Auto Alphabet Since 1880s from Mac Gordon
 Argo |
EDITOR'S NOTE : Introducing a new Mac Gordon blog feature: from a “Roll Call” of cars and trucks since the 20th century's birth of the auto age-in which more than 3,000 separate makes have been produced. See Also: A Brief History of The First 100 Years of the Automobile Industry in the United States
By Mac Gordon
Michigan Bureau
The Auto Channel
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What's timely now is the paucity of Electric-titled cars, steam-named cars, Motor Buggys (to be sure!), and other variants from internal combustion engines. Here are others:
- Argo Cyclecars (1913)
- Duryea bicycle/carriage-engine cars (1856)
- A.B.C. Steamer (1901)
- Electric Vehicle/Wagon (1897)
- Elcar (1909-1931)
- Electra (1913)
- Electro Car (1922)
- Electrotruck(1921)
- Projected producers of the first electric vehicles were three-fold (Nickel-Silver Battery Co., Santa Ana, CA;
- Stinson Aircraft, San Diego, and Cleveland Electric Vehicle Co., 1900, an E-Vehicle pioneer.
Non-electric/internal combustion cars made their global debut-Curtiss- Wright's rotary (later seen in 1960 cars post-World War II and also on an NSU Werke pilot engine, plus Mazda rotary cars and SUVs.
Post-WWII “supercars”-came from former GM VP John DeLorean and free-lance Preston Tucker, not to mention John DeLorean's eponymous sports car.
The Tucker Torpedo and DeLorean carried dynamic features seen later in the 1950s on Chevrolet's Corvette and Ford's Mustang.
The small-car segment was invaded by Willys's Crosby in 1946 and George Romney's American Motors cars from Hudson, Nash, Packard and Studebaker. They took on the Big 3 with the economical Rambler subcompact.
In 1952, newborn Kaiser-Frazer paired its fullsize luxury sedans with subcompacts sold by Sears and called Allstate-The department store was the first to try selling cars.
Automotive History Firsts
Internal combustion cars endured the 19th and 20th centuries without a lasting electric-car challenge, (except for Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf.)
Internal combustion engines, and the first cars to carry these-from 1989 at Daimler-Benz, still boast the distinction of being the only brand named after a woman-”Mercedes Daimler”-a daughter of Germany's M-B car distributor, Gottlieb Daimler, and his partner Karl Benz!
Perhaps it's time for a Hillary-or a reborn Victoria!