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Automobile history eras

Antique cars | Brass Era car | Classic vehicles | Vintage cars

Although self-powered vehicles were demonstrated as early as 1769, it was not until 1885 that the history of the automobile truly began. Automotive history is generally divided into a number of eras based on the major design and technology shifts seen over the last century. Although the exact boundaries of each era can be hazy, scholarship has defined them as follows:

Eras of Invention

1895 Benz Velo - introduced ten years after the first patented Benz automobile of 1885

Steam-powered self propelled vehicles were devised in the late 17th century. A Flemish priest, Ferdinand Verbiest, demonstrated in 1678 a small steam car. The car was made for the Chinese emperor. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot successfully demonstrated such a vehicle on a real scale as early as 1769. Cugnot's invention initially saw little application in his native France, and the center of innovation passed to Great Britain, where Richard Trevithick was running a steam-carriage in 1801. Such vehicles were in vogue for a time, and over the next decades such innovations as hand brakes, multi-speed transmissions, and improved speed and steering were developed. Some were commercially successful in providing mass transit, until a backlash against these large speedy vehicles resulted in passing laws that self-propelled vehicles on public roads in the United Kingdom must be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag and blowing a horn. This effectively killed road auto development in the UK for most of the rest of the 19th century, as inventors and engineers shifted their efforts to improvements in railway locomotives. The red flag law was not repealed until 1896.

The first automobile patent in the United States was granted to Oliver Evans in 1789. Later, in 1804, Evans demonstrated his first successful self-propelled vehicle, which not only was the first automobile in the USA but was also the first amphibious vehicle, as his steam-powered vehicle was able to travel on wheels on land and via a paddle wheel in the water.

Belgian born Etienne Lenoir made a car with an internal combustion engine around 1860, though it was driven by coal-gas. His experiment lasted for 7 miles, but it took him 3 hours; He would have been faster on foot. Lenoir never tried experimenting with cars again. The French claim that a Deboutteville-Delamare was succesfull, and the French celebrated the 100th birthday of the car in 1984.

It is generally acknowledged that the first automobiles with gasoline powered internal combustion engines were completed almost simultaneously by several German inventors working independently: Karl Benz built his first automobile in 1885 in Mannheim. Benz was granted a patent for his automobile on January 29, 1886 and began the first production of autombiles in 1888. Soon thereafter, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Stuttgart in 1889 designed a vehicle from scratch to be an automobile rather than a horse carriage fitted with an engine. They also were inventors of the first motor bike in 1886. Much earlier, an Austrian inventor Siegfried Marcus in Vienna built a crude vehicle by placing an engine on a handcart around 1870, although it is disputed whether it ever ran, and he never applied for a patent for this type of invention. The first four wheel petrol-driven automobiles built in Britain came in Birmingham in 1895 by Frederick William Lanchester who also patented the disc brake.

Veteran era

In My Merry Oldsmobile songbook featuring an Oldsmobile Curved Dash automobile and period driving clothing

The first production of automobiles was by Karl Benz in 1888 in Germany and under licence to Benz, in France by Emile Roger. By 1900 mass production of automobiles had begun in France and the United States. The first company to form exclusively to build automobiles was Panhard et Levassor in France. Formed in 1889, they were quickly followed by Peugeot two years later. In the United States, brothers Charles and Frank Duryea founded the Duryea Motor Wagon Company in 1893, becoming the first American automobile manufacturing company. However, it was Oldsmobile who would dominate this era of automobile production. Its large scale production line was running in 1902. Within a year, Cadillac (formed from the Henry Ford Company), Winton, and Ford were producing cars in the thousands.

Within a few years, a dizzying assortment of technologies were being produced by hundreds of producers all over the Western world. Steam, electricity, and gasoline-powered autos competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s. Dual- and even quad-engine cars were designed, and engine displacement ranged to more than a dozen liters. Many modern advances, including gas/electric hybrids, multi-valve engines, overhead camshafts, and four-wheel drive, were attempted and discarded at this time.

Innovation was rapid and rampant, with no clear standards for basic vehicle architectures, body styles, construction materials, or controls. Many veteran cars use a tiller rather than a wheel for steering, for example, and most operated at a single speed. Chain drive was dominant over the modern driveshaft, and closed bodies were extremely rare.

On November 5, 1895, George B. Selden was granted a United States patent for a two-stroke automobile engine (U.S. Patent 549160). 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.

Throughout the veteran car era, however, automobiles were seen as more of a novelty than a genuinely useful device. Breakdowns were frequent, fuel was difficult to obtain, 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 Berta Benz in 1888 when she traveled more than fifty miles (106 km) from Mannheim to Pforzheim to make people aware of the potential of the vehicles her husband, Karl Benz, manufactured, and after Horatio Nelson Jackson's successful trans-continental drive across the United States in 1903.

Brass era

Ford's exemplary Brass Era Model T

Bugatti's Type 13, a high-tech Brass Era car

Main article: Brass Era car

Named for the widespread use of brass in the United States, the Brass or Edwardian era lasted from roughly 1905 through the beginning of World War I in 1914. 1905 was a signal year in the development of the automobile, marking the point when the majority of sales shifted from the hobbyist and enthusiast to the average user.

Within the decade and a half that make up the Brass or Edwardian era, the various experimental designs and alternate power systems would be marginalized. Although the modern touring car had been invented earlier, it was not until Panhard et Levassor's Systeme Panhard was widely licensed and adopted that recognizable and standardized automobiles were created. This system specified front-engined, rear-wheel drive internal combustion cars with a sliding gear transmission. Traditional coach-style vehicles were rapidly abandoned, and buckboard runabouts lost favor with the introduction of tonneaus and other less-expensive touring bodies.

Throughout this era, development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to a huge number (hundreds) of small manufacturers all competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910-1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes. Leaf springs were widely used for suspension, though many other systems were still in use, with angle steel taking over from armored wood as the frame material of choice. Transmissions 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.

Exemplary cars of the period included the following:

• 1908–1927 Ford Model T - The most widely produced and available car of the era. It used a planetary transmission and had a pedal-based control system that would be confusing to modern drivers.
• 1910–1920 Bugatti Type 13 - A notable racing and touring model with advanced engineering and design. Similar models were the Types 15, 17, 22, and 23.

Vintage era

Lineup of Ford Model As

Bugatti Type 35B, the dominant racing car of the time

Main article: Vintage car

The vintage era lasted from the end of World War I (1919) through the stock market crash at the end of 1929. During this period, the front-engined car came to dominate, with closed bodies and standardized controls the norm. Development of the internal combustion engine continued at a rapid pace, with multi-valve and overhead cam engines produced at the high end, and V8, V12, and even V16 engines conceived for the ultra-rich.

Exemplary vintage vehicles:

• 1922–1939 Austin 7 — The Austin Seven was one of the most widely-copied vehicles ever, effectively initiating the British motor industry as well as serving as a template for cars around the world, from BMW to Nissan.
• 1924–1929 Bugatti Type 35 — The Type 35 was one of the most successful racing cars of all time, with over 1,000 victories in five years.
• 1927–1931 Ford Model A — After keeping the brass era Model T 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.
• 1930 Cadillac V-16 — Developed at the height of the vintage era, the V16-powered Cadillac would join Bugatti's Royale as the most legendary ultra-luxury cars of the era.

Pre-War era

1938 Bugatti Type 57SC "Atlantic", an exemplary high-end classic automobile

A black Traction Avant

Main article: Classic car

The pre-war part of the classic era began with the Great Depression in 1930 and ended with the recovery after World War II, commonly placed at 1948.

By the 1930s, most of the technology used in automobiles had been invented, although it was often re-invented again at a later date and credited to someone else. For example, front-wheel drive was re-introduced by Andre Citroën with the launch of the Traction Avant in 1934, though it appeared several years earlier in road cars made by Alvis and Cord, and in racing cars by Miller (and may have appeared as early as 1897). After 1930, the number of auto manufacturers declined sharply as the industry consolidated and matured.

Exemplary pre-war automobiles:

• 1934–1940 Bugatti Type 57 — A high-tech and refined automobile for the remaining rich of the time, the Type 57SC has become the singular classic car.
• 1934–1956 Citroën Traction Avant — The first mass-produced front-wheel drive car, built with monocoque techniques, was a technology masterpiece.
• 1936–1955 MG T series — This sports car for the masses came to represent the European motoring experience, especially for American soldiers fighting in the war.
• 1938–2003 Volkswagen Beetle — Perhaps the most-famous automobile of all time, it was a pre-war design that lasted through the modern era.

Post-War era

1953 Morris Minor Series 2

A 1950s Oldsmobile 88, with its high-compression Rocket V8

Jaguar E-type coupe

1985 Mini

Main article: Antique car

Automobile design finally emerged from the shadow of World War II in 1949, the year that in the United States saw the introduction of high-compression V8 engines and modern bodies from General Motors' Oldsmobile and Cadillac brands. The unibody/strut-suspended 1951 Ford Consul joined the 1948 Morris Minor and 1949 Rover P4 in waking up the automobile market in the United Kingdom. In Italy, Enzo Ferrari was beginning his 250 series just as Lancia introduced their revolutionary V6-powered Aurelia.

Throughout the 1950s, engine power and vehicle speeds rose, designs became more integrated and artful, and cars spread across the world. Alec Issigonis' Mini and Fiat's 500 mini cars swept Europe, while the similar keicar class put Japan on wheels for the first time. The legendary VW Beetle survived Hitler's Germany to shake up the small car market in the Americas. Ultra luxury, exemplified in America by the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, reappeared after a long absence, and GT cars, like the Ferrari Americas, 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, Chrysler, and Ford] tried radical small cars, like the GM A-bodies, but had little success. Captive imports and badge engineering swept through the U.S. and U.K. as conglomerates like the British Motor Corporation consolidated the market. Eventually, this trend reached Italy as niche makers like Maserati, Ferrari, and Lancia were acquired by larger companies. By the end of the decade, the automobile manufacturing world was much smaller.

In America, performance was the hot sell of the 1960s, with pony cars and muscle cars propping up the domestic industry. But everything changed in the 1970s as the 1973 oil crisis, automobile emissions control rules, Japanese and European imports, and stangnant innovation wreaked havoc on the American industry. Throughout the decade, small imported cars outperformed large American ones, and the domestic auto industry began to fail. Small performance cars from BMW, Toyota, and Nissan took the place of big-engined cars from America and Italy.

On the technology front, the biggest developments of the era were the widespread use of independent suspensions, wider application of fuel injection, and an increasing focus on safety in the design of automobiles. The hottest technologies of the 1960s were NSU's Wankel engine, the gas turbine, and the turbocharger. Of these, only the last, pioneered by General Motors but popularized by BMW and Saab, was to see widespread use. Little Mazda had much success with their "Rotary" engines, but was critically affected by its reputation as a polluting gas-guzzler. Other Wankel licensees, including Mercedes-Benz and General Motors, never put their designs into production. Rover and Chrysler both produced experimental turbine cars to no effect.

Exemplary post-war cars:

1948–1971 Morris Minor – A popular and typical post-war car exported around the world.
1949–1968 Oldsmobile 88 — This model introduced the high-compression mass-produced V8 engine to the masses, ushering in the power wars that led to the muscle car era.
1959–2000 Mini — This quintessential small car lasted for four decades and is one of the most famous cars of all time.
1961–1975 Jaguar E-type — The E-type saved Jaguar on the track and in the showroom and set the standard for design and innovation in the 1960s.
1962–1977 BMC ADO16 — This front wheel drive car dominated sales in the United Kingdom, but excessive badge engineering doomed the brands of the British Motor Corporation.
1962–1964 Ferrari 250 GTO — The first supercar, the GTO was dominant in auto racing in the early 1960s.
1964–1973 Ford Mustang — The pony car that became one of the best-selling and most-collected cars of the era.
1964–1974 Pontiac GTO — The architypal muscle car went from being an option package to a high-performance model and back in just 10 years.
1969 Datsun 240Z — One of the first Japanese sports cars to be a smash hit with the North American public, and paved the way for future decades of Japanese strength in the automotive industry. It was affordable, well-built, and had great success both on the track and in the showroom.
1975–1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Seventy-Five — One of the largest cars ever made, with the largest, least-efficient engine in modern times, exemplified the American automobile industry's problems in the 1970s.

Modern era

1986 VW Golf Mk.2

1993 Ford Escort Wagon

ZJ Jeep Grand Cherokee

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, the modern era has been one of increasing standardization, platform sharing, and computer-aided design.

Some particularly notable advances in modern times are the wide spread of front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive, the adoption of the V6 engine configuration, and the ubiquity of 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 signifigance. Nearly all modern passenger cars are front wheel drive unibody designs with transversely-mounted engines, but this design was considered radical just 20 years earlier.

Body styles have changed as well in the modern era. Three types, the hatchback, minivan, and sport utility vehicle, dominate today's market yet are relatively recent concepts. All originally emphasized practicality but have mutated into today's high-powered luxury crossover SUV and sports wagon. The rise of pickup trucks 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.

The modern era has also seen rapidly rising fuel efficiency and engine output. Once the automobile emissions concerns of 1970s were conquered with computerized engine management systems, power began to rise rapidly. In the 1980s, a powerful sports car might have produced 200 hp (150 kW)—just 20 years later, average passenger cars have engines that powerful, and some performance models offer three times as much power.

Exemplary modern cars:

• 1974–present VW Golf — The exemplary modern compact car, with a square hatchback body, transverse straight-4 engine, and room for five passengers.
• 1977–present Honda Accord 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.
• 1983–present Chrysler minivans — The two-box minivan design nearly pushed the station wagon out of the market and presaged today's crossover SUVs.
• 1986–present Ford Taurus — This large front wheel drive sedan with modern Computer Assisted Design dominated the American market in the late 1980s.
• 1993–present Jeep Grand Cherokee — The archetypal upscale SUV with all-wheel drive, V8 power, and a luxurious interior at a price reachable for the masses.

External links

• Classic car buying tips
• Italian Motorcycles and Cars (Wheels Of Italy)

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