This is a chronological index for the start year for motor vehicle brands (up to 1969). For manufacturers that went on to produce many models, it represents the start date of the whole brand; for the others, it usually represents the date of appearance of the main (perhaps only) model that was produced.
This also gives an idea of what motor vehicles were appearing on the streets in each country around each date (allowing, too, for imports from other countries). Moreover, by showing which models were contemporary, it gives a first indication of how individual designers were being influenced by each other, and a flavor of the entrepreneurial spirit and dynamics of the pioneering days of motor vehicle manufacture.[1][2]
Within each year, and country of origin, the lists are structured according to the type of vehicle first introduced. These include the following types: steam, electric, hybrid electric, internal-combustion, touring car, roadster, tonneau, phaeton, cyclecar, light car, voiturette, runabout, high wheeler, buggy, tricar, motor quadricycle, motor tricycle, motorcycle, coach, bus, fire-engine, truck, tractor, racing car, avant-train.
Veteran era
Amédée père designed the Mancelle, which is regarded as the first automobile to be put into series production - 1878
1860
Thomas Rickett's steam-powered car was particularly notable in the history of motor vehicle production inasmuch as several examples were made, and it was also advertised.
The Bollée family played a significant part in the history of motor vehicle manufacture; the father with his steam car, and one of his sons, in 1895, with an internal-combustion engine design.
Karl Benz's vehicle was the first true automobile, entirely designed as such, rather than simply being a motorized stage coach or horse carriage. This is why he was granted his patent, and is regarded as its inventor. His wife and sons became the first true motorists, in 1889, when they took the car out for the specific task of paying a family visit.
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).[3]
France. Steam: Peugeot (later internal-combustion, and the first to be entered in an organised race, albeit for bicycles, Paris–Brest–Paris)
In the UK, the Locomotives on Highways Act 1896 replaced the hugely restrictive Locomotive Acts of 1861, 1865 and 1878 (the so-called Red Flag acts) thereby finally freeing up the automotive industry in the UK (and, incidentally, was also the origin of the celebrations of the first London to Brighton Veteran Car Run). Knight had been convicted under the old act, the previous year, for not having a man precede his vehicle with a red flag, and Walter Arnold was the first person to be convicted, in January 1896, for exceeding the speed limit. Meanwhile, Serpollet was issued with what was effectively the first driving licence.
Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than 700 cc (43 cu in). Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are often covered by separate regulations to normal cars, having relaxed requirements for registration and licensing.
Morgan Motor Company Limited is a British motor car manufacturer owned by Italian investment group Investindustrial. It was founded in 1910 by Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan. Morgan is based in Malvern Link, an area of Malvern, and employs approximately 220 people. Morgan produce 850 cars per year, all assembled by hand. The waiting list for a car is approximately six months, but it has sometimes been as long as ten years.
The Brass Era is an American term for the early period of automotive manufacturing, named for the prominent brass fittings used during this time for such features as lights and radiators. It is generally considered to encompass 1896 through 1915, a time when cars were often referred to as horseless carriages.
There are many types of car body styles. They vary depending on intended use, market position, location, and the era they were made.
Quadricycle refers to vehicles with four wheels.
The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was an American manufacturer of steam cars that operated from 1902 to 1924, going defunct after it failed to adapt to competition from rapidly improving Internal combustion engine vehicles. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers although several different models were produced.
A cyclecar was a type of small, lightweight and inexpensive motorized car manufactured in Europe and the United States between 1910 and the early 1920s. The purpose of cyclecars was to fill a gap in the market between the motorcycle and the car. A key characteristic was that it could accommodate only two passengers sitting in tandem.
De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer, which operated from 1883 to 1953. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton, and Bouton's brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux.
Singer Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturing business, originally a bicycle manufacturer founded as Singer & Co by George Singer, in 1874 in Coventry, England. Singer & Co's bicycle manufacture continued. From 1901 George Singer's Singer Motor Co made cars and commercial vehicles.
A three-wheeler is a vehicle with three wheels. Some are motorized tricycles, which may be legally classed as motorcycles, while others are tricycles without a motor, some of which are human-powered vehicles and animal-powered vehicles.
A runabout is a car body style popular in the 1910s, based on the horse-drawn runabout carriage.
Waltham Manufacturing Company (WMC) was a manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, motorized tricycles and quadricycles, buckboards, and automobiles in Waltham, Massachusetts. It sold products under the brand names Orient, Waltham, and Waltham-Orient. The company was founded in 1893, moving to self-propelled vehicles after 1898.
Development of the automobile started in 1672 with the invention of the first steam-powered vehicle, which led to the creation of the first steam-powered automobile capable of human transportation, built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769. Inventors began to branch out at the start of the 19th century, creating the de Rivaz engine, one of the first internal combustion engines, and an early electric motor. Samuel Brown later tested the first industrially applied internal combustion engine in 1826. Only two of these were made.
This timeline of motorized bicycle history is a summary of the major events in the development and use of motorized bicycles and tricycles, which are defined as pedal cycles with motor assistance but which can be powered by pedals alone.
A high wheeler is a car which uses large diameter wheels that are similar to those used by horse-drawn vehicles. These cars were produced until about 1915, predominantly in the United States.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to automobiles:
The Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) is located in Hood River, Oregon, United States, adjacent to the Ken Jernstedt Memorial Airport. WAAAM is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization committed to the preservation of, and education about aviation, automobile, and other historic transportation-related relics.
Electric motorsport is a category of motor sport that consists of the racing of electric powered vehicles for competition, either in all-electric series, or in open-series against vehicles with different powertrains. Very early in the history of automobiles, electric cars held several performance records over internal combustion engine cars, such as land speed records, but fell behind in performance during the first decade of the 20th century.
References
↑ David Burgess Wise (2000). The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles, BookSales Inc, 560pp, ISBN978-0-7858-1106-0.
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