Karl Benz's first car (above, Mercedes-Benz photo)
Ford Model T production (below, Ford photo)
As important as it is to get the economy turned around, and I believe a big part of that is getting the automotive industry back on its feet, we need to make sure we get our history straight. Sorry Mr. President, but America did not invent the automobile. You (or your speech writer) made a very common mistake. We may have simplified it, perfected it and made it affordable to the common man, but we didn’t come up with the idea.
Credit for the first motorized conveyance goes to a Frenchman, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot. In 1769 Cugnot built a steam-powered tractor that was designed to pull military equipment. Unfortunately, Cugnot is also credited with the first vehicle crash when the barely controllable machine smashed into a building.
Next came Scotsman Robert Anderson with a crude electric vehicle sometime in the 1830’s.
But a German, Karl Benz in 1885, invented the first gasoline-powered automobile. Yes, the same Benz that is part of today’s Mercedes-Benz.
The first Americans credited with a horseless carriage are the brothers Charles and Frank Duryea in 1893, setting up a business to manufacture and sell their machines shortly thereafter. Henry Ford didn’t get going until 1896 with his first “Quadricycle”. (No, his first car was not the Model T.)
But it was Ford’s Model T that in 1908 finally brought the promise of easy mobility in an affordable package. By the mid 1920’s Ford’s consistent improvements in mass production had brought the price down to $290.
At the same time worker’s pay was increasing and Ford workers were buying Ford products. Henry Ford was content with the Model T and probably would have built it forever if it wasn’t for cross-town rival, General Motors messing up his plans by building a low-cost car with a little added style. Suddenly, reliable and inexpensive was not enough, consumers wanted their cars to look good, to say something about their place in life. And here we are today.
Comments
Well, maybe we didn't invent the automobile, but we did invent the tire gauge and how to use it to gain energy independence. (If only our greatest problem was knowing how to spell potato/potatoe).
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