True History of Cars
- Gottlieb Daimler sits in the rear seat of his horseless carriage in 1886.
Germans Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, independently of each other, built the motorized tricycle and bicycle respectively in 1885. Just a year later, Daimler and Wilhelm Mayback produced the first four-wheeled horseless carriage that became the first modern car, according to autonews.com. - More than 15 million Ford Model Ts were sold between 1908 and 1927.
In 1903, Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, Mich., and began selling a two-cylinder Model T and employing 125 workers to build about 1,700 automobiles. In 1908, Ford perfected the assembly line system that allowed him to mass-produced a new version of the Model T at a cost of less than $900 to the buyer, according to wiley.com. - The Duesenberg advanced engine and braking technology.
While Ford sold more than 15 million Model T Fords through 1927, the ultra-luxury cars of the 1920s emerged with many engineering advances. Fred and August Duesenberg developed their hand-made Duesenbergs owned by film stars and royalty. The 1932-1937 Duesenberg SJ featured a supercharged 320-horsepower engine with a top speed of 152 mph, according to oldandsold.com. And E.L. Cord advanced front-wheel drive technology with the 1936 Cord 810. The Duesenberg and Cord are now considered works of art, commanding prices of more $1 million. - Alfred P. Sloan led General Motors for nearly two decades.
William Durant founded General Motors in 1908 as the umbrella company for the Oakland, which later became Pontiac, and Buick, Cadillac, Oldsmobile and Chevrolet. General Motors dominated the automotive industry for most of the 20th century. In the 1920s, GM chief Alfred P. Sloan developed GM's business model of separate company divisions that remains the standard for corporations today, according to willdurant.com and myyearswithgm.com. - The 1935 Chrysler Airflow resulted in advances in aerodynamics and wind tunnel testing.
In the early 1930s, Chrysler engineer Carl Breer began using wind tunnels to experiment with the aerodynamics of the car. He applied aircraft design to gauge wind drag. He ultimately produced the 1934-1937 Chrysler Airflow that had aircraft fuselage characteristics and unibody construction to strengthen its body. The Airflow failed to sell, but its technology is still used today, according to allpar.com. - The Volkswagen Beetle pioneered the concept of the economy car.
From the destroyed factories of war-torn Germany in 1945, the Volkswagen Beetle, created by Ferdinand Porsche, began production under the authority of the occupying British Army. In 1949, the lowly Beetle was imported to the United States. By 1992, more than 21 million Beetles were manufactured and sold, far outstripping Model T's production record. The Beetle was the first successful fuel-efficient economy car sold in the U.S., according to oldandsold.com. - A declining market share has led GM, Chrysler and Ford to severe financial difficulties.
The 1973 and 1978 gasoline shortages, the massive influx of small Japanese and European imports, and Detroit's failure to accurately envision a future of fuel-efficient affordable cars, changed the American auto industry. Detroit's lag in developing popular, fuel-efficient cars is considered to be one of the main reasons leading to the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler in 2009. Chinese and Indian automakers have begun production of cars, including hybrids, on a mass scale for worldwide exporting, according to Fortune magazine.
