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Starting in the late 1700's, European engineers began tinkering with motor powered vehicles. Steam, combustion, and electrical motors had all been attempted by the mid 1800's. By the 1900's, it was uncertain which type of engine would power the automobile. At first, the electric car was the most popular, but at the time a battery did not exist that would allow a car to move with much speed or over a long distance. Even though some of the earlier speed records were set by electric cars, they did not stay in production past the first decade of the 20th century. The steam-driven automobile lasted into 1920's. However, the price on steam powered engines, either to build or maintain was incomparable to the gas powered engines. Not only was the price a problem, but the risk of a boiler explosion also kept the steam engine from becoming popular. The combustion engine continually beat out the competition, and the early American automobile pioneers like Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford built reliable combustion engines, rejecting the ideas of steam or electrical power from the start. The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Ransom Olds in 1902 at his Oldsmobile factory located in Lansing, Michigan and based upon the assembly line techniques pioneered by Marc Isambard Brunel at the Portsmouth Block Mills, England in 1802. The assembly line style of mass production and interchangeable parts had been pioneered in the U.S. by Thomas Blanchard in 1821, at the Springfield Armory in Springfield,Massachusetts.This concept was greatly expanded by Henry Ford, beginning in 1914. As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in fifteen minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, increasing productivity eightfold (requiring 12.5-man-hours before, 1-hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower. It was so successful, paint became a bottleneck. Only Japan black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1914, until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in 1926. This is the source of Ford's apocryphal remark, "any color as long as it's black". In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay. Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans often have heavily influenced automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, so buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved. Reflecting the rapid pace of change, makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1930s, LaSalles, sold by Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made by Oldsmobile; in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; by the 1990s, corporate powertrains and shared platforms (with interchangeable brakes, suspension, and other parts) were common. Even so, only major makers could afford high costs, and even companies with decades of production, such as Apperson, Cole, Dorris, Haynes, or Premier, could not manage: of some two hundred American car makers in existence in 1920, only 43 survived in 1930, and with the Great Depression, by 1940, only 17 of those were left. Before the automobile, people both lived in the city and worked in the city, or lived in the country and worked on a farm. Because of the automobile, the growth of suburbs has allowed people to live on the outskirts of the city and be able to work in the city by commuting. New jobs due to the impact of the automobile such as fast food, city/highway construction, state patrol/police, convenience stores, gas stations, auto repair shops, auto shops, etc. allow more employment for the world's growing population.
Tim Tuttle: Picking out best candidates to replace Randy Bernard as IndyCar CEO After a rough three years, Randy Bernard was fired as IndyCar CEO on Sunday by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway board of directors Sunday; Jeff Belskus was named interim CEO. In the wake of the firing, I surveyed a number of well-known motor racing executive insiders, who all requested anonymity, about who would be the best replacement for Bernard.
Georgia Company Files Loans on Auto Dealerships Duluth, Ga.-based JWE ACE LLC has filed loans for $9.5 million and $1.3 million, respectively, for the auto dealerships at 3060 N. Germantown Road in.
1940 Chevrolet Specifications for Passenger Cars & Trucks. Jun 8, 2010. Shows marvelous precision tools & machines in Chevrolet plants used in making that automobiles. Further shows ingenious design of. Subscribe to Hemmings Motor News Subscribe to Hemmings Classic Car. I purchased my Special Deluxe Town Sedan in Scottsdale, AZ. For Chevrolet's only -. engine numbers run 2697268 through 3665902. ( From page 78 of the Service News of 1939, provided by Barry. May 29, 2011. 350 Small Block Chevy check out the website for info and pictures of progress along the way of the full restoration. POPULAR SEARCHES 1938 Truck Top Q & A for "1940 Chevrolet Truck " How to ID a 1940s Chevrolet? Cars of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s are easily identifiable because of their large exteriors. What sets a 1940s
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