed a vehicle from scratch to be an automobile, rather than a horse-drawn carriage fitted with an engine. They also are usually credited with invention of the first motorcycle in 1886, but Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

's Enrico Bernardi

Enrico Bernardi

Enrico Zeno Bernardi was an Italian engineer and one of Italian automobile pioneers. He was Professor of Hydraulic and Agricultural Machinery at the University of Padua....

of the University of Padua

University of Padua

The University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...

, in 1882, patented a 0.024 hp 122 cc one-cylinder petrol motor, fitting it into his son's tricycle

Tricycle

A tricycle is a three-wheeled vehicle. While tricycles are often associated with the small three-wheeled vehicles used by pre-school-age children, they are also used by adults for a variety of purposes. In the United States and Canada, adult-sized tricycles are used primarily by older persons for...

, making it at least a candidate for the first automobile, and first motorcycle;. Bernardi enlarged the tricycle in 1892 to carry two adults.

One of the first four-wheeled petrol-driven automobiles in Britain

United Kingdom

was built in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

in 1895 by Frederick William Lanchester, who also patented the disc brake

Disc brake

The disc brake or disk brake is a device for slowing or stopping the rotation of a wheel while it is in motion.A brake disc is usually made of cast iron, but may in some cases be made of composites such as reinforced carbon–carbon or ceramic matrix composites. This is connected to the wheel and/or...

; and the first electric starter

Automobile self starter

A starter motor is an electric motor for rotating an internal-combustion engine so as to initiate the engine's operation under its own power.- History :...

was installed on an Arnold

Arnold (automobile)

The Arnold was one of the first motor cars manufactured in the United Kingdom. It was produced in East Peckham, Kent between 1896 and 1898.-History:William Arnold & Sons of East Peckham, Kent, was an agricultural engineering company founded in about 1844....

, an adaptation of the Benz Velo

Benz Velo

Karl Benz patented the three-wheeled Patent Motorwagen on January 29, 1886 and produced it as the first commercially available automobile from 1886 through 1893. He followed this initial success with the introduction of the Benz Velo model of 1894. The Velo and the Duryea Motor Wagon, patented in...

, built between 1895 and 1898.

In all the turmoil, many early pioneers are nearly forgotten. In 1891, John William Lambert

John William Lambert

John William Lambert was an American automotive pioneer, inventor, and automobile manufacturer.-Biography:...

built a three-wheeler in Ohio City, Ohio, which was destroyed in a fire the same year, while Henry Nadig constructed a four-wheeler in Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...

. It is likely they were not the only ones.

Veteran era

The first production of automobiles was by Karl Benz in 1888 in Germany and, under licence from Benz, in France by Emile Roger. There were numerous others, including tricycle

Tricycle

builders Rudolf Egg

Egg (car)

Egg or Egg & Egli was a Swiss car make in business from 1896 to 1919. It was one of the more long-lived early Swiss car makes. It appeared at numerous auto shows and competed in France's annual smash-up derby.- History :...

, Edward Butler

Edward Butler (inventor)

Edward Butler was an English inventor who produced an early three-wheeled automobile, the Butler Petrol Cycle, which is accepted by many as the first British car....

, and Léon Bollée

Léon Bollée

Léon Bollée was a French automobile manufacturer and inventor.-Life:Bollée's family were well known bellfounders and his father, Amédée Bollée , was the major pioneer in the automobile industry who produced several steam cars...

. Bollée, using a 650 cc engine of his own design, enabled his driver, Jamin, to average 45 kilometres per hour (28 mph) in the 1897 Paris-Tourville rally. By 1900, mass production

Mass production

Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...

of automobiles had begun in France and the United States. The first company formed exclusively to build automobiles was Panhard et Levassor

Panhard

Panhard is currently a French manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its current incarnation was formed by the acquisition of Panhard by Auverland in 2005. Panhard had been under Citroën ownership, then PSA , for 40 years...

in France, which also introduced the first four-cylinder engine. Formed in 1889, Panhard was quickly followed by Peugeot

Peugeot

Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...

two years later. By the start of the 20th century, the automobile industry was beginning to take off in western Europe, especially in France, where 30,204 were produced in 1903, representing 48.8% of world automobile production that year.

In the United States, brothers Charles

Charles Duryea

Charles Edgar Duryea was the engineer of the first-ever working American gasoline-powered car. He was born near Canton, Illinois, the son of George Washington Duryea and Louisa Melvina Turner and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but spent most of his life working in Springfield, Massachusetts...

and Frank Duryea founded the Duryea Motor Wagon Company

Duryea Motor Wagon Company

The Duryea Motor Wagon Company, established in 1895, was one of the first American firms to build gasoline automobiles.Founded by Charles Duryea and his brother Frank, they built a one-cylinder "Ladies Phaeton", first demonstrated on September 21, 1893 in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Taylor...

in 1893, becoming the first American automobile manufacturing company. However, it was Ransom E. Olds

Ransom E. Olds

Ransom Eli Olds was a pioneer of the American automotive industry, for whom both the Oldsmobile and REO brands were named. He claimed to have built his first steam car as early as 1894, and his first gasoline powered car in 1896...

and his Olds Motor Vehicle Company (later known as Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...

) who would dominate this era of automobile production. Its large scale production line

Production line

A production line is a set of sequential operations established in a factory whereby materials are put through a refining process to produce an end-product that is suitable for onward consumption; or components are assembled to make a finished article....

was running in 1902. The Thomas B. Jeffery Company

Thomas B. Jeffery Company

The Thomas B. Jeffery Company was an American automobile manufacturer in Kenosha, Wisconsin from 1902 until 1916. The company manufactured the Rambler and Jeffery brand motorcars. It was preceded by the Gormully & Jeffery Manufacturing Company and it was the parent company to Nash Motors, thus one...

developed the world's second mass produced automobile and 1,500 Ramblers

Rambler (automobile)

Rambler was an automobile brand name used by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company between 1900 and 1914, then by its successor, Nash Motors from 1950 to 1954, and finally by Nash's successor, American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1969...

were built and sold in its first year, representing one-sixth of all existing in the U.S. at the time. Within a year, Cadillac (formed from the Henry Ford Company

Henry Ford Company

The Henry Ford Company was the second company for Henry Ford, founded November 3, 1901. It resulted from the reorganization of the Detroit Automobile Company, his first unsuccessful attempt at automobile manufacture a year before. In March 1902, Ford left the company following a dispute with his...

), Winton, and Ford

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

were also producing cars in the thousands.

Within a few years, a dizzying assortment of technologies

Automotive engineering

Modern automotive engineering, along with aerospace engineering and marine engineering, is a branch of vehicle engineering, incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the design, manufacture and operation of motorcycles, automobiles,...

were being produced by hundreds of producers all over the western world. Steam

Steam car

A steam car is a light car powered by a steam engine.Steam locomotives, steam engines capable of propelling themselves along either road or rails, developed around one hundred years earlier than internal combustion engine cars although their weight restricted them to agricultural and heavy haulage...

, electricity

Electric vehicle

An electric vehicle , also referred to as an electric drive vehicle, uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion...

and petrol/gasoline-powered

Petrol engine

A petrol engine is an internal combustion engine with spark-ignition, designed to run on petrol and similar volatile fuels....

automobiles competed for decades, with petrol/gasoline internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

s achieving dominance in the 1910s. Dual- and even quad-engine cars were designed, and engine displacement

Engine displacement

Engine displacement is the volume swept by all the pistons inside the cylinders of an internal combustion engine in a single movement from top dead centre to bottom dead centre . It is commonly specified in cubic centimeters , litres , or cubic inches...

ranged to more than a dozen litre

Litre

pic|200px|right|thumb|One litre is equivalent to this cubeEach side is 10 cm1 litre water = 1 kilogram water The litre is a metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre , to 1,000 cubic centimetres , and to 1/1,000 cubic metre...

s. Many modern advances, including gas/electric hybrids

Hybrid electric vehicle

A hybrid electric vehicle is a type of hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle which combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. The presence of the electric powertrain is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than a conventional...

, multi-valve

Multi-valve

In automotive engineering a multi-valve or multivalve engine is one where each cylinder has more than two valves. A multi-valve engine has better breathing and can operate at higher revolutions per minute than a two-valve engine, delivering more power.- Multi-valve rationale :A multi-valve design...

engines, overhead camshaft

Overhead camshaft

Overhead cam valvetrain configurations place the engine camshaft within the cylinder heads, above the combustion chambers, and drive the valves or lifters in a more direct manner compared to overhead valves and pushrods...

s, and four-wheel drive

Four-wheel drive

Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...

, were attempted, and discarded at this time. In 1898, Louis Renault

Louis Renault (industrialist)

Louis Renault was a French industrialist, one of the founders of Renault and a pioneer of the automobile industry....

had a De Dion-Bouton

De Dion-Bouton

De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1932. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton and his brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux....

modified, with fixed drive shaft and ring and pinion gear, making "perhaps the first hot rod

Hot rod

Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. One explanation is that the term is a contraction of "hot roadster," meaning a roadster that was modified for speed. Another possible origin includes modifications to or...

in history" and bringing Renault and his brothers into the car industry. Innovation was rapid and rampant, with no clear standards for basic vehicle architectures, body styles

Car body style

Automobiles' body styles are highly variable. Some body styles remain in production, while others become less common or obsolete. They may or may not correlate to a car's price, size or intended market classification. The same car model might be available in multiple body styles comprising a...

, construction materials, or controls. Many veteran cars use a tiller

Tiller

A tiller or till is a lever attached to a rudder post or rudder stock of a boat that provides leverage for the helmsman to turn the rudder...

, rather than a wheel for steering

Steering

Steering is the term applied to the collection of components, linkages, etc. which will allow a vessel or vehicle to follow the desired course...

. During 1903, Rambler standardized on the steering wheel and moved the driver's position to the left-hand side of the vehicle. Most cars were operated at a single speed

Gear ratio

The gear ratio of a gear train is the ratio of the angular velocity of the input gear to the angular velocity of the output gear, also known as the speed ratio of the gear train. The gear ratio can be computed directly from the numbers of teeth of the various gears that engage to form the gear...

. Chain drive

Chain drive

Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles...

was dominant over the drive shaft, and closed bodies were extremely rare. Drum brake

Drum brake

A drum brake is a brake in which the friction is caused by a set of shoes or pads that press against a rotating drum-shaped part called a brake drum....

s were introduced by Renault in 1902. The next year, Dutch designer Jacobus Spijker

Spyker

Spyker was a Dutch car manufacturer, started in 1880 by coachbuilders Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker, but to be able to market the brand better in foreign countries, in 1903 the 'ij' was changed into 'y'...

built the first four-wheel drive

Four-wheel drive

Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...

racing car; it never competed and it would be 1965 and the Jensen FF

Jensen FF

The Jensen FF was a four-wheel drive Grand Tourer car produced by the British manufacturer Jensen Motors between 1966 and 1971. It was the first non all-terrain production car equipped with 4WD and an anti-lock braking system — the Dunlop Maxaret mechanical system used hitherto only on...

before four wheel drive was used on a production car.

Innovation was not limited to the vehicles themselves, either. Increasing numbers of cars propelled the growth of the petroleum industry

Petroleum industry

The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting , and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline...

, as well as the development of technology to produce gasoline (replacing kerosene

Kerosene

Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...

and coal oil

Coal oil

Coal oil is a term once used for a specific shale oil used for illuminating purposes. Coal oil is obtained from the destructive distillation of cannel coal, mineral wax, and bituminous shale, while kerosene is obtained by the distillation of petroleum...

) and of improvements in heat-tolerant mineral oil

Mineral oil

A mineral oil is any of various colorless, odorless, light mixtures of alkanes in the C15 to C40 range from a non-vegetable source, particularly a distillate of petroleum....

lubricant

Lubricant

A lubricant is a substance introduced to reduce friction between moving surfaces. It may also have the function of transporting foreign particles and of distributing heat...

s (replacing vegetable

Vegetable fats and oils

Vegetable fats and oils are lipid materials derived from plants. Physically, oils are liquid at room temperature, and fats are solid. Chemically, both fats and oils are composed of triglycerides, as contrasted with waxes which lack glycerin in their structure...

and animal

Whale oil

Whale oil is the oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, particularly the three species of right whale and the bowhead whale prior to the modern era, as well as several other species of baleen whale...

oils).

There were social effects, also. Music would be made about cars, such as "In My Merry Oldsmobile" (a tradition that continues) while, in 1896, William Jennings Bryan

William Jennings Bryan

William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...

would be the first presidential candidate to campaign in a car (a donated Mueller), in Decatur

Decatur, Illinois

Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...

, Illinois. Three years later, Jacob German would start a tradition for New York City cabdriver

Taxicab

A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...

s when he sped down Lexington Avenue

Lexington Avenue (Manhattan)

Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated by New Yorkers as "Lex," is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street...

, at the "reckless" speed of 12 mph (19.3 km/h). Also in 1899, Akron

Akron, Ohio

Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...

, Ohio, adopted the first self-propelled paddy wagon

Police van

A police van is a type of vehicle operated by police forces. Police vans are usually employed for the transportation of prisoners inside a specially adapted cell in the vehicle, or for the rapid transportation of a number of officers to an incident.- History :Early police vans were in the form of...

By 1900, it was possible to talk about a national automotive industry in many countries, including Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

(home to Vincke, which copied Benz; Germain, a pseudo-Panhard; and Linon and Nagant

Nagant

The firm Fabrique d'armes Émile et Léon Nagant was established in 1859 in Liège, Belgium, to manufacture firearms.Émile and Léon Nagant were brothers, and probably best known for their important contributions to the design of the Mosin-Nagant Russian service rifle, adopted in 1891...

, both based on the Gobron-Brillié), Switzerland

Switzerland

(led by Fritz Henriod, Rudolf Egg, Saurer

Saurer

Adolph Saurer AG was a Arbon, Switzerland , based manufacturer of trucks and buses, under the Saurer and Berna brand names, and active between 1903 and 1982....

, Johann Weber, and Lorenz Popp), Vagnfabrik AB

Vabis

Vabis was a Swedish car and truck manufacturer, founded in 1891 as Vagnfabriks Aktiebolaget i Södertälje in municipality of Södertälje to produce railway cars....

in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Hammel

Hammel (automobile)

This car from Denmark, built by Urban Johansen und Albert F. Hammel, is connected with some controversy regarding its exact year of construction. One claim is that it was introduced in 1886, making it one of the very first motorcars in the world. Other sources mention the years between 1887 and...

(by A. F. Hammel and H. U. Johansen at Copenhagen, in Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, which only built one car, ca. 1886), Irgens (starting in Bergen, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, in 1883, but without success), Italy

Italy

(where FIAT

Fiat

FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...

started in 1899), and as far afield as Australia (where Pioneer set up shop in 1898, with an already archaic paraffin

Tractor vaporising oil

Tractor vaporising oil is a fuel for internal combustion engines, produced from paraffin . In the United Kingdom and Australia, after the Second World War, it was commonly used for tractors until diesel engines became commonplace...

-fuelled centre-pivot-steered wagon). Meanwhile, the export trade had begun to be global, with Koch exporting cars and trucks from Paris to Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

, and the Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

.

On 5 November 1895, George B. Selden was granted a United States patent for a two-stroke automobile engine . This patent did more to hinder than encourage development of autos in the USA. Selden licensed his patent to most major American auto makers, collecting a fee on every car they produced. The Studebaker

Studebaker

Studebaker Corporation was a United States wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the...

brothers, having become the world's leading manufacturers of horse-drawn vehicle

Horse-drawn vehicle

A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load...

s, made a transition to electric automobiles in 1902, and gasoline engines in 1904, but also continued to build horse-drawn vehicles until 1919. In 1908, the first South American automobile was built in Peru, the Grieve
Grieve
The Grieve was a Peruvian automobile that was built in 1908 by Juan Alberto Grieve, a Peruvian engineer with extensive knowledge in combustion engines. The vehicle became the first automobile designed and built in South America. A pioneer in the automobile industry, Grieve decided to build a car...

. Motor cars were also exported very early to British colonies and the first motor car was exported to India in 1897.

Throughout the veteran car era, however, automobiles were seen as more of a novelty than a genuinely useful device. Breakdown

Breakdown (vehicle)

A vehicle breakdown is the operational failure of a motor vehicle in such a way that the underlying problem prevents the vehicle from being operated at all, or impedes the vehicle's operation so much, that it is very difficult or nearly impossible, or dangerous to operate, or else at risk of...

s were frequent, fuel

Fuel

was difficult to obtain, roads suitable for travelling were scarce, and rapid innovation meant that a year-old car was nearly worthless. Major breakthroughs in proving the usefulness of the automobile came with the historic long-distance drive of Bertha Benz

Bertha Benz

Bertha Benz was born on 3 May 1849 in Pforzheim, Germany. She married inventor Karl Benz on 20 July 1872, and died 5 May 1944 in Ladenburg...

in 1888, when she travelled more than 80 kilometres (50 mi) from Mannheim

Mannheim

Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....

to Pforzheim

Pforzheim

Pforzheim is a town of nearly 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Until 1565 it was the home to the Margraves of Baden. Because of that it gained the nickname...

, to make people aware of the potential of the vehicles her husband, Karl Benz, manufactured, and after Horatio Nelson Jackson

Horatio Nelson Jackson

Horatio Nelson Jackson was a physician and automobile pioneer. In 1903, he and driving partner Sewall K. Crocker became the first people to drive an automobile across the United States.-Early life and medical career:...

's successful transcontinental drive across the United States in 1903. While other automakers provided motorists with tire

Tire

A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped covering that fits around a wheel rim to protect it and enable better vehicle performance by providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock while keeping the wheel in close contact with the ground...

repair kits, Rambler was first in 1909 to equip its cars with a spare tire

Spare tire

A spare tire is an additional tire carried in a motor vehicle as a replacement for one that goes flat, a blowout, or other emergency...

that was mounted on a fifth wheel.

Brass or Edwardian era

Named for the widespread use of brass

Brass

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...

in the United States, the Brass

Brass Era car

The automotive Brass Era is the first period of automotive manufacturing, named for the prominent brass fittings used during this time for such things as lights and radiators. It extends from the first commercial automobiles marketed in the 1890s until about World War I...

(or Edwardian) Era lasted from roughly 1905 through to the beginning of World War I in 1914.

Within the 15 years that make up this era, the various experimental designs and alternate power systems would be marginalised. Although the modern touring car

Touring car

A touring car, or tourer, is an open car seating five or more. Touring cars may have two or four doors. Often, the belt line is lowered in the front doors to give the car a more sportive character. They were often fitted with a folding roof and side curtains. Engines on early models were either in...

had been invented earlier, it was not until Panhard et Levassor

Panhard

's Système Panhard was widely licensed and adopted that recognisable and standardised automobiles were created. This system specified front-engined

Front-engine design

A front-mounted engine describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the vehicle passenger compartment.Historically, this designation was used regardless of whether or not the entire engine was behind the front axle line...

, rear-wheel drive internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

d cars with a sliding gear

Gear

A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine....

transmission

Transmission (mechanics)

. Traditional coach

Coach (carriage)

A coach was originally a large, usually closed, four-wheeled carriage with two or more horses harnessed as a team, controlled by a coachman and/or one or more postilions. It had doors in the sides, with generally a front and a back seat inside and, for the driver, a small, usually elevated seat in...

-style vehicles were rapidly abandoned, and buckboard runabout

Runabout (car)

Runabouts were a popular car body style at the beginning of the 20th Century. They were small, inexpensive, open cars. Most runabouts had just a single row of seats, providing seating for two passengers. Many also had a tonneau at the rear to provide optional seating for four or five...

s lost favour with the introduction of tonneau

Tonneau

right|thumb|260px|1903 [[Ford Model A |Ford Model A]] rear-door TonneauTonneau cover , describes a hard or soft cover used to protect unoccupied passenger seats in a convertible, roadster, or for a pickup truck bed. Hard tonneau covers open by a hinging or folding mechanism while soft covers open...

s and other less-expensive touring bodies.

By 1906, steam car

Steam car

development had advanced, and they were among the fastest road vehicles in that period.

Throughout this era, development of automotive technology

Automotive engineering

was rapid, due in part to hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included the electric ignition system

Ignition system

(by dynamotor on the Arnold in 1898, though Robert Bosch

Robert Bosch

Robert Bosch was a German industrialist, engineer and inventor, founder of Robert Bosch GmbH.-Biography:...

, 1903, tends to get the credit), independent suspension

Independent suspension

Independent suspension is a broad term for any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically independently of each other. This is contrasted with a beam axle, live axle or deDion axle system in which the wheels are linked – movement on one side affects...

(actually conceived by Bollée in 1873), and four-wheel

Wheel

A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...

brake

Brake

A brake is a mechanical device which inhibits motion. Its opposite component is a clutch. The rest of this article is dedicated to various types of vehicular brakes....

s (by the Arrol-Johnston

Arrol-Johnston

Arrol-Johnston was an early Scottish manufacturer of automobiles, which operated from 1896 to 1931 and produced the first automobile manufactured in Britain...

Company of Scotland

Scotland

in 1909). Leaf spring

Leaf spring

Originally called laminated or carriage spring, a leaf spring is a simple form of spring, commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles...

s were widely used for suspension

Suspension (vehicle)

Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels. Suspension systems serve a dual purpose — contributing to the car's roadholding/handling and braking for good active safety and driving pleasure, and keeping vehicle occupants...

, though many other systems were still in use, with angle steel taking over from armored wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

as the frame

Frame (vehicle)

A frame is the main structure of the chassis of a motor vehicle. All other components fasten to it; a term for this is design is body-on-frame construction.In 1920, every motor vehicle other than a few cars based on motorcycles had a frame...

material of choice. Transmissions

Transmission (mechanics)

and throttle controls were widely adopted, allowing a variety of cruising speeds, though vehicles generally still had discrete speed settings, rather than the infinitely variable system familiar in cars of later eras. Safety glass also made its debut, patented by John Wood in England in 1905. (It would not become standard equipment until 1926, on a Rickenbacker

Rickenbacker (car)

Rickenbacker Motor Company was a US automobile manufacturer based in Detroit, Michigan from 1922 until 1928.The company was established by Eddie Rickenbacker , America's leading fighter ace during World War I. He used his World War I 94th Fighter Squadron emblem depicting a top hat inside a ring...

.)

Between 1907 and 1912 in the United States, the high-wheel motor buggy

High Wheeler

The high wheeler was an early car body style virtually unique to the United States.It is typified by large-diameter slender wheels, frequently with solid tires, to provide ample ground clearance on the primitive roads in much of the country at the turn of the 20th century...

(resembling the horse buggy of before 1900) was in its heyday, with over seventy-five makers including Holsman

Holsman Automobile Company

The Holsman Automobile Company was an early United States automobile manufacturer Chicago, Illinois between 1901 and 1910. Founded by Henry K. Holsman, the company produced a high wheeler automobile until production ceased.-Display Models:...

(Chicago), IHC

International Harvester

International Harvester Company was a United States agricultural machinery, construction equipment, vehicle, commercial truck, and household and commercial products manufacturer. In 1902, J.P...

(Chicago), and Sears

Lincoln Motor Car Works

Lincoln Motor Car Works was an automobile company in Chicago, Illinois. It produced cars for Sears Roebuck from 1908 until 1912. Nine models were offered, priced between US$325 and $475, with the Model L advertised at $495 complete. They were sold by mail, out of the Sears catalog...

(which sold via catalog); the high-wheeler would be killed by the Model T. In 1912, Hupp

Hupmobile

The Hupmobile was an automobile built from 1909 through 1940 by the Hupp Motor Company, which was located at 345 Bellevue Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Its first car, the Model 20, was introduced to the public at the Detroit Auto Show in February 1909...

(in the U.S., supplied by Hale & Irwin) and BSA

Birmingham Small Arms Company

This article is not about Gamo subsidiary BSA Guns Limited of Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham B11 2PP or BSA Company or its successors....

(in the UK) pioneered the use of all-steel bodies, joined in 1914 by Dodge

Dodge

Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....

(who produced Model T bodies). While it would be another two decades before all-steel bodies would be standard, the change would mean improved supplies of superior-quality wood for furniture makers.

Some examples of cars of the period included:

1908–1927 Ford Model T
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to May 1927...

— the most widely produced and available car of the era. It used a planetary transmission
Epicyclic gearing
Epicyclic gearing or planetary gearing is a gear system consisting of one or more outer gears, or planet gears, revolving about a central, or sun gear. Typically, the planet gears are mounted on a movable arm or carrier which itself may rotate relative to the sun gear...

, and had a pedal-based control system. Ford T was proclaimed as the most influential car of the 20th century in the international Car of the Century
Car of the Century
The Car of the Century was an international award given to the world's most influential car of the 20th century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation...

awards.
1910 Mercer Raceabout — regarded as one of the first sports car
Sports car
A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....

s, the Raceabout expressed the exuberance of the driving public, as did the similarly conceived American Underslung
American Underslung
The American Underslung was an American automobile, the brainchild of Harry Stutz and designer Fred Tone, manufactured in Indianapolis from 1905 to 1914 by American Motor Car Company.- Design :...

and Hispano-Suiza Alphonso.
1910–1920 Bugatti Type 13
Bugatti Type 13
The Type 13 was the first real Bugatti car. Production of the Type 13 and later Types 15, 17, 22, and 23, began with the company's founding in 1910 and lasted through 1920 with 435 examples produced. Most road cars used an 8-valve engine, though five Type 13 racers had 16-valve heads, one of the...

— a notable racing
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...

and touring model with advanced engineering
Automotive engineering
Modern automotive engineering, along with aerospace engineering and marine engineering, is a branch of vehicle engineering, incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the design, manufacture and operation of motorcycles, automobiles,...

and design
Automotive design
Automotive design is the profession involved in the development of the appearance, and to some extent the ergonomics, of motor vehicles or more specifically road vehicles. This most commonly refers to automobiles but also refers to motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans...

. Similar models were the Types 15, 17, 22, and 23.

Vintage era

The vintage era lasted from the end of World War I (1919), through the Wall Street Crash

Wall Street Crash of 1929

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...

at the end of 1929. During this period, the front-engined

Front-engine design

car came to dominate, with closed bodies

Car body style

and standardised controls becoming the norm. In 1919, 90% of cars sold were open; by 1929, 90% were closed. Development of the internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

continued at a rapid pace, with multi-valve

Multi-valve

and overhead camshaft

Overhead camshaft

engines produced at the high end, and V8

V8 engine

A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....

, V12

V12 engine

A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....

, and even V16 engine

V16 engine

A V16 engine is a V engine with 16 cylinders. Engines of this number of cylinders are uncommon in automotive use.A V16 engine is perfectly balanced regardless of the V angle without requiring counter-rotating balancing shafts which are necessary to balance Straight-4 and odd number of cylinder...

s conceived for the ultra-rich. Also in 1919, hydraulic brake

Hydraulic brake

The hydraulic brake is an arrangement of braking mechanism which uses brake fluid, typically containing ethylene glycol, to transfer pressure from the controlling unit, which is usually near the operator of the vehicle, to the actual brake mechanism, which is usually at or near the wheel of the...

s were invented by Malcolm Loughead

Malcolm Loughead

Malcolm Loughead formed the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company along with his brother, Allan Loughead. This company went on to become the Lockheed Corporation....

(co-founder of Lockheed

Lockheed Corporation

The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...

); they were adopted by Duesenberg

Duesenberg

Duesenberg was an Auburn, Indiana based American luxury automobile company active in various forms from 1913 to 1937, most famous for its high-quality passenger cars and record-breaking racing cars.-History:...

for their 1921 Model A. Three years later, Hermann Rieseler of Vulcan Motor invented the first automatic transmission

Automatic transmission

An automatic transmission is one type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...

, which had two-speed planetary

Epicyclic gearing

Epicyclic gearing or planetary gearing is a gear system consisting of one or more outer gears, or planet gears, revolving about a central, or sun gear. Typically, the planet gears are mounted on a movable arm or carrier which itself may rotate relative to the sun gear...

gearbox, torque converter

Torque converter

In modern usage, a torque converter is generally a type of hydrodynamic fluid coupling that is used to transfer rotating power from a prime mover, such as an internal combustion engine or electric motor, to a rotating driven load...

, and lockup clutch

Clutch

A clutch is a mechanical device which provides for the transmission of power from one component to another...

; it never entered production. (Its like would only become an available option in 1940.) Just at the end of the vintage era, tempered glass

Toughened glass

Toughened or tempered glass is a type of safety glass processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass. Tempering creates balanced internal stresses which cause the glass, when broken, to crumble into small granular chunks instead of...

(now standard equipment in side windows) was invented in France. In this era
the revolutionary ponton design

Ponton (automobile)

Ponton or Pontoon styling refers to a 1930s-1960s design genre — ultimately the precursor of modern automotive styling. The trend emerged as distinct running boards and fully articulated fenders became less common and bodywork began to enclose the full width and uninterrupted length of a car...

of cars without fully articulated fenders

Fender (vehicle)

Fender is the US English term for the part of an automobile, motorcycle or other vehicle body that frames a wheel well . Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other road spray from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire. Fenders are typically rigid and can be...

, running board

Running board

A running board is a car or truck accessory part, a narrow step fitted under the side doors of the vehicle. It aids entry, especially into high vehicles. Typical of vintage cars which had much higher ground clearances than today's cars, it is also used as a fashion statement on vehicles that would...

s and other non-compact ledge elements was introduced in small series but a mass production of such cars was started much later (after WWII).

Exemplary vintage vehicles:

1922–1939 Austin 7
Austin 7
The Austin 7 was a car produced from 1922 through to 1939 in the United Kingdom by the Austin Motor Company. Nicknamed the "Baby Austin", it was one of the most popular cars ever produced for the British market, and sold well abroad...

— the Austin Seven was one of the most widely copied vehicles ever, serving as a template for cars around the world, from BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...

to Nissan.
1922–1931 Lancia Lambda
Lancia Lambda
The Lancia Lambda is an innovative automobile produced from 1922 through 1931. It was the first car to feature a load-bearing monocoque-type body, and it also pioneered the use of an independent suspension . Vincenzo Lancia even invented a shock absorber for the car and it had excellent four wheel...

— very advanced car for the time, first car to feature a load-bearing monocoque
Monocoque
Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...

-type body and independent front suspension
Independent suspension
Independent suspension is a broad term for any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically independently of each other. This is contrasted with a beam axle, live axle or deDion axle system in which the wheels are linked – movement on one side affects...

.
1924–1929 Bugatti Type 35
Bugatti Type 35
The Type 35 was the most successful of the Bugatti racing models. Its version of the Bugatti arch-shaped radiator that had evolved from the more architectural one of the Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, was to become the one that the marque is most known for though even in the ranks of the various Type 35s...

— the Type 35 was one of the most successful racing cars of all time, with over 1,000 victories in five years.
1925–1928 Hanomag 2 / 10 PS — early example of ponton styling
Ponton (automobile)
Ponton or Pontoon styling refers to a 1930s-1960s design genre — ultimately the precursor of modern automotive styling. The trend emerged as distinct running boards and fully articulated fenders became less common and bodywork began to enclose the full width and uninterrupted length of a car...

.
1927–1931 Ford Model A (1927-1931) — after keeping the brass era Model T
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to May 1927...

in production for too long, Ford broke from the past by restarting its model series with the 1927 Model A. More than 4 million were produced, making it the best-selling model of the era. Ford A was a prototype for the beginning of Soviet mass car production (GAZ A).
1930 Cadillac V-16 — developed at the height of the vintage era, the V16
V16 engine
A V16 engine is a V engine with 16 cylinders. Engines of this number of cylinders are uncommon in automotive use.A V16 engine is perfectly balanced regardless of the V angle without requiring counter-rotating balancing shafts which are necessary to balance Straight-4 and odd number of cylinder...

-powered Cadillac would join Bugatti
Bugatti
Automobiles E. Bugatti was a French car manufacturer founded in 1909 in Molsheim, Alsace, as a manufacturer of high-performance automobiles by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti....

's Royale
Bugatti Royale
The Bugatti Type 41, better known as the Royale, was a large luxury car with a 4.3 m wheelbase and 6.4 m overall length. It weighed approximately 3175 kg and used a 12.7 L straight-8 engine...

as the most legendary ultra-luxury cars of the era.

Pre-WWII era

The pre-war part of the classic era began with the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

in 1930, and ended with the recovery after World War II, commonly placed at 1948. It was in this period that integrated fender

Fender (vehicle)

s and fully closed bodies

Car body style

began to dominate sales, with the new saloon/sedan body style even incorporating a trunk or boot

Trunk (automobile)

The trunk or boot of an automobile or car is the vehicle's main storage, luggage, or cargo compartment. Trunk is used in North American English and Jamaican English; boot is used elsewhere in the English speaking world. Trunk is also primarily used in many non-English speaking regions, such as...

at the rear for storage. The old open-top runabout

Runabout (car)

s, phaeton

Phaeton (carriage)

s, and touring car

Touring car

s were phased out by the end of the classic era as wings, running boards, and headlights

Headlamp

A headlamp is a lamp, usually attached to the front of a vehicle such as a car or a motorcycle, with the purpose of illuminating the road ahead during periods of low visibility, such as darkness or precipitation. Headlamp performance has steadily improved throughout the automobile age, spurred by...

were gradually integrated with the body of the car.

By the 1930s, most of the mechanical technology used in today's automobiles had been invented, although some things were later "re-invented", and credited to someone else. For example, front-wheel drive

Front-wheel drive

Front-wheel drive is a form of engine/transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and...

was re-introduced by André Citroën

Citroën

Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...

with the launch of the Traction Avant

Citroën Traction Avant

The Citroën Traction Avant is an automobile which was produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1934 to 1957. About 760,000 units were produced.-Impact on the world:...

in 1934, though it had appeared several years earlier in road cars made by Alvis

Alvis Cars

Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd was a British manufacturing company that existed in Coventry, England from 19191967. In addition to automobiles designed for the civilian market, the company also produced racing cars, aircraft engines, armoured cars and other armoured fighting vehicles, the...

and Cord

Cord Automobile

Cord was the brand name of a United States automobile, manufactured by the Auburn Automobile Company from 1929 through 1932 and again in 1936 and 1937....

, and in racing cars by Miller (and may have appeared as early as 1897). In the same vein, independent suspension was originally conceived by Amédée Bollée

Amédée Bollée

in 1873, but not put in production until appearing on the low-volume Mercedes-Benz 380

Mercedes-Benz 380 (1933)

The Mercedez-Benz 380 is a model designation of an automobile designed and built by German manufacturer Mercedez-Benz in 1933.In 1933, the Mercedes-Benz 380 sports tourer was one of the most advanced cars on the market. The W22 series had a synchronised four-speed gearbox and a straight-eight,...

in 1933, which prodded American makers to use it more widely. In 1930, the number of auto manufacturers

Automotive industry

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....

declined sharply as the industry consolidated and matured, thanks in part to the effects of the Great Depression

Great Depression

.

Exemplary pre-war automobiles:

1932–1939 Alvis Speed 20
Alvis Speed 20
The Alvis Speed 20 was a British touring car made between 1932 and 1936 by Alvis Ltd in Coventry. It went through four variants coded SA to SD.-Speed 20 SA:...

and Speed 25 — the first cars with all-synchromesh gearbox.
1932–1948 Ford V-8 (Model B)
Ford Model B (1932)
The Model B was a Ford automobile with production starting with model year 1932 and ending with 1934. It was a much updated version of the Model A and was replaced by the 1935 Ford Model 48...

— introduction of the powerful flathead V8
Ford Flathead engine
The Ford flathead V8 was a V8 engine of the flathead type, designed by the Ford Motor Company and built by Ford and various licensees...

in mainstream vehicles, setting new performance and efficiency standards.
1934–1940 Bugatti Type 57
Bugatti Type 57
The Bugatti Type 57 and later variants was an entirely new design by Jean Bugatti, son of founder Ettore. Type 57s were built from 1934 through 1940, with a total of 710 examples produced....

— a singular refined automobile for the wealthy.
1934–1956 Citroën Traction Avant
Citroën Traction Avant
The Citroën Traction Avant is an automobile which was produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1934 to 1957. About 760,000 units were produced.-Impact on the world:...

— the first mass-produced front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive is a form of engine/transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and...

car, built with monocoque
Monocoque
Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...

chassis.
1936–1955 MG T series — sports cars with youth appeal at an affordable price.
1938–2003 Volkswagen Beetle
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...

— a design for efficiency and low price, which was produced for over 60 years with minimal basic change; it has the largest production in history with over 20 million units produced in several counties. The car was awarded the fourth place in the international Car of the XX Century
Car of the Century
The Car of the Century was an international award given to the world's most influential car of the 20th century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation...

competition. A new car echoing the styling of the original has been produced in the 21st century.
1936–1939 Rolls-Royce Phantom III
Rolls-Royce Phantom III
The Rolls-Royce Phantom III was the final large pre-war Rolls-Royce. Introduced in 1936, it replaced the Phantom II and it was the only V12 Rolls-Royce until the 1998 introduction of the Silver Seraph....

— V12 engine
V12 engine
A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....

d pinnacle of pre-war engineering, with technological advances not seen in most other manufacturers until the 1960s. Superior performance and quality.

Post-war era

Since World War II automobile design

Automotive design

Automotive design is the profession involved in the development of the appearance, and to some extent the ergonomics, of motor vehicles or more specifically road vehicles. This most commonly refers to automobiles but also refers to motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans...

experienced the total revolution changes to ponton

Ponton (automobile)

style (without a non-compact ledge elements), one of the first mass representatives of that were the Soviet GAZ-M20 Pobeda

GAZ-M20 Pobeda

The GAZ-M20 "Pobeda" was a passenger car produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ from 1946 until 1958. It was also licensed to Polish Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych.The first Pobeda was developed in the Soviet Union under chief engineer Andrei A. Liphart...

(1946), British Standard Vanguard

Standard Vanguard

The car used a conventional chassis on which was mounted the American inspired semi-streamlined four-door body, which resembles a Plymouth. Suspension was independent at the front with coil springs and a live axle and leaf springs at the rear. Front and rear anti-roll bars were fitted. The brakes...

(1947), US Studebaker Champion

Studebaker Champion

The Studebaker Champion is an automobile which was produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana from the beginning of the 1939 model year until 1958....

and Kaiser Special (1947), and small serial Czech luxury Tatra T600 Tatraplan (1946) and Italian Cisitalia 220

Cisitalia

Cisitalia was an Italian sports and racing car constructor. The name "Cisitalia" derives from "Compagnia Industriale Sportive Italia", a business conglomerate founded in Turin in 1946 and controlled by the wealthy industrialist and sportsman Piero Dusio...

sportcar (1947).

Automobile design and production finally emerged from the military orientation and other shadow of war in 1949, the year that in the United States saw the introduction of high-compression

Compression ratio

The 'compression ratio' of an internal-combustion engine or external combustion engine is a value that represents the ratio of the volume of its combustion chamber from its largest capacity to its smallest capacity...

V8 engine

s and modern bodies from General Motors' Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile

and Cadillac brands. The unibody/strut-suspended

MacPherson strut

The MacPherson strut is a type of car suspension system which uses the axis of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in modern vehicles and named after Earle S. MacPherson, who developed the design.-History:...

1951 Ford Consul

Ford Consul

The Ford Consul is a car manufactured by Ford in Britain.Between 1951 and 1962 the Consul was the four-cylinder base model of the three-model Ford Zephyr range, comprising Consul, Zephyr and Zephyr Zodiac...

joined the 1948 Morris Minor

Morris Minor

The Morris Minor was a British economy car that debuted at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, on 20 September 1948. Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.3 million were manufactured between 1948 and 1971...

and 1949 Rover P4

Rover P4

The Rover P4 series was a group of saloon automobiles produced from 1949 through to 1964 designed by Gordon Bashford. The P4 designation is factory terminology for the group of cars and was not in day-to-day use by ordinary owners, who would have said simply that they had a "Rover 90" and so on.The...

in waking up the automobile market in the United Kingdom. In Italy

Italy

, Enzo Ferrari

Enzo Ferrari

Enzo Anselmo Ferrari Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian race car driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari car manufacturer...

was beginning his 250 series

Ferrari 250

The Ferrari 250 is a sports car built by Ferrari from 1953 to 1964. The company's most successful early line, the 250 series included several variants. It was replaced by the 275 and the 330.-Similarities:...

, just as Lancia

Lancia

Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and which became part of the Fiat Group in 1969. The company has a long history of producing distinctive cars and also has a strong rally heritage. Some modern Lancias are seen as presenting a more...

introduced the revolutionary V6

V6 engine

A V6 engine is a V engine with six cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of three cylinders, usually set at either a right angle or an acute angle to each other, with all six pistons driving a common crankshaft...

-powered Aurelia

Lancia Aurelia

The Lancia Aurelia is a car that was produced by the Italian manufacturer Lancia. Designed by Vittorio Jano, the Aurelia was launched in 1950 and production lasted until the summer of 1958....

.

Throughout the 1950s, engine

Motive power

In thermodynamics, motive power is an agency, as water or steam, used to impart motion. Generally, motive power is defined as a natural agent, as water, steam, wind, electricity, etc., used to impart motion to machinery; a motor; a mover. The term may also define something, as a locomotive or a...

power

Power (physics)

In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. For example, the rate at which a light bulb transforms electrical energy into heat and light is measured in watts—the more wattage, the more power, or equivalently the more electrical energy is used per unit...

and vehicle speeds rose, designs became more integrated and artful, and cars spread across the world. Alec Issigonis

Alec Issigonis

Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, CBE, FRS was a Greek-British designer of cars, now remembered chiefly for the groundbreaking and influential development of the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation in 1959.- Early life:Issigonis was born into the Greek community of Smyrna ...

' Mini

Mini

The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...

and Fiat

Fiat

's 500

Fiat 500

The Fiat 500 is a car produced by the Fiat company of Italy between 1957 and 1975, with limited production of the Fiat 500 K estate continuing until 1977. The car was designed by Dante Giacosa....

diminutive cars swept Europe, while the similar kei car

Kei car

Kei cars, K-cars, or , are a Japanese category of small vehicles, including passenger cars, vans, and pickup trucks. They are designed to comply with Japanese government tax and insurance regulations, and in most rural areas are exempted from the requirement to certify that adequate parking is...

class put Japan on wheels for the first time. The legendary Volkswagen Beetle

Volkswagen Beetle

The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...

survived Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

's Germany to shake up the small-car market in the Americas. Ultra luxury, exemplified in America by the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham

Cadillac Eldorado

The 1953 Eldorado was a special-bodied, low-production convertible . It was the production version of the 1952 El Dorado "Golden Anniversary" concept car, and borrowed bumper bullets from the 1951 GM Le Sabre show car...

, reappeared after a long absence, and grand tourer

Grand tourer

A grand tourer is a high-performance luxury automobile designed for long-distance driving. The most common format is a two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement....

s (GT), like the Ferrari America

Ferrari America

The first America cars were the 340, produced between 1950 and 1952. Using the new Lampredi V12 developed for Formula One racing, the 340 America could produce over...

s, swept across Europe.

The market changed somewhat in the 1960s, as Detroit began to worry about foreign competition, the European makers adopted ever-higher technology, and Japan appeared as a serious car-producing nation. General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

, Chrysler, and Ford tried radical small cars, like the GM A-bodies

GM A platform

The General Motors A platform was a mid-size car automobile platform. The A-bodies evolved from rear wheel drive compacts, to rear wheel drive mid-size cars, to front wheel drive mid-size cars over the course of 32 years. The switch in drive layout in 1982 spawned the G-body...

, but had little success. Captive import

Captive import

Captive import is a marketing term and a strategy for an automobile part or entire vehicle that is foreign-built and sold under the name of an importer or by a domestic automaker through its own dealer distribution system....

s and badge engineering

Badge engineering

Badge engineering is an ironic term that describes the rebadging of one product as another...

swept through the US and UK as amalgamated

Consolidation (business)

Consolidation or amalgamation is the act of merging many things into one. In business, it often refers to the mergers and acquisitions of many smaller companies into much larger ones. In the context of financial accounting, consolidation refers to the aggregation of financial statements of a group...

groups like the British Motor Corporation

British Motor Corporation

The British Motor Corporation, or commonly known as BMC was a vehicle manufacturer from United Kingdom, formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organisation in 1952...

consolidated the market. BMC's revolutionary space-saving Mini, which first appeared in 1959, captured large sales worldwide. Minis were marketed under the Austin

Austin Motor Company

The Austin Motor Company was a British manufacturer of automobiles. The company was founded in 1905 and merged in 1952 into the British Motor Corporation Ltd. The marque Austin was used until 1987...

and Morris

Morris Motor Company

The Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque...

names, until Mini became a marque in its own right in 1969. The trend for corporate consolidation reached Italy as niche makers like Maserati

Maserati

Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993...

, Ferrari

Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...

, and Lancia

Lancia

were acquired by larger companies. By the end of the decade, the number of automobile marques had been greatly reduced.

In America, performance became a prime focus of marketing, exemplified by pony car

Pony car

Pony car is an American class of automobile launched and inspired by the Ford Mustang in 1964. The term describes an affordable, compact, highly styled car with a sporty or performance-oriented image.-Origins of the breed:...

s and muscle car

Muscle car

Muscle car is a term used to refer to a variety of high-performance automobiles. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines muscle cars as "any of a group of American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." Usually, a large V8 engine is fitted in a...

s. In 1964 the popular Ford Mustang

Ford Mustang

The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...

appeared. In 1967, Chevrolet

Chevrolet

Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...

released the Camaro to compete with the Mustang. But everything changed in the 1970s as the 1973 oil crisis

1973 oil crisis

The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...

, automobile emissions control

Automobile emissions control

Vehicle emissions control is the study and practice of reducing the motor vehicle emissions -- emissions produced by motor vehicles, especially internal combustion engines....

rules, Japanese and European imports, and stagnant innovation wreaked havoc on the American industry. Though somewhat ironically, full-size sedans staged a major comeback in the years between the energy crisis, with makes such as Cadillac

Cadillac

Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...

and Lincoln

Lincoln (automobile)

Lincoln is an American luxury vehicle brand of the Ford Motor Company. Lincoln vehicles are sold mostly in North America.-History:The company was founded in August 1915 by Henry M. Leland, one of the founders of Cadillac . During World War I, he left Cadillac which was sold to General Motors...

staging their best sales years ever in the late 70s. Small performance cars from BMW

BMW

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...

, Toyota, and Nissan took the place of big-engined

Engine displacement

cars from America and Italy.

Besides of smaller size and grand tourer class cars, amongst a trends of car design at the late of XX century were the wide using of the station wagons (estate, break, kombi, универсал)

Station wagon

A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

and non-commercial comfortable all-wheel drived off-road vehicle

Off-road vehicle

An off-road vehicle is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with deep, open treads, a flexible suspension, or even caterpillar tracks...

s.

On the technology front, the biggest developments of the era were the widespread use of independent suspension

Independent suspension

s, wider application of fuel injection

Fuel injection

Fuel injection is a system for admitting fuel into an internal combustion engine. It has become the primary fuel delivery system used in automotive petrol engines, having almost completely replaced carburetors in the late 1980s....

, and an increasing focus on safety

Automobile safety

Automobile safety is the study and practice of vehicle design, construction, and equipment to minimize the occurrence and consequences of automobile accidents. Automobile safety is the study and practice of vehicle design, construction, and equipment to minimize the occurrence and consequences of...

in the design

Automotive design

of automobiles. The hottest technologies of the 1960s were NSU

NSU Motorenwerke AG

NSU Motorenwerke AG, normally just NSU, was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and pedal cycles, founded in 1873. It was acquired by Volkswagen Group in 1969...

's "Wankel engine

Wankel engine

The Wankel engine is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into a rotating motion instead of using reciprocating pistons. Its four-stroke cycle takes place in a space between the inside of an oval-like epitrochoid-shaped housing and a rotor that...

", the gas turbine

Gas turbine

A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....

, and the turbocharger

Turbocharger

A turbocharger, or turbo , from the Greek "τύρβη" is a centrifugal compressor powered by a turbine that is driven by an engine's exhaust gases. Its benefit lies with the compressor increasing the mass of air entering the engine , thereby resulting in greater performance...

. Of these, only the last, pioneered by General Motors but popularised by BMW

BMW

and Saab

Saab Automobile

Saab Automobile AB, better known as Saab , is a Swedish car manufacturer owned by Dutch automobile manufacturer Swedish Automobile NV, formerly Spyker Cars NV. It is the exclusive automobile Royal Warrant holder as appointed by the King of Sweden...

, was to see widespread use. Mazda

Mazda

is a Japanese automotive manufacturer based in Fuchū, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.In 2007, Mazda produced almost 1.3 million vehicles for global sales...

had much success with its "Rotary

Mazda Wankel engine

The Mazda Wankel engines are family of car engines derived from experiments in the early 1960s by Felix Wankel, a German engineer...

" engine which, however, acquired a reputation as a polluting gas-guzzler. Other Wankel licensees, including Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

and General Motors, never put their designs into production after the 1973 oil crisis. (Mazda's hydrogen-fuelled successor was later to demonstrate potential as an "ultimate eco-car".) Rover

Rover (car)

The Rover Company is a former British car manufacturing company founded as Starley & Sutton Co. of Coventry in 1878. After developing the template for the modern bicycle with its Rover Safety Bicycle of 1885, the company moved into the automotive industry...

and Chrysler both produced experimental gas turbine cars to no effect.

Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

is famous for retaining its pre-1959 cars, known as yank tank

Yank tank

Yank tank is a slang term referring to American cars, especially large models produced in the 1950s and 1960s as well as SUVs of recent production.-Classic American cars in Cuba:...

s or maquinas, which have been kept since the Cuban revolution

Cuban Revolution

The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...

when the influx of new cars slowed because of a US trade embargo.

To the end of the 20th century and later, the US Big Three (GM, Ford, Chrysler) partially lost their leading position, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

became for a while the world's leader of car production and cars began to be mass manufactured in new Asian, East European and other countries.

Notable exemplary post-war cars:

1946–1958 GAZ-M20 Pobeda
GAZ-M20 Pobeda
The GAZ-M20 "Pobeda" was a passenger car produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ from 1946 until 1958. It was also licensed to Polish Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych.The first Pobeda was developed in the Soviet Union under chief engineer Andrei A. Liphart...

— Soviet mass car with full ponton design.
1947–1958 Standard Vanguard
Standard Vanguard
The car used a conventional chassis on which was mounted the American inspired semi-streamlined four-door body, which resembles a Plymouth. Suspension was independent at the front with coil springs and a live axle and leaf springs at the rear. Front and rear anti-roll bars were fitted. The brakes...

— British mass car with full ponton design some and
1948–1971 Morris Minor
Morris Minor
The Morris Minor was a British economy car that debuted at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, on 20 September 1948. Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.3 million were manufactured between 1948 and 1971...

– a popular and typical early post-war car exported around the world
1953–1971 Chevrolet Bel Air
Chevrolet Bel Air
The Chevrolet Bel Air is a full-size automobile that was produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1950–1975 model years. Hardtops in the Chevrolet Deluxe Styleline model range were designated with the Bel Air name from 1950–1952, but it was not a distinct series of its own until...

and 1953–2002 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham – in its first generations were a bright representatives of golden epoch of American tailfin car design
Tailfin
The tailfin era of automobile styling encompassed the 1950s and 1960s, peaking between 1957 and 1960. It was a style that spread worldwide, as car designers picked up styling trends from the US automobile industry where it was the golden epoch of American autodesign.General Motors design chief...
1955–1976 Citroën DS
Citroën DS
The Citroën DS is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1955 and 1975. Styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni and the French aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre, the DS was known for its aerodynamic futuristic body design and innovative...

— bright and non-often representative of unusual bogie (hydropneumatic) и design (one of the most mind), due to what became a movie star; car was awarded the third place on international Car of the XX Century
Car of the Century
The Car of the Century was an international award given to the world's most influential car of the 20th century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation...

competition.
1959–2000 Mini
Mini
The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...

— this quintessential small car lasted for four decades, and is one of the most famous cars of all time; car was awarded the second place on international Car of the XX Century
Car of the Century
The Car of the Century was an international award given to the world's most influential car of the 20th century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation...

competition; car has a re-styled new variant in XXI century.
1961–1975 Jaguar E-type
Jaguar E-type
The Jaguar E-Type or XK-E is a British automobile, manufactured by Jaguar between 1961 and 1975. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive pricing established the marque as an icon of 1960s motoring...

— the E-type saved Jaguar on the track and in the showroom, and was a standard for design and innovation in the 1960s.
1963–1989 Porsche 911
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a luxury 2-door sports coupe made by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a distinctive design, rear-engined and with independent rear suspension, an evolution of the swing axle on the Porsche 356. The engine was also air-cooled until the introduction of the Type 996 in 1998...

– wanted non-cheap but mass sport car, famoused its company; car was awarded the fifth place on international Car of the XX Century
Car of the Century
The Car of the Century was an international award given to the world's most influential car of the 20th century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation...

competition; car has a successors with similar design.
1964–present Ford Mustang
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...

— the pony car
Pony car
Pony car is an American class of automobile launched and inspired by the Ford Mustang in 1964. The term describes an affordable, compact, highly styled car with a sporty or performance-oriented image.-Origins of the breed:...

that became one of the best-selling and most-collected cars of the era.
1966–end of 20th century FIAT 124
Fiat 124
The Fiat 124 is a mid-sized family car produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat between 1966 and 1974. It was the replacement of the Fiat 1300 and Fiat 1500...

— an Italian car that was licence produced in many other counties including the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

where as the VAZ-2101
VAZ-2101
The VAZ-2101 is a compact car, sedan, produced by VAZ and introduced in 1970. VAZ had been founded in the mid-1960s as a collaboration between Fiat and the Soviet government, and the 2101 was its first product...

it launched mass automobilisation.
1967 NSU Ro 80
NSU Ro 80
The NSU Ro 80 was a technologically advanced large sedan-type automobile produced by the German firm of NSU from 1967 until 1977. Most notable was the powertrain; a , 995 cc twin-rotor Wankel engine driving the front wheels through a semi-automatic transmission employing an innovative vacuum system...

— the basic wedge profile of this design was much emulated in subsequent decades., unlike that its other technical innovation - rotor engine.
1967–2002 Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang...

– The pony car that General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

introduced to compete with Ford's mustang which featured the relatively new Coke bottle styling
Coke bottle styling
Coke bottle styling is a term used to describe any automotive body styling bearing an overall body shape resembling the classic glass Coca-Cola soft drink's contour bottle design. It is a style of automobile bodies with outward curving fenders with a narrow center. In contrast to "straight-edge"...

.
1969 Datsun 240Z — one of the first Japanese sports cars to be a smash hit with the North American public, it paved the way for future decades of Japanese strength in the automotive industry
Automotive industry
The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....

. It was affordable and well built, and had great success both on the track and in the showroom.

Modern era

The modern era is normally defined as the 25 years preceding the current year. However, there are some technical and design aspects that differentiate modern cars from antiques. Without considering the future of the car

Future of the car

Potential future car technologies include varied energy sources and materials, which are being developed in order to make automobiles more more energy efficient with and reduced regulated emissions...

, the modern era has been one of increasing standardisation

Standardization

Standardization is the process of developing and implementing technical standards.The goals of standardization can be to help with independence of single suppliers , compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, or quality....

, platform sharing

Automobile platform

An automobile platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types of automobiles, often from different, but related marques...

, and computer-aided design

Computer-aided design

Computer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...

.

Some particularly notable advances in modern times are the widespread of front-wheel drive

Front-wheel drive

and all-wheel drive, the adoption of the diesel engine

Diesel engine

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

, and the ubiquity of fuel injection

Fuel injection

. While all of these advances were first attempted in earlier eras, they so dominate the market today that it is easy to overlook their significance. Nearly all modern passenger cars are front-wheel drive monocoque

Monocoque

Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...

/unibody designs, with transversely mounted engines

Transverse engine

A transverse engine is an engine mounted in a vehicle so that the engine's crankshaft axis is perpendicular to the long axis of the vehicle. Many modern front wheel drive vehicles use this engine mounting configuration...

, but this design was considered radical as late as the 1960s.

Body styles

Car body style

have changed as well in the modern era. Three types, the hatchback

Hatchback

A Hatchback is a car body style incorporating a shared passenger and cargo volume, with rearmost accessibility via a rear third or fifth door, typically a top-hinged liftgate—and features such as fold-down rear seats to enable flexibility within the shared passenger/cargo volume. As a two-box...

, sedan, and sport utility vehicle

Sport utility vehicle

A sport utility vehicle is a generic marketing term for a vehicle similar to a station wagon, but built on a light-truck chassis. It is usually equipped with four-wheel drive for on- or off-road ability, and with some pretension or ability to be used as an off-road vehicle. Not all four-wheel...

, dominate today's market, yet are relatively recent concept

Concept

The word concept is used in ordinary language as well as in almost all academic disciplines. Particularly in philosophy, psychology and cognitive sciences the term is much used and much discussed. WordNet defines concept: "conception, construct ". However, the meaning of the term concept is much...

s. All originally emphasised practicality, but have mutated into today's high-powered luxury crossover SUV

Crossover SUV

A crossover SUV is a vehicle built on a car platform and combining, in highly variable degrees, features of a sport utility vehicle with features from a passenger vehicle, especially those of a station wagon or hatchback.Using the unibody construction typical of passenger vehicles, the crossover...

, sports wagon

Station wagon

, two-volume Large MPV. The rise of pickup truck

Pickup truck

A pickup truck is a light motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area .-Definition:...

s in the United States, and SUVs worldwide has changed the face of motoring, with these "trucks" coming to command more than half of the world automobile market. There was also the appearance of new one-volume MPV class (smaller non-commercial passenger minivan

Minivan

Minivan is a type of van designed for personal use. Minivans are typically either two-box or one box designs for maximum interior volume – and are taller than a sedan, hatchback, or a station wagon....

s), among the first of which were the French Renault Espace

Renault Espace

The Renault Espace is a large MPV from French car-maker Renault. Generations 1-3 were sold under the Renault brand but manufactured by Matra. The current fourth generation model, which seats seven passengers, is an all-Renault product; the Renault Grand Espace is a long-wheelbase version with...

and US Pontiac Trans Sport

Pontiac Trans Sport

The Pontiac Trans Sport and its siblings, the Chevrolet Lumina APV and Oldsmobile Silhouette were a set of minivans that débuted with radical styling in fall 1989 as 1990 models. There was also a Chevrolet Trans Sport sold in Europe until 2005 that was a version of the Chevrolet Venture that had...

.

The modern era has also seen rapidly rising fuel efficiency

Fuel economy in automobiles

Fuel usage in automobiles refers to the fuel efficiency relationship between distance traveled by an automobile and the amount of fuel consumed....

and engine output. Once the automobile emissions

Automobile emissions control

Vehicle emissions control is the study and practice of reducing the motor vehicle emissions -- emissions produced by motor vehicles, especially internal combustion engines....

concerns of the 1970s were conquered with computerised engine management systems

Engine control unit

An engine control unit is a type of electronic control unit that determines the amount of fuel, ignition timing and other parameters an internal combustion engine needs to keep running...

, power began to rise rapidly. In the 1980s, a powerful sports car

Sports car

A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....

might have produced 200 horsepower (150 kW) – just 20 years later, average passenger cars have engines that powerful, and some performance models offer three times as much power.

Since 2009 China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

becamed the new world's absolute car manufacturer leader with production more than US, Japan or all Europe. Besides of large growth of car production in Asian and other countries, the junctions (and breaks) of producents into transnational corporate groups

Corporate group

A corporate group is a collection of parent and subsidiary corporations that function as a single economic entity through a common source of control. The concept of a group is frequently used in tax law, accounting and company law to attribute the rights and duties of one member of the group to...

and the transnational "platforms" of a cars becamed as wide practice.

Since the end of XX century, the award competitions of cars (and then trucks also) are widely known: European

European Car of the Year

The European Car of the Year award was established in 1964 by a collective of automobile magazines from different countries in Europe. The current organisers of the award are Auto , Autocar , Autopista , Autovisie , L'Automobile Magazine , Stern and Vi Bilägare .The voting jury consists of motoring...

first, then Japanese

Car of the Year Japan

The annual Car of the Year Japan award, also known as Japan Car of the Year , is given to newly released or redesigned vehicles released to the Japanese car buying market from November 1 of the previous year to October 31 of the current, and each award spans two calendar years. The award has been...

, North American

North American Car of the Year

The North American Car of the Year is an automobile award voted annually in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The jury consists of no more than 50 automotive journalists.-Example:-Pre-1994:-1994-1999:-2000-2009:...

and World car

World Car of the Year

The World Car of the Year is an automobile award selected by a jury of 48 international automotive journalists from 22 countries. Cars considered must be sold in at least five countries on at least two continents prior to January 1 of the year of the award...

/truck and International

International Car of the Year

The International Car of the Year awards are one of several annual "car of the year" awards around the world for new automobile models judged to be the best of their generation. This one is presented by the United States magazine Road & Travel Magazine. Awards are given under ten different...

, on that a vehicles of different classes, producents and countries wins alternately. Also, Car of the Century

Car of the Century

The Car of the Century was an international award given to the world's most influential car of the 20th century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation...

award was held, what in the US Ford T was named as most influential car of the XX century.

Exemplary modern cars:

1966–present Toyota Corolla
Toyota Corolla
The Toyota Corolla is a line of subcompact and compact cars manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has become very popular throughout the world since the nameplate was first introduced in 1966. In 1997, the Corolla became the best selling nameplate in the world, with over 35 million...

— a simple small Japanese saloon/sedan that has come to be the best-selling car of all time.
1970–present Range Rover
Range Rover
The Range Rover is a large luxury four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle produced by British car maker Land Rover. The model, launched in 1970, is now in its third generation...

— the first take on the combination of luxury and four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...

utility, the original 'SUV
Sport utility vehicle
A sport utility vehicle is a generic marketing term for a vehicle similar to a station wagon, but built on a light-truck chassis. It is usually equipped with four-wheel drive for on- or off-road ability, and with some pretension or ability to be used as an off-road vehicle. Not all four-wheel...

'. Such was the popularity of the original Range Rover Classic that a new model was not brought out until 1994.
1973–present Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a series of luxury sedans produced by Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG. The classification was officially introduced in 1972 with the W116 S-Class, which succeeded previous Mercedes-Benz models dating to the mid-1950s...

— electronic Anti-lock Braking System
Anti-lock braking system
An anti-lock braking system is a safety system that allows the wheels on a motor vehicle to continue interacting tractively with the road surface as directed by driver steering inputs while braking, preventing the wheels from locking up and therefore avoiding skidding.An ABS generally offers...

, supplemental restraint airbag
Airbag
An Airbag is a vehicle safety device. It is an occupant restraint consisting of a flexible envelope designed to inflate rapidly during an automobile collision, to prevent occupants from striking interior objects such as the steering wheel or a window...

s, seat belt
Seat belt
A seat belt or seatbelt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop...

pretensioners, and electronic traction control system
Traction control system
A traction control system , also known as anti-slip regulation , is typically a secondary function of the anti-lock braking system on production motor vehicles, designed to prevent loss of traction of driven road wheels...

s all made their debut on the S-Class. These features would later become standard throughout the car industry.
1975–present BMW 3 Series
BMW 3 Series
The BMW 3 Series is a compact executive car manufactured by the German automaker BMW since May 1975. Successor to the BMW New Class, it has been produced in five different generations and in no less than five different body styles. It is BMW's best-selling model, accounting for around 30% of the...

— the 3 Series has been on Car and Driver magazine's annual Ten Best list 17 times, making it the longest running entry in the list.
1977–present Honda Accord
Honda Accord
The Honda Accord is a series of compact, mid-size and full-size automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1976, and sold in a majority of automotive markets throughout the world....

saloon/sedan — this Japanese sedan became the most popular car in the United States in the 1990s, pushing the Ford Taurus aside, and setting the stage for today's upscale Asian sedans.
1981–1989 Dodge Aries
Dodge Aries
The Dodge Aries is an automobile sold by the Chrysler Corporation from 1981-1989. It replaced the Dodge Aspen as Dodge's family car with "mid-size room" in a size and front-wheel drive format commonly associated with compact cars...

and Plymouth Reliant
Plymouth Reliant
The Plymouth Reliant was one of the first two so-called "K-cars" manufactured by the Chrysler Corporation, introduced for the 1981 model year. The Reliant replaced the Plymouth Volaré/Road Runner, which was the short-lived successor automobile to the highly regarded Plymouth Valiant...

— the "K-cars" that saved Chrysler as a major manufacturer. These models were some of the first successful American front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive is a form of engine/transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and...

, fuel-efficient compact car
Compact car
A compact car , or small family car , is a classification of cars which are larger than a supermini but smaller than or equal to a mid-size car...

s.
1983–present Chrysler minivans
Dodge Caravan
The Dodge Caravan is a family minivan manufactured by Chrysler Group LLC and sold under its Dodge brand. Along with its nameplate variant, the Plymouth Voyager, the Caravan was introduced for the 1984 model year. In 1987, the Dodge Grand Caravan long-wheelbase model was introduced and sold...

— the two-box minivan
Minivan
Minivan is a type of van designed for personal use. Minivans are typically either two-box or one box designs for maximum interior volume – and are taller than a sedan, hatchback, or a station wagon....

design nearly pushed the station wagon
Station wagon
A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

out of the market, and presaged today's crossover SUV
Crossover SUV
A crossover SUV is a vehicle built on a car platform and combining, in highly variable degrees, features of a sport utility vehicle with features from a passenger vehicle, especially those of a station wagon or hatchback.Using the unibody construction typical of passenger vehicles, the crossover...

s.
1984–present Renault Espace
Renault Espace
The Renault Espace is a large MPV from French car-maker Renault. Generations 1-3 were sold under the Renault brand but manufactured by Matra. The current fourth generation model, which seats seven passengers, is an all-Renault product; the Renault Grand Espace is a long-wheelbase version with...

— first mass one-volume car of non-commercial MPV class.
1986–present Ford Taurus
Ford Taurus
The Ford Taurus is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States. Originally introduced in the 1986 model year, it has remained in near-continuous production for more than two decades, making it the fourth oldest nameplate that is currently sold in the North American...

— this mid-sized
Mid-size car
A mid-size car is the North American/Australian standard for an automobile with a size equal to or greater than that of a compact...

front-wheel drive sedan with modern computer-assisted design dominated the American market in the late 1980s, and created a design revolution in North America.
1989–1999 Pontiac Trans Sport
Pontiac Trans Sport
The Pontiac Trans Sport and its siblings, the Chevrolet Lumina APV and Oldsmobile Silhouette were a set of minivans that débuted with radical styling in fall 1989 as 1990 models. There was also a Chevrolet Trans Sport sold in Europe until 2005 that was a version of the Chevrolet Venture that had...

— was one the first of the one box cars.
1997–present Toyota Prius
Toyota Prius
The Toyota Prius is a full hybrid electric mid-size hatchback, formerly a compact sedan developed and manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation...

— launched in the Japanese market, in September 2010 reached worldwide cumulative sales of 2.0 million units, becoming the most iconic hybrid electric vehicle
Hybrid electric vehicle
A hybrid electric vehicle is a type of hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle which combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. The presence of the electric powertrain is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than a conventional...

in the world.
1998–present Ford Focus — one of the most popular hatchback
Hatchback
A Hatchback is a car body style incorporating a shared passenger and cargo volume, with rearmost accessibility via a rear third or fifth door, typically a top-hinged liftgate—and features such as fold-down rear seats to enable flexibility within the shared passenger/cargo volume. As a two-box...

s across the globe, that is also one of Ford's best selling world car
World car
The phrase world car is used to describe a car designed for, or achieving, worldwide sales using the same platform and components, often with variety of body styles...

s.
2008–present Tata Nano
Tata Nano
The Tata Nano is an inexpensive, rear-engined, four-passenger city car built by the Indian company Tata Motors and is aimed primarily at the Indian domestic market....

— The Tata Nano is an inexpensive(100,000 ~ $2200), rear-engined, four-passenger city car built by the Indian company Tata Motors
Tata Motors
Tata Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Mumbai, India. Part of the Tata Group, it was formerly known as TELCO...

and is aimed primarily at the Indian domestic market.
2010–present, Nissan Leaf
Nissan Leaf
Nissan introduced its first battery electric vehicle, the Nissan Altra at the Los Angeles International Auto Show on 29 December 1997. The Altra EV was produced between 1998 and 2002, only about 200 vehicles were ever produced, and it was mainly used as a fleet vehicle for companies such as...

and Chevrolet Volt
Chevrolet Volt
The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle manufactured by General Motors. The Volt has been on sale in the U.S. market since mid-December 2010, and is the most fuel-efficient compact car sold in the United States, as rated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency...

— an all-electric car and a plug-in hybrid correspondingly, were launched in the U.S. and Japanese markets in December 2010, becoming the first mass production
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...

vehicles of their kind.

External links

Automuseum Dr. Carl Benz, Ladenburg/Germany
Bertha Benz Memorial Route
University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Transportation photographs Digital collection depicting various modes of transportation (including automobiles) in the Pacific Northwest region and western USA during the first half of the 20th century.
History of the automobile on About.com:Inventors site
Automotive History - An ongoing photographic history of the automobile.
Taking the Wheel, Manufacturers' catalogs from the first decade of American automobiles

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Steam-powered wheeled vehicles, precursors to later automobiles

17th century

18th century

19th century

Electric automobiles

Internal combustion engines

Veteran era

Brass or Edwardian era

Vintage era

Pre-WWII era

Post-war era

Modern era

See also

Further reading

External links