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By 1860, the gasoline engine had been invented in Europe and in 1885, Karl Benz had introduced the
first gasoline powered automobile. His car ran on 3 wheels and looked like a very big tricycle that had no pedals and could
hold two people. In America, the first gasoline-powered auto to grace the rough horse and buggy roads was in 1891. The man
to build this car was John W. Lambert.
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 becoming the norm. In 1919, 90% of cars sold were open; by 1929,
90% were closed 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.
Information about the Tony Huber Classic Car image: French made 1903 Tony Huber Classic Car. Two
cylinder petrol engine producing eight horse power.
A vintage car is commonly defined as a car built between the start of 1919 and the end of 1930. There
is little debate about the start date of the vintage period—the end of World War I is a nicely defined marker there—but
the end date is a matter of a little more debate. The British definition is strict about 1930 being the cut-off, while some
American sources prefer 1925 since it is the pre-classic car period as defined by the Classic Car Club of America. Others
see the classic period as overlapping the vintage period, especially since the vintage designation covers all vehicles produced
in the period while the official classic definition does not, only including high-end vehicles of the period. Some consider
the start of World War II to be the end date of the vintage period.
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 significance. Nearly all modern passenger cars are front wheel drive unibody designs with transversely-mounted engines,
but this design was considered radical as late as the 1960s.
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.
The Coupe deVille (sometimes spelled Coupe Deville or Coupe DeVille) was a
model of Cadillac from 1949 through 1993. The name has become famous through pop culture, with references in pop songs, movies,
and other media.
Classic cars are a popular collectible that appeals
to car enthusiasts and antique dealers. There are many things that factor in to making a car a classic. The definition of
a true classic remains one of those things that many people constantly disagree on. You can ask a dozen different people what
they feel defines a car as classic and you will likely get that many different answers. An antique car is not the same as
a classic though so it's best to gather as much information as you can when determining what makes a classic a classic.
The term "classic" is a very broad term that differs among resources. Even dictionaries have different answers
for this definition. Of course, that can make it incredibly difficult to form your own opinion when all of the reliable sources
can't agree. We all know that a classic is something that has earned a certain level of status. Age often plays into this
as well.
According to the Classic Car Club of America, a classic automobile is one that was manufactured between
1925 and 1948. However, there are other groups and websites that refer to these cars as vintage so you may need to seek out
more than one opinion. Many insurance companies define a classic car as one that is at least twenty years old or older. The
insurance company's definition might be your best bet for getting a straight answer.
A classic car rarely has
anything to do with the make and model of the car. It is often based solely on age. Any car can be a classic if it is old
enough and maintained in a way that retains some of its original value. Age is the primary point when it comes to classic,
antique or vintage cars. If you are interested in buying a classic car, have the age and all other necessary information proven
with the appropriate legal documents.
There are some states that consider a car to be a classic if it is fifteen
years old. Many automotive enthusiasts do not agree with this definition citing that fifteen years is not enough to make a
car a classic. This is something that could be controversial when it comes to insuring a car of that age. This is another
reason why you should take the time to consult an expert in classic cars before purchasing or insuring one.
Because
of the sticky situation involved in defining a classic car, many enthusiasts believe they should be separated into two different
categories. A modern classic is not at all the same as a true classic. A car that is almost one hundred years old certainly
is not the same class of classic that a car twenty-five years old would be. There needs to be better clarification regarding
these details.
Seeking out an expert on classic cars is a good idea when it comes to investing in one. You need
to know exactly what you are getting. The advice that you can get from an expert is priceless and could save you plenty of
money and hassle in the long run.
Let us look in detail what an antique car is and about antique car history. According to the Antique
Automobile Club of America and several other organizations worldwide, an antique car can be defined as any car which is more
than 25 years of age. Sometimes it is seen that some classic cars are misrepresented as antique cars, but the real classic
cars are those certain specific high quality cars from the pre-World War II era. However antique cars are not profitable to
use for everyday transportation, these antiques cars are much popular for leisure driving. Antiques cars which had survived
for more than 25 years are considered great survivors. And that’s why owning, collecting and restoring such rare antique
cars are considered as a well-liked hobby by people all over the world.
Car number plates act as a vehicles unique identifier. Similar to DNA, there are no two number plates
the same and one specific registration can only be found on one specific vehicle. All the information regarding registration
numbers is held on a central database which, administered by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency commonly known as the
DVLA.
Over the years car number plates
have followed various formats to meet the increase in the amount of cars our roads. Car registrations were first made compulsory
in 1903 when the Motor Car Act was introduced. Back then the DVLA did not exist so it was the local council’s responsibility
to administer registration numbers. Problems arose however when vehicles were sold or the owners move to a different area
as it was necessary for the registration details to be transferred to another council. Over time this problem grew with the
massive rise in the volume of traffic on our roads. It was clear that the council system of car registrations could not cope.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre (DVLC) was
formed in 1965 and took over the responsibility of administering car number plates across the country. The head office was
based in Swansea and had 81 local offices supporting the administration of car registrations as well as other road and vehicle
related issues such as supplying information on vehicles to the Police. Gradually even Post Offices became involved in the
car registration system causing many local DVLA offices to close. The number of local offices had reduced to 53 by 1985 and
the DVLC changed its name to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). Currently there are 40 local offices across England,
Scotland and Wales.
Since the introduction
of the DVLC/DVLA, there have been 3 different registration number formats: suffix registration numbers, prefix registration
numbers and the current or new style registration numbers. Suffix number plates began being issued in 1963 and ran until 1983.
The format displayed three letters, up to three numbers and then an age identifier letter for example ABC 321A. Prefix car
registration numbers were released when the suffix series was exhausted and reversed the format by putting an age identifying
letter at the beginning of the registration plate. This was followed by up to three numbers and then three letters for example
A321 ABC). I, U, Z, Q and O registrations were never issued for either the suffix or prefix series. Our current style of DVLA
number plates were first issued in 2001. These registration numbers display the format of two letters, two numbers followed
by three letters. The numbers give an estimate of the age that the vehicle was first registered and the first two letters
related to the area where the vehicle was first registered. An example of a current style DVLA number plate is NE02 ABC.
Since the introduction of car number plates there
have literally been millions of combinations created so the chances of finding a private plate to suit you are high. Nevertheless,
popular names and initials sell incredibly fast and are therefore extremely scarce. Nowadays number plates are no long just
an identifier for our vehicles, rapidly becoming collector’s items and the ultimate car accessory.
By Ross O'Donnell
Published: 11/26/2006
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) keeps a list of plates
that it has not approved because of words formed by their sequence of numbers and letters, an MP has found.Reportedly included
on the list is 054MA, which could be seen to resemble the first name of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qa'eda chief. Other terrorism-related
banned plates are H057AGE (hostage), MA56ACA (massacre), HE580LA (Hezbollah) and even BU580MB (bus bomb). The DVLA is also
thought to prohibit combinations resembling jihad or Hamas. |
The electric vehicle was the preferred choice of many because it did not require the manual effort
to start, as with the hand crank on gasoline vehicles, and there was no wrestling with a gear shifter. While basic electric
cars cost under $1,000, most early electric vehicles were ornate, massive carriages designed for the upper class. They had
fancy interiors, with expensive materials, and averaged $3,000 by 1910. Electric vehicles enjoyed success into the 1920s with
production peaking in 1912.
By the 1930s most of the mechanical technology used in today's automobiles had been invented
although some things were later "re-invented", and credited to someone else. For example, front-wheel drive was
re-introduced by André Citroën with the launch of the Traction Avant in 1934, though it had 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.
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 UK 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.
From the public domain comes 12 vintage auto vector clipart cars from a prior age. They range from the first horseless
carriages to motorized coaches to turn of the century gangster and “Great Gatsby” age cars. Click image for full screen size
The first piston engines did not have compression, but ran on an air-fuel mixture sucked or blown
in during the first part of the intake stroke. The most significant distinction between modern internal combustion engines
and the early designs is the use of compression and, in particular, in-cylinder compression.
The Wankel engine is a type of internal combustion engine which uses a rotary design to convert pressure
into a rotating motion instead of using reciprocating pistons. Its four-stroke cycle is generally generated in a space between
the inside of an oval-like epitrochoid-shaped housing and a roughly triangular rotor. This design delivers smooth high-rpm
power from a compact, lightweight engine. Since its introduction the engine has been commonly referred to as the rotary engine,
though this name is also applied to several completely different designs.
The engine was invented by engineer Felix Wankel. He began its development in the early 1950s at
NSU Motorenwerke AG (NSU) before completing a working, running prototype in 1957. NSU then subsequently licenced the concept
to other companies across the globe, who added more efforts and improvements in the 1950s and 1960s.
Because of their compact, lightweight design, Wankel rotary engines
have been installed in a variety of vehicles and devices such as automobiles including racing cars, along with aircraft, go-karts,
personal water craft, chain saws, and auxiliary power units. The most extensive automotive use of the Wankel engine has been
by the Japanese company Mazda.
The Austin 7 was a vintage
car produced from 1922 through to 1939 in the United Kingdom by the Austin Motor Company. It was one of the most popular
cars ever produced there and wiped out most other British small cars and cycle cars of the early 1920s, its effect on the
British market was similar to that of the Model T Ford in the USA. It was also licensed and copied by companies all over
the world
Thomas Humber founded the Humber cycle company in Sheffield in 1868, but it was not until much later
that the company would become involved with the production of motor vehicles. The Humber company expanded through the 1870s
to the point where it was producing bicycles in Nottingham, Beeston and Wolverhampton. Factory number four was opened in Coventry
in 1889, by which time Humber was seriously looking at motorized transport. There was a brief flirtation with such oddities
as tricycles and quadricyles — one of which sported front wheel drive and rear wheel steering.
In 1899 the first Humber car, the 3 1/2 horsepower Phaeton, was
built at Beeston, but the first Coatalen designed car, the Voiturette, did not appear until 1901. This was followed by the
1903 Humberette, which sported a tubular frame and 5hp single-cylinder engine. Larger cars came in the shape of the 1902 four-cylinder
12hp, which was soon followed up in 1903 by a three-cylinder 9hp and a four-cylinder 20hp model. By this time, Humber car
production was concentrated at a new factory in Folly Lane, Coventry, which - coincidentally - was situated close to Hillman.
After 1905, the smaller engined models were dropped,
allowing Humber to concentrate on the production of its staple 10/12hp model and the larger 16/20hp. In 1907, this range was
supplemented by the arrival of the Humber 15hp.
A man in the UK has recorded the fastest ever speeding offence
in the nation’s history with a 172mph (277km/h) run in a Porsche 911 Turbo. Timothy Brady,
33, was travelling on the A420 roadway near Oxfordshire at more than 100mph (161km/h) over the 70mph (113km/h) posted speed
limit. The previous record for a speeding offence in the UK was held by a Jason McAllister who was clocked doing 156.7mph
(252km/h) in an M3.
Brady was eventually
stopped by local police after they set up a roadblock, reports the Daily Mail. For the offence, the speed-freak had his license
immediately suspended
Motorists are almost universally required to take lessons with an approved instructor and pass a
driving test before being granted a license. The trend has been towards increasingly tougher tests in recent decades. Almost
all countries allow all adults with good vision to apply to take a driving test and, if successful, to drive on public roads.
Saudi Arabia, however, bans women from driving vehicles (whether pedal or motor powered) on public roads. Saudi women have
periodically staged driving protests against these restrictions.
In many countries, even after passing one's driving test, new motorists may be initially subject
to special restrictions. For example, in Australia, novice drivers are required to carry "P" ("provisional")
plates, and are subject to lower speed limits, alcohol limits, and other restrictions for their first two years of driving.
This varies between states.
Most countries
have also implemented laws in relation to driving whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The limits up to which drivers
are permitted to drive vary according to the jurisdiction in which the offence occurs
As with all collectible antiques, current value has everything to do with
current supply vs. demand, and very little else; certainly little to do with the car's price when new or any objective
standard. Thus, rare cars that are highly desired are highly expensive, while vehicles that are not fashionable to collect
can be very cheap. Condition, of course, influences value. At the present time, the variation in purchase price between a
poor condition and good condition vehicle is generally much less than the cost of restoring a poor condition car; thus it
is cheaper in the long run to buy the better vehicle.
Thrust SSC (SuperSonic Car) is a British-designed
and built jet-propelled car developed by Richard Noble, Glynne Bowsher, Ron Ayers and Jeremy Bliss.
ThrustSSC.
ThrustSSC
holds the World Land Speed Record, set on October 15, 1997, when it achieved a speed of 1,228 km/h (763 mph) and became
the first land vehicle to officially break the sound barrier (not considering the earlier, unsubstantiated claim of the
Budweiser Rocket).
The car was driven
by Royal Air Force fighter pilot Squadron Leader Andy Green in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, United States. It was powered
by two afterburning Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engines, as used in British F-4 Phantom II jet fighters. It is 16.5 m (54
ft) long, 3.7 m (12 ft) wide and weighs 10.5 tons (10.7 t). The twin engines developed a thrust of 223 kN (50,000 lbf) and
burned around 4 Imperial gallons per second (18.2 l/s or 4.8 US gallons/s). Transformed into the usual terms for car mileages
based on its maximum speed, the fuel consumption was about 5,500 l/100 km or 0.04 mpg U.S.
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