History of the car: the first models

Inventions of the century: cars – teenagers and accelerators

We continue the story, started in the last issue of ZR, about how the car became what we know it is today.

In the first part of the review (ZR, 2017, No. 1), we recalled the events that preceded the epochal creations of Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, and the first important inventions that allowed cars to become truly viable. But, in fact, that’s where it all started…

Necessary, but not sufficient.

The motor-driven cart went faster already at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but it still wasn’t a car yet. “It turned out” that it was necessary to reliably transmit increased torque to the wheels, to brake, to turn, and, finally, to accommodate passengers with relative comfort.

Changing gears by flipping the belt from pulley to pulley is an inefficient solution, to say the least. Already at the end of the century before last there were rather primitive, but pinion gears, and the momentum was transmitted to the leading rear axle by a steel chain. The original location of the power unit closer to the drive wheels seemed quite logical: in this case the chain is shorter. But the truck was prohibitively high and unstable. The power and capacity of the engines were increasing, and the heavy units required a solid frame, which made the cars even higher. Progress retreated to a certain extent: the load-bearing, in modern terminology, bodies of horse-drawn carriages were abandoned.

The first car with an engine at the front and rear drive wheels was the French Panhard-Levassor, 1891.

In 1891, the French company Panhard-Levassor was the first to build a car with the classic, as it became known later, layout: the engine is located in front, in a high enclosed box, and the drive wheels are rear. To a certain extent, it was a return to the roots: a horse was harnessed to the front and a steam locomotive pulled more often than pushed.

Increased loads and speeds made the designers remember some inventions patented many years ago. For example, the steering trapeze, which did not appear immediately in cars, was known in “narrow circles” since the middle of the nineteenth century, but horse carriages and the very first self-propelled carriages at their speeds this rather complex device was simply not needed.

The first car with a cardan shaft drive, which at first the inventors of automobiles “forgot”, is the French Renault, 1899.

At the very end of the century, Louis Renault introduced a compact car with a driveshaft transmitting torque to the rear wheels. Almost a sensation! But the cardan gear was invented back in the 17th century. However, the chains, though noisy, stretching, but easier to manufacture, were used in cars, especially trucks, for a couple of decades.

In 1897, the Austrian Gräf und Stift with front-wheel drive appeared. Gräf? Only partly. Cunho’s steam wagon was also front-wheel drive – and where did it end? At the end of the nineteenth century, the complex Austrian design did not take root either. And what was the need for it?

It is at least naive to talk about the subtleties of drivability in relation to the cars of that time. About the brakes, too. At the very beginning of the last century, the British created the prototype of disc brakes, and even earlier, by the way, the hydraulic drive appeared. But even it did not inspire the constructors, and the more so the buyers. What for do they need such troubles with leaking joints? To stop the car straining to gain 20 km/h? Disc brakes were not in demand for almost half a century.

One more unclaimed invention of the century before last and “revelation” of the present – hybrids. In 1900, a young designer Ferdinand Porsche, little known to anyone, created for the little-known Viennese company Lohner a car with a gasoline engine and electric motors on the wheels – a direct hint at the current hybrids! But who needed it in 1900? (Moreover, even today the answer to this question is ambiguous.) At the beginning of the twentieth century engineers had to solve more prosaic and at the same time epoch-making tasks.

The Austrian miracle of the beginning of the last century created by Ferdinand Porsche – hybrid Lohner with front driving motor-wheels.

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Portrait resemblance.

The desire for competition is in our blood (at least in many of us). It was racing, born almost immediately after the appearance of the car, opened the eyes of designers. Already at the end of the XIX century, mechanical carriages accelerated to 30 km / h (I remember Emile Levasseur, who died, by the way, at the races, called it crazy speed – and, given the design of cars at the time, was right) and was getting faster. To keep the car stable at high speeds, it was necessary to make it lower and longer. The brakes and steering had to be worked on. But the first concern was the engine.

In 1894 the Daimler was equipped with a 2.5-horsepower twin-cylinder Phoenix engine. Almost every year Wilhelm Maybach created modifications of this unit: in 1896 a five-horsepower version was presented, and in 1899 a 23-horsepower four-cylinder for racing cars. For such engine a suitable chassis is required. Thus, in 1900, the stocky Mercedes made by Daimler was presented, which is rightly considered the first model of the new automobile era. The body is lower and longer than in the cars of that time, the engine and seats are as low as possible. Dozens of companies started to copy this scheme with this or that share of talent.

The new “posture”: a classic layout and a low, stocky silhouette. The 1901 Mercedes is rightly considered the prototype of the modern car.

Let’s try to draw a collective image of a good car of the first decade of the last century. Gasoline went to the carburetor, as a rule, by gravity – the tank was placed above the carburetor. There were designs which fed fuel by means of pressure of exhaust gases pumped into the gas tank, but they didn’t become widespread – it was difficult and expensive. And what for?

The engine was started with a knob. The process is unpleasant (probably do not remember?) and difficult. To facilitate starting, many very and not so cunning devices were invented. For example, a variety of cranking mechanisms that were “cocked” before the driver turned off the engine. The most sophisticated system was used on huge luxurious French Delaunay-Bellevilles (several Delaunay-Belleville cars were, incidentally, in the garage of the last Russian Emperor). The engine pumped air into a reservoir from which it could be supplied to the cylinders through intake valves. Thus, the car would start moving silently, and the engine would start on the move. But the true revolution happened in 1912, when Cadillacs were first fitted with an electric starter. A convenient, albeit expensive device gradually began to be introduced even on relatively inexpensive models.

Rolls-Royce two-cylinder engine, 1905. The gear drive (without chain and especially without belt) was used for many years.

Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost rear suspension, 1906. In addition to the long longitudinal leaf springs, an additional transverse leaf spring was installed to improve the smoothness of travel.

Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. Its six-cylinder engine with a capacity of 7 liters, with two candles per cylinder, produced about 50 horsepower and ran very smoothly.

The clutch was usually a leather upholstered cone in contact with an appropriately shaped reciprocating part. It was very difficult to operate such a device, but it was the only way to create the necessary pressure to transfer the increased torque, because one could not expect miracles from the leather (even the best).

There was a shaft between the engine and the gearbox, and the brake usually acted on it. Roughly the same band brakes (a band on the outside compressed a steel rim) were applied on the rear wheels. Four-wheel brakes were, of course, not difficult to invent, but at the speeds of the time it was considered an overkill for most cars.

Back to the powertrain. The gearbox in a near-modern form appeared at the turn of the century before last. But very soon, engineers stepped far ahead, proposing designs, at the time of little use. Several inventors independently of each other built a transmission for light vehicles that consisted of two discs standing perpendicular to each other. The master, to which the torque from the engine was transmitted, was pressed against the slave by a spring. The slave moved from the center of the master to its periphery, thus changing the transmission ratio. Sound familiar? Yes, it was later called the frontal variator. It was half a century before a truly workable continuously variable transmission was available, and another thirty years before mass application.

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The growth of speeds demanded, finally, to deal with the steering. But the running gear was not much different from the bogie-carriage one: rigid axles on springs and no shock absorbers. The first step to improve the suspension was made by the De Dion-Bouton company. Talented engineer Bouton (the first name in the company name belongs, as usual, to a rich entrepreneur, that’s why it is remembered better) created a suspension with so-called oscillating half-axles. The main gear crankcase was attached to the frame, the wheels were connected with a bent beam, and the half-axles had hinges. The designer significantly reduced the unsprung masses (though he hardly used this term). And he made the first step to an independent suspension, and the drive wheels. Although the De Dion suspension itself, strictly speaking, was not independent yet.

The next important step was made by the now almost forgotten French company Sizaire-Naudin. Its engineers lengthened steering knuckle pins of the front wheels and attached to them the ends of the transverse spring. The pins moved freely up and down, allowing the wheels to do the same. It was already a really independent suspension, though far from perfect. By the way, this progressive French car had no front brakes.

And finally, car races (in literal and figurative sense) were won by those who used pneumatic tires. They were much more reliable and durable than solid rubber tires (the latter were used for quite a long time on heavy trucks, for which pneumatic tires were weak), and more comfortable.

Now the car was to become the inspirer of another industrial revolution. The first one, as you know, happened in the nineteenth century with the growth of plants and factories. In the twentieth century, the automobile intervened in history.

The first car with independent front suspension was the Sizaire-Naudin, 1912. No one considered it a great invention at the time, engineers and buyers had enough other concerns.

Happy Birthday!

If you ignore the strictness of the calendar, then for the car, the twentieth century began, of course, in 1913, when Henry Ford’s plant near Detroit began conveyor assembly (so far only individual units and units) of the famous “Tin Lizzy” (Tin Lizzy) with the official name Ford T

The car, the production of which was mastered back in 1908 and since then thousands of pages have been written about it, was not the last word in technology even in the mid-1910s. It had a decent engine: 2.9 liters, 20 horsepower. But in everything else – nothing special: planetary two-speed gearbox (by the way, planetary gears are used in cars to this day, for example in many hybrids), brakes – on rear wheels and transmission shaft, primitive suspension on weak springs without shock absorbers. And steering is peculiar, to put it mildly, according to today’s conceptions. Gas handle is under a steering wheel, not spring-loaded: as far as it was moved, it went (a prototype of later “constant gas”). Under the second hand – a handle of the same shape, which controls the ignition advance (automatic ignition advance system for this system has not yet been invented). The right pedal acted on the brakes of the rear wheels. Pressing and holding the middle pedal activated reverse. The left pedal commanded the gearbox: the pedal pressed – first gear was on, released – second (higher), and in the middle it was necessary to catch “neutral”. It was controlled by the lever, located on the left side of the driver, which at the same time was responsible for the transmission brake.

But we won’t reproach the engineers for mockery over the drivers. In fact, for the vast majority of buyers, the Ford T was the first car – and they just didn’t know any other control. And most importantly: the workers who assembled these cars on the assembly line could buy them. That is, Ford, in fact, created not only mass production, which allowed for standardization of parts, and thus improved quality due to the abandonment of hand-fitting, but also those who needed it all – the so-called middle class, the foundation of the consumer society.

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Within two decades, the Ford T sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. It became the first worldwide, international car: the Ford T was sold all over the world, and it was assembled not only in the USA, but also in England and later in Germany.

The American Ford T was not a technical revelation, but it ushered in a new automotive, industrial and cultural era.

The standardization of parts, which eliminated possible errors and, therefore, increased the reliability of the product, was not invented by Ford. A few years earlier, Henry Leland, founder of Cadillac and former gunsmith (it was in this industry that precision took root earlier than in others), had dared a rather daring show. Several cars brought to England were disassembled and then, after mixing the parts, reassembled – and the cars were functional! Ford, on the other hand, with its assembly line, simply took the idea to its logical conclusion.

In general, by the beginning of World War I, the car became not only an efficient means of transportation, but also available even to not very rich buyers. It became the driving force of the most different branches of industry, the subject of application of talents of engineers and creators, who are still revered today and long forgotten. Finally, it became a technical cultural phenomenon.

We will talk about the final maturation of this teenage accelerator in the next chapter.

The very first cars in the history of the biggest brands

On October 17, 1902, the first Cadillac car was produced in Detroit. The car had a top speed of about 48 kilometers per hour and cost 750 dollars. It was possible to get two additional passenger seats and a folding soft top for an extra fee. We decided to remember all the first models of the most famous brands.

In everyone’s life, the first, uncertain step is always the most important one. It is the same with cars. There would not be space i8 without the first unsophisticated licensed BMW; Enzo Ferrari would not have dared to build the speedster 125S and neither F40, nor LaFerrari would have happened; and we would probably still be walking without the first FIAT. We propose to recollect the first cars in the history of the largest brands of modernity.

As you know, the name of the famous Milanese brand is half an acronym. Originally, A.L.F.A. was Anonimo Lombardo Fabbrica Automobili, that is something like JSC “Autoworks of Lombardy”. The second half of the name came from entrepreneur Nicola Romeo, who bought A.L.F.A. in 1915.

The first A.L.F.A. car – the 24 h.p. model. – The first car of the brand A.L.F.A. was equipped with in-line “four” with a capacity of 2.4 liters and 24 horsepower. Later the same car was equipped with a four-liter engine, and the speed of such “Alfa” was approaching 100 kilometers per hour. Not so sour for the beginning of XX century.

Unlike Rolls-Royce, only a part of the name of this British brand is a surname of the founder. And the second part. In 1913, a successful London car dealer Lionel Martin won the Aston Clinton Hill Climb. He came up with the name Aston Martin for the future models of the company that existed then only in the project, having crossed the name of the race with his own surname.

The first car of the brand was Isotta Fraschini chassis with a 1.4-liter motor Coventry Simplex. Lionel very creatively named his car Coal Scuttle, that is “coal bucket”. But then the war broke out, so laughter, racing, and with it the production of cars had to be postponed for four years.

When August Horch had a fight with the board of directors of his own company Horch (they considered motor racing a waste of effort and time, while August was sure that motorsport is synonymous with progress), he slammed the door and organized a new company. In Latin, the word Audi means roughly the same thing as in German Horch, the verb “to listen.”

The first production car of the new company was the Audi Type A with a 2.6-liter 22-horsepower engine. Technically the car in many respects repeated Horch 18/22, but nobody made a scandal out of it.

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The first British car whose name indicated the volume of the engine rather than its power was the Bentley 3-liter, created by Walter Bentley and his friend Frank Burgess, a former racing driver and designer of the Humber company.

At first Bentley Motors, based in London, offered customers only chassis without a body. At a price of over £1,000, the three-litre Bentley was known as one of the most expensive on the market. The model was offered in three versions: Blue Label – standard, Red Label – forced version with compression ratio increased to 5.3:1, and Green label – shortened chassis and the most powerful engine, which guaranteed maximum speed of 160 km/h.

After World War I, the famous aircraft engine manufacturer was forced to look for new uses for its production facilities. At one time BMW even produced kitchen furniture, then switched to motorcycles, and in 1928 it bought the company Dixi, which was engaged in assembly of licensed Austin Seven. So the first BMW car is a legal copy of an English small car.

The complicated index of the original BMW – 3/15 DA1 – is deciphered simply. The first figure is the power, which is taxable, and the second one is the real number of “horses”. The letters DA are an abbreviation of German Deutsche Ausführung, something like “Made in Germany”.

Ettore Bugatti built his first vehicle – quad bike with four (!) motors – in 1899. But the first machine decorated with the famous oval Bugatti emblem was Type 13.

Assembly of the model was set up in the workshops of a former dye house in German (at least at that time) Mollsheim, which became the home for the company of the Italian engineer. Only four examples of very light – only 300 kilograms – 30 hp model were produced before the First World War. The real fame patiently waited for Ettore and his creations only some years later.

The first Cadillac passenger car was very similar to the first Ford passenger car. In general, there is more in common between these companies than it is possible to guess. In fact, Cadillac cars began to be produced at the plant… Henry Ford Company. For the time being, the very same Henry Ford was in charge here, until he was expelled by investors. Henry Leland was appointed the new technical director of the company, and the company was renamed into Cadillac Automobile Company. The first car of the future premium brand was built on the basis of the designs left by Ford.

Misunderstandings. That’s what happened in the relationship between brand founders William Durand and Louis Chevrolet. The first – a shrewd businessman, a desperate businessman and a determined strategist – invited the second, a famous racer and designer, to build an inexpensive and popular car. But Chevrolet, obsessed with speed rather than dollars, made an expensive and powerful Classic Six with a six-cylinder engine and a price tag like Cadillac. When Durand insisted on producing cheaper cars, Chevrolet, insulted by the very fact that his name was being used on some chippy, slammed the door.

In the early 1920s, Walter Chrysler, former president of Buick and also a successful crisis manager of Willis and Maxwell, found an empty niche in the market – he wanted to make a powerful and prestigious enough car that would be produced in large quantities. That, in turn, made the price attractive. Thus, the Chrysler B70 was born – beautiful and inexpensive, with a 3.3-liter “six” of 68 horsepower and hydraulic all-wheel brakes. Already in the first year, Chrysler managed to sell more than 30 thousand “seventies”, and a new star rose in the Detroit sky.

The end of the First World War deprived the large French manufacturer Andre Citroen, who had made his fortune on military orders, of his main earnings. Then he decided to produce automobiles instead of shells. Simple, reliable and cheap. The Citroen Typ A 10CV, created by the engineers Jules Salomon and Edmond Moyet, was equipped with an 18-horsepower 1.3 liter engine and had a top speed of 65 kilometers per hour. The car cost no more than seven thousand francs – about three times less than the usual price tags of that time. Not surprisingly, Citroën collected more than 16 thousand orders in two months and soon earned the glory of the French Henry Ford.

Enzo Ferrari loved racing and racing cars more than anything else. And it is unlikely that he would ever dare to produce ordinary cars, but… need forced him to. The costs of running the Scuderia had to be paid, and Enzo decided to make cars for sale. In any case they had to be sports, thoroughbred cars!

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The first car that could be called a 100 percent Ferrari was the 125S two-seat speedster designed by Gioacchino Colombo. The 12-cylinder 1.5-liter engine produced 118 horsepower, which, at a weight of 650 kilograms, allowed it to accelerate to 170 kilometers per hour. Within the first six months, the new Ferrari had six wins in 14 starts, and a stream of wealthy customers streamed into Maranello.

“Factory of Italian automobiles from Turin,” or simply FIAT, was founded on July 11, 1899, and closer to the end of the year saw the first car of the brand. FIAT 3.5 h.p. with a two-cylinder 600-cubic-meter engine produced four horsepower, was equipped with a three-speed gearbox, which had no reverse gear, and offered with a standard carriage body made by Marcello Alessio from Turin. The top speed of the first Fiat was 35 kilometers per hour.

Ernst Pfennig, a dentist from Chicago, made history by becoming the first buyer of a Ford. On July 15, 1903, the prosperous dentist purchased a Ford A Ranebaute with the additional option of a folding top. The purchase cost Mr. Pfennig $850. The difference was in the engine: The Ford had a two-cylinder unit, while the Cadillac had a single-cylinder unit. That’s probably why the Ford was a hundred bucks more expensive.

The first four-wheeled Honda is considered this cute little truck, although in spirit this pickup-sympathetic was more reminiscent of a sports bike. What will you say, for example, about a tachometer marked up to 14 000 rpm?

In reality, the 356-cubic-inch four-cylinder twin-shaft motor revved a little less, but only a little. The Honda T360 made a maximum of 30 horsepower at 9,000 rpm and accelerated to 62 kilometers per hour. Another rarity was the five-speed transmission.

Hyundai, one of South Korea’s largest industrial conglomerates, became interested in cars in the late 1960s. The first time it was limited to licensed production of British models, but then the Koreans wanted more. Giorgetto Giugiaro developed the design, and British engineer George Turnbull from Mitsubishi components – motor, gearbox, rear axle, suspension – assembled the first Hyundai, which received the humble name “Pony”. Despite unpretentious appearance and simple characteristics, the car has become popular at once. In many respects due to its very accessible price.

The first car of this Japanese premium brand was a slightly adapted version of Nissan President, the body of JHG50. Under a cowl of V8, 280 powers, “automat”, leather, all affairs… But, unlike competing Lexus LS, which at once took a frisky start, buyers reacted more quietly to a prestigious sedan Infiniti. Much more quietly.

Sir William Lyons’ foresight can only be envied. In the early thirties, the founder of Sidecar Swallow, also known as SS, patented the word Jaguar as a trademark just in case. At first, “Jaguars” was the name of Sidecar Swallow’s range of models: sedans, coupes and roadsters. But after the war, when the abbreviation SS had unpleasant associations, Sidecar Swallow became a Jaguar.

Americans themselves prefer to chronicle the “Jeep” since 1941. From the moment when the multipurpose military off-road Willys MA went into production – in the world it is better known under the nickname “Jeep”. However, this word was first used as the official name of the cross-country vehicle in 1945. The military version intended for sale in private hands received the name Willys CJ-2, and the letters CJ mean Civilian Jeep. Otherwise, the differences from the wartime hero were minimal: the same 2.2-liter engine, three-speed gearbox, and familiar body contours. The new trucks received a radiator grille and more cheerful khaki color scheme.

Probably you will ask: “Couldn’t you find a better photo?” And we’ll answer: “All complaints should be addressed to the KIA Museum”. That’s where it’s from. It is difficult to say why the licensed Korean Fiat 124 is presented at the exposition of the historical depository in such a shabby look, but the fact remains the fact – the first Kia car was the very familiar Zhigul. Ugh, a FIAT 124. So? You can’t take words out of my mouth.

Having argued with Enzo Ferrari about quality of sports cars, Ferruccio Lamborghini decided to prove that he was worth something. And he did. Hiring a whole bunch of famous engineers and designers who cost a fortune to make, Ferruccio got a good result at the first attempt. The Lamborghini 350GT was beautiful, powerful and not too capricious. Its 12-cylinder 280 hp engine allowed the car to accelerate to a respectable 250 kilometers per hour.