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Life runs on four wheels, and Cars speed us along the sometimes “bumpy” road. Cars take us anywhere, anytime; and as such, the automobile is one of the most revolutionary inventions in history.

Planning a trip to the lake or beach this weekend? Visiting the folks for the Holidays? Are you late with Hubby’s birthday cake? Need to get to the doctor fast?… Apart from these, automobiles have very little use, except to obviously mirror the personalities of their owners.

It all started with the wheel and transportation has only gotten faster and more convenient since. The horse drawn carriage is the oldest mode of transportation (besides “shanksmare”). Animals pulled carts and chariots as early as 3500 BC. It is believed that the first modern horse drawn carriage was created in Hungary in the 15th century to carry a princess to her wedding.

An estimated 700 million cars are honking, smoking and crashing around the Earth at any one time, and this number is expected to double quickly as China and India become major consumers. A blessing has become a significant problem also as Chief Pontiac’s descendants now use 70% of the world’s petroleum and have become the planets greatest source of air pollution, lead and carbon dioxide.

• Traveler Insurance Company issued the first car insurance policy to Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo in 1898. His policy cost $12.25 and gave him $500 in coverage. Martin was chiefly concerned about accidents between his automobile–one of only 4,000 in the entire country–and horses, which numbered about 20 million at the time.
• The New York City Police Department used bicycles to pursue speeding motorists in 1898.
• The first speeding ticket was issued in 1902.
• In 1916, 55 percent of the cars in the world were Model T Fords, a record that has never been beaten.
• The first gas gauge appeared in cars in 1922.
• The first car radio was invented in 1929.
• Buick introduced the first electric turn signals in 1938.
• Most American car horns beep in the key of F.
• The automobile is the most recycled consumer product in the world.

Although several other German engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach are given credit, Karl Benz is generally acknowledged to have invented the modern automobile.

The Benz Motorwagen, powered by his own four-stroke cycle gasoline engine, was built in Mannheim, Germany by Benz in 1885 and granted a “concept” patent in January of the following year. Benz had been granted a patent for his first engine in 1879. He began selling his production vehicles in 1888. 25 Benz vehicles were sold between 1888 and 1893. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced.

Daimler and Maybach founded their company in 1890 under the brand name Daimler, and sold their first automobile in 1892. This was a horse-drawn stagecoach that they retrofitted with an engine of their design. By 1895 about 30 vehicles had been built by Daimler and Maybach.

On June 28, 1926, Benz, Daimler and Mayback merged their companies, becoming Mercedes Benz (Daimler opting for his daughter’s name).

In 1892, Rudolf Diesel was granted a patent for the first Diesel Engine.

The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of automobiles was instituted by Ransom Olds at his Lansing, Michigan Oldsmobile factory in 1902. This concept was greatly expanded by Henry Ford in 1914. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to greater efficiency and increased output.

The assembly line quickly dominated the automotive industry, spreading worldwide with the founding of Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923 and Ford Germany 1925. In 1921, Citroen was the first native European manufacturer to adopt this production method. Companies that did not convert, could not compete and went broke; by 1930, 250 companies had disappeared, by 1940 only 17 were left.

Key developments in automotive technology were the electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910-1911), independent suspension and four-wheel brakes.

It is uncertain exactly when and what was the first automobile and who invented it. In 1769, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot of France created the first self propelled, steam road vehicle. It cruised along at just over 2 miles per hour (you can walk faster). In the United States, Oliver Evans patented the first automobile on record (also a steam engine) in 1789. The first gas fueled car is credited to Karl Benz of Germany in 1883.

Henry Ford, arguably the most famous name in automobile history, founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903. His cars were cheap and mass produced by a loyal work force with with highest wages of any industry at the time ($4.00/day).

By 1908, the Ford Model-T “Tin Lizzie” was filling the roads. Ford’s goal had been to create a car large enough for the entire family to enjoy weekend outings, together.

Easy to maintain, and affordable (4 months salary for an assembly line worker); the Model T changed the way the World moved. You would no longer both live and die within 5 miles.

An estimated 100,000 patents are said to have created the car as we know it. Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton both worked on drawings and theoretical plans for a motor vehicle.

Nicolas Joseph Cugnot was a French engineer and mechanic who in 1769 invented a self-propelled tricycle with the ability to carry four passengers and powered by a steam engine. Cugnot is also the first person to be involved in a motor vehicle accident, driving one of the vehicles into a stone wall in 1771.

There is debate as to whether the steam powered road vehicles of Nicolas Joseph Cugnot can be categorized as automobiles. People who accept the notion call him the first inventor of the automobile. Proving very popular for locomotives, the steam engine was much too heavy for the road.

Sometime between 1832 and 1839 Robert Anderson of Scotland is said to have created the first electric carriage which also proved to be heavy, slow and expensive. Both the steam engines and the electrical engines were abandoned in favor of gas-powered vehicles.

During the early 1900s, the electrical cars had had good sales in the United States but by the 1920s the improved system of roads left people with the desire to travel longer distances.

The United States had the Duryea Brothers who formed their automobile company in 1893. Ransom Olds, debuted his Oldsmobile in 1902, and shortly afterwards Henry Ford was in production with his company.

Automotive development continued rapidly into front engine vehicles with rear wheel drive. Engine size, power and speed became a major focus of car companies as people became enthralled with the “Merry Oldsmobile” and the V8 engine.

Nearly 100 years ago, Louis Chevrolet a Swiss racecar driver created his own automobile designs. William Durant, the founder of General Motors with Buick, had been forced from GM management in 1910. Durant began producing Chevrolet’s designs in 1911 and within 10 years Chevy’s success allowed Durant to buy a majority of GM shares and return as head of GM again with Chevrolet a part of the company.

In these early years, Chevy was known for innovative designs and unique styling. Entering the automobile market to compete with the Ford Model T, Chevrolet and Durant created models that would become part of automobile history. The 1914 “Classic Six” boasted a 6-cylinder engine with a top speed of 15 miles per hour. 1918 saw the first in a long line of Chevy V8 engines.

Chevy is widely known for some of the most popular classic cars ever produced, like the Corvette – one of the most recognizable vehicles in the world. Chevy models of the mid-50s remain wildly popular among car collectors. The ’55 Bel Air, available in convertible, hardtop coupe, and 2- or 4- door sedan versions was considered superior in style to any other vehicle at the time, particularly due to its chrome accents and classic, refined look. The small-block V8, introduced in 1955, remains in continuous production to this day. Chevy innovations of this era included the first fuel-injected engine in 1957.

In 1964, Chevrolet became the first American automaker to build more than 3 million vehicles in one year. In 1966, Chevrolet unveiled the Camaro that would be the pace car at the Indy 500.

In 1914, cars were rolling off the Ford assembly line one every 15 minutes but Henry realized that waiting for paint to dry was holding up production. So, making an executive decision, he ordered that only Japan black, the fastest drying paint available would be used. From that moment was born the iconic statement, “You can have any color you like, as long as it’s black.” And, so it was. The company would not add colors to its vehicles until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in 1926.

Ford sold only the Model-T at first but later added other models to his assembly line as a marketing technique to encourage Americans to purchase more luxurious cars as they moved up the class ladder in society.

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