We love the cars we drive, after all, we are the ones who picked them out of the selection of vehicles offered. Whether it be because of a certain color, feature, or size, the vehicle we chose to drive today was based on something we couldn’t live without.
Oftentimes, the vehicle’s brand is passed down from generation to generation and it becomes a family tradition to own that specific brand of vehicle. Other times, we just fall in love with a brand due to price, customer service, and/or quality. Throughout the years of owning and driving a certain brand of vehicle, we tend to gain knowledge about that specific type of car and some even become fanatics.
With that said, although many may know a lot about a certain vehicle brand, not many of us can say that we know a lot about the history of cars in general. It’s hard to believe that with 70,390,072 cars and counting, which have been and continue to be produced this year, that there once was a time when cars didn’t even exist.
Let’s take a closer look at a brief overview of the history for the second most expensive purchase we make in our lives: The Automobile, also known as, "the horseless carriage".
Car Facts: Did You Know?
1884: The world's oldest running car is an 1884 De Dion Bouton Et Trapardoux Dos-A-Dos Steam Runabout.
1886: The first true, modern automobile was created by Karl Benz. Mr. Benz patented the three-wheeled Motor Car, known as the “Motorwagen.”
1886: The first automobile reached a top speed of 16 km/h (10 mph).
1870: Siegfried Marcus built the first gasoline-powered combustion engine
1888: Bertha Benz was an automotive pioneer. She was the wife and business partner of automobile inventor Karl Benz. She was the first person to drive an automobile over a long distance.
1889: The first Daimler car was a converted carriage, but with innovations that are still adopted today (cushioned engine mountings, fan cooling, finned-radiator water cooling).
1893: Brothers Charles and Frank Duryea founded the Duryea Motor Wagon Company, which became the first American automobile manufacturing company.
1895: It was Rudolf Diesel who patented the diesel engine that was an efficient, compression ignition, internal combustion engine.
1899: Fiat Founded.
1900: There were approximately 8,000 cars driving on America's roads.
1900: The automotive engineer, Ferdinand Porsche, invented the first hybrid car.
1900: Dodge was founded
1902: The Studebaker brothers, having become the world's leading manufacturers of horse-drawn vehicles, made a transition to electric automobiles
1903: Buick founded.
1903: Horatio Nelson Jackson's successful transcontinental drive across the United States.
1903: Ford Motor Company founded.
1905: Safety glass made its debut, patented by John Wood in England.
1906: Steam car development had advanced, and they were among the fastest road vehicles in that period.
1908: General Motors founded.
1911: Chevrolet was founded.
1913: Aston Martin founded.
1916: BMW founded.
1922: Rickenbacker Motor Company was a US automobile manufacturer based in Detroit, Michigan.
1926: Mercedes‑Benz founded.
1926: Safety glass becomes standard equipment, on a Rickenbacker.
1927: Ford produced over 15,000,000 Model T automobiles and only then developed the Model A.
1927: Rickenbacker Motor Company closes its doors, with more than 35,000 of their cars had been built.
1930: The V16-powered Cadillac would join Bugatti's Royale as the most legendary ultra-luxury cars of the Vintage era.
1931: Porsche founded.
1932: Ford V-8 (Model B) was created and it was the introduction of the flathead V8 in mainstream vehicles.
1933: Nissan founded.
1934: Bugatti Type 57 was built, a singular refined automobile for the wealthy.
1937: Toyota founded.
1937: Volkswagen founded.
1938: Volkswagen Beetle was created and is a design that was produced for over 60 years.
1941: Jeep founded.
1944: Kia founded
1948: Honda founded.
1986: Acura founded.
1950: The period when the automobile became as much a statement of personality as a mode of transportation.
1953: Chevrolet Bel Air and Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, first generations were representative of tailfin (Fins) design.
1959: Mini, a small car that was manufactured for four decades was awarded second place as Car of the 20th Century.
1966: The Oldsmobile Toronado introduced electronic anti-lock braking system and airbag. It was also the first modern-era American car with front wheel drive.
1967: Hyundai founded.
1978: Land Rover founded.
2010: There was an estimate of 1.015 billion motor vehicles in use in the world.
2012: Over 60 million passenger cars were produced in a single year for the first time in history.
2014: 1.2 Billion Vehicles were on the world's roads.
2014: Australia has the most cars per capita.
2015: J.D. Powers named Audi as America’s best car brands.
2016: Set a record of an estimate of 17.6 million cars and trucks sold.
It may be hard to believe that these facts are not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to learning all about the history of the automobile, but they are truly fascinating and it’s neat to know more about the vehicles we drive every day.
