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Week 8 [03.12-09.12.18] 132 years of history and evolution of the automobile



132 YEARS OF HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF THE AUTOMOBILE




     In 1769 Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first steam-powered automobile capable of human transportation. It could carry loads of up to four tons, at the speed of two and a half miles per hour. Cugnot ran out of money to improve his invention. The French government was interested in continuing the idea, but the French Revolution put an end to that.


source: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:1769_Cugnot.jpg

     Wait, wait, but 2018 - 1769 = 249. So why 132 years in the head of a presentation. Because it was just an intro and today we will be talking about modern automobile evolution.




     And the year, which is regarded as the year of birth of the modern automobile - 1886.
     In that year Carl Benz submitted the patent for his motor car at the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin and began the first production of automobiles in 1888. It was the first car to go into production with an internal combustion engine.

1888 -  Flocken Elektrowagen,  first real electric car of the world.

Then in January 1901 shaking up the market, Ferdinand Porsche invents the Lohne-Porsche Mixte Hybrid - the first hybrid engine(four hub-mounted electric motors, driven by battery and petrol engine). Over 300 Lohner-Porsche vehicles were sold through 1906.

     The real revolution in the car industry happened in October 1908 - Henry Ford produced the Model T. It was the first car that brings the motor car to the masses. The start price was 850$, but in 1915 it was only 300$. Just to give you understanding how much is it: the average salary of a factory worker was 5$ per day.
     Ford T was produced in the number of over 15 million copies.
Let's go faster through the main historical events and will see how cars look nowadays.

  • January 1938 - the invention of the VW BEETLE

  • January 1951 - the first car with fuel injection hits the market (Goliath GP700)

  1. October 1970 - the first time a car hits 1000km/h ('Blue Flame')
  • January 2008 - Europe introduces first law to limit car CO2
  • February 2008 - Tesla Roadster - the first production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells.
source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster_(2008)
  • 2018 - Lamborghini Aventador SVJ



Modern cars are looking like spaceships comparing to the first cars in history. And it’s not a surprise, because the time is running and an evolution is running too in all industries. Today's cars have dozens of modules using the AI to control each function and give you more safety in the road. Autopilots, laser headlights, remote control and many other things that will not surprise the modern user. We are going straight forward to flying cars and even this isn't new for today.





  1. If you would have the possibility to drive an old car what car would you choose?
  2. You have 20.000$ to buy a car. What car will you buy? With electric engine or ‘standard’?
  3. How do you imagine the evolution of cars in the next 30 years?


Comments

>You have 20.000$ to buy a car. What car will you buy?

Save more until I have enough for Bugatti Chiron. Seriously, I am all into cars that look like a spaceship. With design as much futuristic as possible. That is why amongst the old cars my choose would be a McLaren F1. Just because. I know that such cars are highly impractical, they consume waay to much fuel, and they are destructive for environment. I still would like one.
I would choose one of the Ford Mustang I special version. I've always wanted to drive one of them. 20.000$ is not much, especially when it comes to buying cars with an electric engine. At this price, it is impossible to buy a good looking electric car so I would buy a standard / hybrid car. In the next 30 years, there will be more and more cars that are powered only by electricity and have hardware which enables self-driving capability.
Unknown said…
It is very interesting post because I’m not good at cars. For my automotive branch is black magic but It’s very dynamic branch in which are so many money. I don’t know why people spend so much own money for cars. Cars should be for transport any heavy things while most people drive car instead public transport. As I wrote for me cars should be use to transport heavy things so I don’t buy car for 20 000 $ car I could spend this money in different way. I’m sure that in the future we can fly in the cars. I imagine the furute that way.
Unknown said…
If you would have the possibility to drive an old car what car would you choose?
I would definitely prefer to drive a modern car, but if I had to drive an old one.. I would like to drive one of the first Mercedes.
You have 20.000$ to buy a car. What car will you buy? With electric engine or ‘standard’?
I honestly don't know which car can I buy to fit in this budget, but it would be run by electric engine. My reasoning is very simple, first of all I think this is the future for cars and overall automotive section. The results (like Tesla) or just too impressive. Second of all, it is very eco-friendly and comfortable at the same time, these cars are really quiet. Lastly, there are much cheaper in use than standard oil ones, because simply electricity is cheaper than petrol (which is slowly running out by the way).
How do you imagine the evolution of cars in the next 30 years?
I can imagine fully autonomous cars, which can drive themselves without human interaction for thousands of kilometers, no matter whether it is a highway or city downtown.
Unknown said…
It seems to me that old cars are inconvenient to drive. After all the amenities that are now available in modern cars. For fun, I would ride a VolkswagenBeetle (buggy version) or a MiniCouper. Aston Martin DB5 - James Bond car or other old luxury cars to see what was considered prestigious before.
I am afraid that there are no electric cars in the range of $ 20,000, but I would like myself an electric car. if I had that kind of money, I would buy a Japanese car, just because I am confident in their reliability, for little money.
Oh, I do not imagine evolution, because everything is developing so rapidly that it is difficult to imagine what will happen in 30 years. I can assume that the machines will look more like in since fiction films. Also, I can assume that electric cars will replace gasoline and diesel cars in near future.
Good choice! Bugatti already announced Bugatti Divo, so Chiron isn't the most futuristic any more :)
Unknown said…
I would like to drive Fiat 124 Sport Spider. It was produced from 1966 to 1982.Spider is old-style cabrio, which had two doors and two seats. It has many different engines, I’d prefer to drive car with the most powerful one – 2 liters. This engine for Spider was produced from 1984 to 1985.
The cheapest Tesla (Tesla Model 3) cost about 35,000$, so I’d prefer buy a one with petrol engine. It could be Volkswagen Golf 6 GTI.
I think that in future is no place to petrol engine in cars, will be more electric cars than regular. I believe that in future electric cars will be available to everyone.
Unknown said…

I would like to drive one of the first generations of Porsche 911 as it is a sports car icon one of the most cult cars in automobile history.
20 000 $ is not that much money when it comes to your dream car, however there are some cool cars you can get for that money. I am a petrolhead, so I am not a huge fan of electric cars and in the budget mentioned I would try to find Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution or Subaru Impreza STI in a decent condition.
Future of cars is inevitably connected with two aspects combined: alternative fuels (like electricity or hydrogen) and autonomous driving. Electric cars market share is constantly growing nowadays and autonomous driving systems are almost ready to be widely-used.
I would love to ride a car from the thirties of xx century. Generally, I am completely uninterested in cars, but I am truly astonished by the design of the cars from that time. In my opinion the are more like moveable pieces of art than just means of transport. If I were rich I would be Duesenberg Torpedo Phaeton or 1930 Mercedes-Benz 710 SSK.
For 20 000$ I would buy some modern electric car with autopilot like Tesla.
In my opinion, in next 30 years cars will become more and more autonomic. In case of design it is really hard to say.
Unknown said…
If I had the opportunity to drive an old car and the money for him would be a 290 MN Ferrari from 1956
with this amount I would buy only a car with a naturally aspirated engine, and I would buy a Mustang used with a 5L engine.
I think cars for 30 years will be flying in the direction of flying, I hope! Already these latest cars have everything in them so I do not know what else they will do: D
Iman Masjedi said…
If I have the opportunity to drive an old car , Ford RS200 1984-1986 would be my first choice.
If I had $ 20,000 and want to buy an electric car, I'd prefer Nissan Leaf as electric car. I have a lot of interest in electric cars, but unfortunately their battery capacity limits are one of the reasons why I banned me from buying this model from cars.
In my opinion, the evolution of machines in the future will be a combination of airplanes and cars, because single-purpose vehicles will not be able to respond to future human problems.
Unknown said…
If I had the opportunity to ride an old classic car, I would definitely choose a car that drived Józef Piłsudzki. This car and its history shows how much it is worth and lots of people would like to drive it.
I am sure that if I had such a sum of money for a car, I would not choose an electric one. I would choose a car that has quite a lot of power and is from 2014 and higher. For this price you can really make an awsome choice.
In 30 years, most of the cars that will be produced will be electric cars, which I do not like. In my opinion, the car should be heard and feel its strength under the gas pedal. The smell of exhaust in the car also has its charm.
Unknown said…
I think I would choose Lamborghini Diablo because it's my favourite car brand and I've always had a sentiment for such a car. If I had such cash, it would surely be a car with a standard engine. I think it would be the Toyota gt86, it's such a big go-kart :D I think that in the coming years, cars with electric motors will be more developed.
Unknown said…
I'd choose Dodge Viper. No particular reason, I just like it.

I now the better way of how to spend 20000$, so just give me the money:) Seriously, with all these overcrowded roads, fuel prices I don't see a car as a useful asset.

I seriously hope that there will be more non-liquid-fuel cars. I also hope that city roads and international highways will become more safer and more comfortable.
I want to try the first serial car. I think it can be interesting experience comparing to modern cars to see how much has made during all of this time that has passed. And also I want to try Tesla Roadster 2 to feel the difference.

I don't want to by a car at this time because I thing that an now time we have good transport infrastructure to move inside the city without own cars. But if this choice will happen I prefer electric car even with current charging stations development.

I think that in next 30 years we will get fully autonomous cars and maybe even this will be car sharing because in this case our car car be used by other people while we don't need it but in this case it must get autopilot level 5.
Unknown said…
If we talk about an old car I would choose something from the American market. It would probably be an American Dodge Charger.

20 000$ is not enough money to buy good electric car. In this case I would buy small car to the city probably Mercedes A-class.

In my opinion in in next 30 years we will drive an electric cars only ( because other cars will be banned ). I think that we will not driving this cars. We will use special and refined autopilots and other driver’s assistants.
Piotr Ciesla said…
Well if I could I would love to try Lancia 037 Stradale, it was the last rwd that have won group B world rally championship.
Unfortunately Tesla is much more expensive so I think I would choose some petrol car. I think VW scirocco would fit in budget.
In next 30 years I think most of the cars will be autonomous. Humans will be banned from some roads and hopefully most cars will be electric.
If you would have the possibility to drive an old car what car would you choose?
Probably one of the early "original" Shelby GT500 models, i just love that car.

Im in that age that with 20k USD to spend on car i would probably look for an used Ford Mustang. They offer nice price to performance ratio and they are classic, although there is a bit of bad "notion" of Mustang drivers i think i could manage to bear that burden.

Nex 30 y huh?, i think we will go through full generation of electric cars and combustion engine cars will become "vintage", the AI will also play major role in how we use our cars,
If I would have to choose one, I would choose VW Beetle. I have never had an opportunity to drive this car and I really love it’s style. Also I love VW generally, so it would be awesome.
It’s hard to choose which car I would like to buy. I prefer VW, so I guess it will it.
Personally, I prefer ‘standard’ engines, I love their sounds and how they work. But I think that electric car will become so popular in few years that we would not have any other option then but electric car. And it will be good option too if we only could resolve the problem with long recharge time. If it will be possible to change ‘battery’ in our cars and this will take few minutes it will become more viable to buy electric car.
As I mentioned before, I believe that we could get more power from electric engines with less energy usage. Also I think that we would be able to charge our car in few minutes, exactly the same time we stand on petrol stations nowadays.
If I would need to answer my questions, I will probably answer in the same way as you did.
Yeah, for 20.000$ you can’t buy a good looking electric car, but you can buy an excellent looking BMW(F30) or Audi(A4)
Of course, 20.000$ isn’t a big budget for car nowadays. But a lot of people don’t want to spend even such amount for a car because for them it’s enough to have a car in 10.000$ range to drive from place A to place B. But anyway even for 20.000$ you can buy a really good car.
The cheapest Tesla starts at 35.000$, so, unfortunately, you can't buy even used one for 20.000$. That's why I chose this price range to see the preferences of people: good looking BMW/Audi/... vs low segment of electric cars mostly looking not so good.
Really good choices! Thank you for your opinion!
The first person, who knows about existing some other electric cars than Tesla. Yeah, the battery capacity limits of low segment electric cars not the best one, but for a lot of people it's enough. Thank you for your comment!
Marcin Górski said…
Hmm, If I would hate to choose, I would choose Model T produced by Tom Ford. It can be similar to actual Mercedes G class (https://otomotopl-imagestmp.akamaized.net/images_otomotopl/885187277_6_1080x720_g65-amg-wyprzedaz-oferta-specjalna-.jpg). Model T looks like good car for mature men (black color without any additional spoilers).
I think that 20.000$ is not a lot of money for electric cars so I have to choose one with 'standard' engine. I think that it's not enough for new car so I would choose used BMW 5. It's the best option for people who have family and like fast cars.
In my opinion electric cars are our future. I think that in 300 years petrol engines will be destroyed. It's known that this type of engine is very unhealthy for our life.
Unknown said…
I would choose polish Fiat 125p. This car is rooted so much in our culture that i will not forgive myself if I won't drive this car at least once in my life. Also my grandfather have one of this car many years ago, but sadly not any more.
If I would have 20.000$ for new car to buy I would choose electric engine for sure. It have so many advantages that I can't see any benefits of buying standard engine car.
I think that in the next 30 years cars will be fully autonomous.
Filip Sawicki said…
1. Aston Martin DB5. It’s a marvelous car, I love it and man the sound of its engine is so sexy!
2. If I had that money to spend on any car, then here is my list of requirements: Petrol engine, clutch-less manual transmission, connection to smartphone, back/front camera, heated seats, comfortable inside, 5 doors, easy and cheap to buy spare parts, reliable. Right now I’d probably choose new Opel Astra.
3. I think that electric cars will be in the mainstream and most of petrol engine cars will be heavily regulated/banned and generally not economical.
Unknown said…
I would probably choose Ford T.
I would buy a car with a standard engine. 20,000 is not much so I hope it would be enough for Mazda 3.
Probably there will be more cars with electric engines. Moreover, I think there will more self-driving cars and I hope far fewer accidents.
Great article, thanks! If I had the opportunity to choose a retro car, then it would definitely be a Volkswagen. I just adore the retro Volkswagen Beetle, I think this is the cutest car ever created. In second place Volkswagen T1 of the first generation, everyone basically saw these cars painted with colored patterns of rastamen. I would also paint my minibus as a Rastaman and go on trips, and maybe even live in this car.
If I had the money and the choice, I would prefer to buy an electric car. in the last couple of years, there have been quite a lot of them on the car market, for every taste and wallet.
I really hope that in the next 30 years cars will evolve and they will be able to fly.
Illia Lukisha said…
If you would have the possibility to drive an old car what car would you choose?

I really like old Volkswagen Camper. That one that was really popular between hippies. But I also really like streamlined cars from 50-60's.

You have 20.000$ to buy a car. What car will you buy? With electric engine or ‘standard’?

I definitely will stick to electric cars. But unfortunately Tesla Model 3 starts from $35000 but actual cost is near $60000. So I will wait until I will earn enough.

How do you imagine the evolution of cars in the next 30 years?

I think that our cities must become more comfortable for people and more walkable and we should get rid of personal cars in city centers. We should give priority to pedestrians and people with bikes/scooters. Also public transportation must become autonomous. But in suburbs and between towns I think most vehicles will become autonomous.

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