Part 1: Automotive History through to the 20th Century

Invention of the Automobile

It is estimated that over 100,000 patents created the modern automobile with the first theoretical plans dating back to Leonardo da Vinci and Issac Newton. Despite early experiments with steam power, automotive history commenced for real in the 19th century with electric horseless carriages. Among the early automobile attempts include steam power, electricity, followed gasoline engines into the 20th century.


Steam Power

In 1769 French engineer Nicolas Cugnot and mechanic Michel Brezin built the first self-propelled road vehicle using steam power. The three-wheeler was used by the army to haul artillery. It had to pause every ten to fifteen minutes to build up steam pressure. In 1770 Cugnot built a steam powered three-wheeler that carried four passengers. Cugnot's vehicles faced many technical challenges. The vehicles required frequent stops for water; they took up to 45 minutes to brings the water to a boil. Steam locomotives by comparison heat up and run for many miles whereas steam automobiles needed to stop and start frequently which did not work well. The Cugnot was plagued by accidents including one in which Cugnot himself was injured. Cugnot's required heavy boilers, water supply, and driving mechanisms.. Steam power required an onboard fuel source. The internal combustion engine therefore presented a more viable solution so investment in Cugnot dried up.


Early Electrics and the original Hybrid

A small-scale electric car was designed by Professor Stratingh of Groningen, Holland. It was built by his assistant Christopher Becker in 1835. American Thomas Davenport and Scotsmen Robert Davidson built an improved electric automobile around 1842 using non-rechargeable cells. Frenchmen Gaston Plante invented an improved storage battery in 1865 which was improved by Camille Faure 1881. Great Britain and France were early adopters of electric automobiles. In 1895 electrics appeared in America in the form of a three wheeled vehicle built by A. L. Ryker. William Morrison built a six-passenger wagon in 1891. The first commercial electric taxis appeared in New York City in 1897 by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia. In 1902 the Wood's Phaeton was introduced. But most amazingly for automotive history the first electric hybrid was introduced in 1916 by Woods featuring both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. Basic electrics cost under $1,000 while most early vehicles were elaborately designed for the upper class costing on average $3,000. Production of electrics peaked in 1912.


Gasoline Powered Automobiles

Gottlieb Daimler built an internal combustion engine in 1885. In 1886 Karl Benz received the first patent for a gasoline fueled motor vehicle. In 1889 Daimler two cylinder engine followed by Wilhelm Maybach in 1990 with a four stroke engine. The size, speed, and efficiency of Daimler's engine set the standard for a revolution in car design going forward. In 1901 Wilhelm Maybach designed the Mercedes automobile. The first mass produced automobile in the United States was the 1901 Curved Dash Oldsmobile built by Ransome Eli Olds who began with steam powered vehicles and quickly moved on to the better selling gasoline powered vehicles.


Automobiles for the 20th Century

American automotive history in the 20th century has distinct periods. Prior to 1908 automobiles were hand-made horseless carriages primarily for the privileged few. The second phase began after 1908 when Henry Ford realized the potential of the mass market, and his Model 'T' achieved hegemony. Ford used the assembly line as did Olds, but Ford focused upon a low priced vehicles for the middle class. Ford paid his workers well enough that they could buy his cars. Economies of scale propelled Ford to the leadership role at that stage of automobile history.

Ford's slogan stating that "you can have any color so long as it's black" opened the door for the next phase of automotive history. Alfred Sloan, President and Chairman of General Motors, saw an opportunity to steal Ford's thunder. Sloan would be offering a whole range of subtly graduated vehicles situated in the marketplace so that there would be a model to appeal to farm boys at the low end and to corporate executives at the upper end. Sloan put together a company of five brands, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac.

In 1930, Sloan hired west coast custom coach builder Harley Earl to design a new Cadillac. He went on to make Earl a senior executive directing the future of General Motors design and marketing strategies. Sloan and Earl were highly successful in setting the direction for the industry for the next forth years. Earl pioneered in the way that automobiles were designed by pre-engineering. This approach meant that full scale clay models were sculpted using a "bridge" which was a method adopted from the boat building industry to accurately mirror the left and the right sides of the vehicle. Pre-engineering allowed artistic expression to be established in parallel with mechanical development. This resulted in designs with smooth and appealing contours that took the car buying public by storm. Cars of the Earl era are among the most coveted designs by car collectors today.

Earl pushed the industry with imagination. The competitors were forced to follow Earl's lead. Ford hired Gordon Beuhrig and Bob Gregorie, Chrysler hired Virgil Exner, Sr. while Studebaker hired Raymond Loewy to design their car lines. Earl pushed public awareness with the World's Fair Futurama and traveling Motorama exhibits. These programs showed the public Earl's grand vision for the future of transportation and modern appliance homes. Earl instituted the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild, a scholarship based model car design competition for boys ages 10 to 19. The Guild found an enthusiastic participation of boys who loved automotive design many of whom became the designers and executives of the automotive design studios in the decades that followed. Earl's reign ended in 1959 followed by protégé William Mitchell. Toward the end of Earl's tutelage, he became fascinated with aircraft design which was reflected vividly with the Firebird concept cars featuring huge fins and cockpit like canopies. The finned cars of '57, '58, and '59 mark the conclusion of Earl's efforts to continue annual and striking model design changes.

The post-Earl era was characterized by a change in corporate culture wherein the role of the Industrial Designer (Earl) was reduced as power shifted to the financial and marketing executives who employed much more analytical approaches to model design strategies. Imagination took a back seat to market research and consumer testing. Car designs became more sober, boxy with less individuality. The big story of the sixties was the Muscle Car, the smaller bodied vehicles with huge engines. John DeLorean, a GM executive who when out on a limb, scored huge success in the market place with signature cars such as the Pontiac GTO. Ford followed suit the Mustang while Chrysler introduced the Baracuda and later with huge hemi powered Plymouths and Dodges.

Muscle Cars came to an abrupt halt with acts of Congress mandating safety laws and Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards. The oil price spike in the 1970's. brought on smaller, lighter, more economical, and much more look-alike cars. The era of commoditization of automobile design was ushered in to the extent that the public now had a hard time to distinguish one maker's model from another's.

The oil spike of 2008, temporarily at least, presented a shock to American consciousness regarding the economics of vehicular transportation. The public came to realize that the whole western way of life could be extremely disrupted if oil prices did not remain at affordable levels. Was this a wake-up call on the future?