Home > Facts > Transportation Facts > Car Facts

Car Facts

Car Facts
In the late 1800s the first automobile blueprints were perfected in Europe, but it was the American automobile industry that flourished in the first half of the 1900s. Karl Benz designed an automobile in 1886 with a four-stroke engine named the Benz Patent Motorwagon, which earned him the patent and modern automobile invention credit. By the 1920s General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford were the big three companies in the United States but after World War II Japan and Europe automobile manufacturers caught up. By 1980 Japan was the leading automobile manufacturer. Today there are more than 1 billion cars being used. This does not include all the cars that are sitting in junk yards or in driveways that are no longer being used.
Interesting Car Facts:
The German and French automobile designers that perfected the automobile in the late 1800s were Emile Levassor, Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, and Nicolaus Otto.
The Volkswagen Beetle was created because Adolf Hitler forced Ferdinand Porsche to create a 'people's car'.
Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, used to repair watches with homemade tools when he was young.
55% of the cars in the world in 1916 were Mode T Fords. This record has never been broken by another automobile manufacturer.
The Model T Ford was the first automobile to be publicly affordable.
The first steering wheels in cars were not wheels - they were levers similar to joysticks.
The very first speeding ticket was issued in 1904 in Dayton, Ohio for going 12 miles per hour.
Ford created a production line system that made it possible to decrease the number of employees and produce more automobiles. This became known as 'Fordism'.
The company Rolls-Royce Ltd. was established by Charles Rolls and Frederick Royce in 1906. It was both an airplane engine manufacturing company and an automobile manufacturing company.
In June, 2013 a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R Formula 1 race car sold for $30 million. This is the most expensive car ever sold at public auction. Prior to this the record was $16.4 million for a 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa prototype.
There are several automobile styles today including the sedan, the hatchback, SUV, mini-van, truck and station wagon.
Between 1986 and 2010 the number of vehicles in the world rose from 500,000,000 to more than one billion.
Internal combustion engines use gasoline or diesel but these types of fuel are contributing to climate change and serious air pollution. Many viable alternative power systems are being developed to curb this environmental damage.
Non-gas or diesel options for automobiles include hybrid cars, electric plug-in-to-charge cars, hydrogen-powered cars, propane, and even natural gas-powered cars.
Driver-free vehicles are being developed and it is estimated that they will be available for purchase by 2020. The benefits of driverless automobiles include a reduction in the number of vehicles on the road and an increase in safety for passengers and others.
It is estimated that approximately 165,000 new cars roll off the assembly line every day.
It would take 157 days to drive to the moon in a car if you were driving 60 miles per hour, non-stop. Of course we don't have cars that can drive to the moon - yet.


Related Links:
Facts
Transportation Facts
Animals Facts