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1478
Leonardo Da Vinci invents the first self propelled car
1478 – .This self-propelled car is not a car like the ones we see today. It is more similar to a cart and does not have a seat. In 2004, a replica of da Vinci’s car is finally crafted. It can be seen on display at the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Italy. -
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot builds the first self-propelled road vehicle in France
1770 – This vehicle is a tractor for the French army. It was the first steam powered machine, called the Fardier. It has three wheels and moves at about 2 miles per hour. -
In Great Britain, inventor Richard Trevithick builds a steam powered road carriage.
1801 – It is considered to be the first tramway locomotive. It is designed for use on road, not railroad. -
Belgian engineer Jean-Joseph-Etienne Lenoir invents the “horseless carriage.
1863 – It uses an internal combustion engine and can move at about 3 miles per hour. This is the first commercially successful internal combustion engine. -
German Nikolaus August Otto improves on the internal combustion engine.
1867 – His engine is the first to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber. -
German Nikolaus August Otto creates the four-cycle internal combustion engine
This was the prototype for modern car engines. -
1885 – German engine designer Karl Benz builds the first true automobile powered by a gasoline engine.
It had three wheels and looked similar to a carriage. -
Henry Ford builds his first automobile in Michigan.
Henry Ford built his first automobile with friends while working as an engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit. -
Brothers Frank and Charles Edgar Duryea invent the first successful gas-powered car in the United States.
The Duryea brothers, J. Frank and Charles E. sitting in their car. -
The Duryea brothers start the first American car manufacturing company in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is called Motor Wagons.
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A steering wheel is designed to replace the steering tiller.
Steering wheel in an old Mercedes. -
Olds automobile factory starts production
The Olds automobile factory starts production in Detroit. Ransom E. Olds contracts with outside companies for parts, thus helping to originate mass production techniques. Olds produces 425 cars in its first year of operation, introducing the three-horsepower "curved-dash" Oldsmobile at $650. The car is a success; Olds is selling 5,000 ,cars a year by 1905 -
The Birth of the Model T
.Henry Ford begins making the Model T. First-year production is 10,660 cars. Cadillac is awarded the Dewar Trophy by Britain’s Royal Automobile Club for a demonstration of the precision and interchangeability of the parts. -
Birth of the Assembly Line
Under the Ford assembly line process, workers perform a single task rather than master whole portions of automobile assembly. The Highland Park, Michigan, plant produces 300,000 cars in 1914. Ford’s process allows it to drop the price of its Model T continually over the next 14 years, transforming cars from unaffordable luxuries into transportation for the masses -
First American car with four-wheel hydraulic brakes
The Duesenberg, made in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the first American car with four-wheel hydraulic brakes, replacing ones that relied on the pressure of the driver’s foot alone. Hydraulic brakes use a master cylinder in a hydraulic system to keep pressure evenly applied to each wheel of the car as the driver presses on the brake pedal. -
The car radio is introduced.
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First modern independent front suspension system
Mercedes-Benz introduces the first modern independent front suspension system, giving cars a smoother ride and better handling. By making each front wheel virtually independent of the other though attached to a single axle, independent front suspension minimizes the transfer of road shock from one wheel to the other. -
Jeep is Designed
The first four-wheel drive, all-purpose vehicle is designed for the U.S. Military. Karl Pabst designs the Jeep, workhorse of WWII. More than 360,000 are made for the Allied armed forces. Oldsmobile introduces the first mass-produced, fully automatic transmission. -
Interstate Highway Act
The Interstate Highway Act creates a network of highways which connects all parts of the United States. -
Air bags
Air bags become a new car safety option -
GPS
The car Global Positioning System, or GPS, is introduced. -
Electric Cars
Due to the rising cost of gasoline and impact of global climate change, zero-emission electric vehicles come back to auto showrooms. The first electric vehicles had been designed in the early 1800s.
picture Tesla Model 3
