The Crittenden Automotive Library

The Forgotten Forerunners Of Modern Motoring

The Forgotten Forerunners Of Modern Motoring

Lucy Wyndham
27 March 2018

When Henry Ford developed the Model T and took the car industry from a niche luxury market into the mainstream, you have to wonder if he could have predicted what it would become. The automotive industry has taken a bit of a dive in recent years and car sales in the US dropped to 6.3 million units in 2017 (down from 7.9 million in 2014), but it still remains an economic powerhouse with even the collectors market now being judged as being worth billions to the US economy. Before the mass market began there were still cars. Not all of them are recognizable as such today, but all of them played their part in developing the models we know today.

Hammelvognen - The First Dane To The Market

In 1886 the 2 cylinder Hammelvognen was launched. It had the innovative additions of brakes and reverse which begs the question of what people did before them. The Hammelvognen had only 3 horsepower and managed to clip along at about the speed of a brisk walk - 6mph. The poor driver had fun at the time though as despite horse-drawn carriages having suspension this early car didn’t.

Daimler-Maybach Stahlradwagen - Famous Names But An Unfamiliar Shape

In 1889 the Stahlradwagen arrived on the market. Its name shows typical German practicality as it literally means car with steel wheels. The team behind the car had tried out their gasoline engine in adapted horse carriages before building their own car from scratch. The vehicle had a V-twin engine but visually it is very different from anything we would recognize as a car.

Duryea - A Pioneer That Changed Everything

Cars existed in the United States before the Duryea but this little 4 stroke model was the first to be powered by gasoline. It hit the streets in 1893 and featured an early version of water cooling but was powered by a single cylinder.

Benz Patent-Motorwagen - The First True Automobile

In 1885 the famous Karl Benz produced this amazing machine and with it he invented the modern car as we know it. Self-propelled vehicles existed in a range of forms but the Motorwagen was the first to be driven by an internal combustion engine. The engine came first (over 10 years before the car was launched) but Benz waited until he had the perfect frame to put it in before launching.

The De Dion-Bouton Quadricycle - The Engine So Tough That Everyone Used It

After an early success this company produced engines for their cars that were so tough that other car manufacturers simply used them rather than develop their own. The 1891 Quadricycle was very different from the weird and wacky designs that dominated many other early cars. Out went the idea of mimicking an open horse-drawn carriage and instead we had a hood, running boards and a cabin for the passengers. This early version of the modern car also had a cracking turn of speed and could reach 31mph.

The Grenville Steam Carriage - The Oldest Steam Car Still In Working Order

The Grenville was the people-carrier of its day and could carry seven people (but only four of these were passengers as, being steam, it still needed a fireman, steersman and driver). Grenville himself knew a thing or two about steam having worked on the legendary Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway. The Grenville Steam Carriage is still around and can still be driven… if you dare.

Cugnot Fardier à Vapeur - A Failure That Inspired Others

The Steam Dray was the first self-propelled vehicle. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built his dray in 1770 for the French Army. The idea was to produce a vehicle that could travel at a brisk walking pace carrying a huge 4 tons. He failed to reach this speed nor to carry anything like that mass but the idea worked in principle and it wasn’t long before many others came along and started a revolution that continues today.

The Oldest Cars And What They Mean

The study of history is vital to understand the world we live in now. The history of the automotive industry is no different. Each of the earliest vehicles built gives us a piece of the puzzle that builds to produce the modern car. Innovators such as Tesla go back to basics and follow up false starts such as the electric car and see if these dead-ends remain so with modern technologies. As we see the modern car market falling maybe it is time for others to look back on the earliest motor vehicles and see if anything else is worth revisiting?