| 1897 Firsts in America 1964 |
| By Herbert Lozier The French Cugnot  gun tractor, steam-driven, is believed to have been the first self-propelled vehicle to operate on a public road.An Austrian, Sigfried Marcus, is credited with the first gasoline-driven automobile–as early as 1868. The first notably successful cars, however, were those designed by two Germans unknown to each other, Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler. The time: 1885-1886. Here in America. J. Frank and Charles E. Duryea, brothers, pioneered automobile design, and in 1893 turned out the first factory-made machines. Henry Ford built his first car in 1896. Here are 90 famous U.S. automotive first in the 68 years since then: |
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| 1897 First of famous Stanley Steamers built, in Newton, Mass. |
| 1898 First U. S. car using Lightweight metals produced by Elwood G. Haynes. ♦ First four-cylinder, air-cooled, valve-in-head engine designed by John Wilkinson. |
| 1900 Steering wheel in place of a tiller introduced by Packard. |
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| 1901 Curved-dash Oldsmobile became first mass-produced car. ♦ Peerless produced first car with a “live” rear axle, and a shaft, instead of a chain, drive. |
| 1902 Porcelain spark plug designed by Louis S. Clark. ♦ Locomobile was first car to put its engine in front. |
| 1904 Air brakes, with an auxiliary engine powering an air compressor, tried by Fisher cars. ♦ Sturtevant made use of a sort of automotive transmission, centered on a centrifugal clutch. ♦ “Quick demountable rim” came into general use. ♦ Tire chains were introduced. |
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| 1906 Storage batteries pioneered by Buick. ♦ Fred Marriott became first driver to go more than two miles a minute, averaging 127.66 m.p.h at Ormond-Daytona Beach |
| 1907 First production V-8 engines introduced by Hewitt. |
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| 1908 First Ford model T built. ♦ First successful four-wheel drive built by Zachow and Besserdich. ♦ Charles V. Knight invented sleeve-valve engine, to appear later in Stearns, Columbia, and Stoddard-Dayton. |
| 1912 First commercially successful electric starter appeared on Cadillac. ♦ Oakland and Hupmobile offered all steel bodies. ♦ First Boyce Motor Meter, a radiator thermometer popular through 1920s, was sold. |
| 1913 Wraparound windshield introduced by kissel Kar. ♦ Pierce-Arrow adopted headlights enclosed in the fenders. |
| 1915 First twin-six, a Packard, which was also first car with aluminum pistons. ♦ Headlights with prism lenses appeared. |
| 1920 First car with a straight-eight engine and four-wheel hydraulic brakes, the Duesenberg, produced. |
| 1921 Essex coach became first low-priced closed car. ♦ Wills-St. Claire appeared with an automatic backup lamp. |
| 1922 Balloon tires and air cleaners introduced. |
| 1924 First high-compression engine appeared, in a Chrysler. |
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| 1926 “Shockproof” windshield glass offered by Stutz and Rickenbacker. ♦ Packard brought out hypoid gears, permitting lower propeller shafts ♦ Chandler offered one-shot lube system. |
| 1928 First synchromesh transmission and “safety glass all around ” introduced by Cadillac. |
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| 1929 First notably successful front-wheel drive produced by Cord |
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| 1930 First production car with a V-16 engine and a vacuum-assist brake system produced aby Cadillac. ♦ Studebaker introduced “free-wheeling,” allowing driver to shift gears without clutch. ♦ Cadillac, Chrysler, Dodge, LaSalle, Marmon, and Roosevelt were first cars wired for radios. |
| 1931 “Floating power,” first nonrigid engine mounts, pioneered by Plymouth. |
| 1932 Ford’s first V-8, a flathead, appeared. ♦ Pierce-Arrow introduced hydraulic valve lifters. ♦ Olds and Packard introduced automatic chokes. |
| 1933 No-draft ventilation introduced by GM. ♦ Other first of year included valve inserts and independent front suspension. |
| 1934 First Streamlined body, the Airflow, introduced by Chrysler. ♦ Reo had first completely automatic transmission. |
| 1937 Steering-column gearshift introduced by several manufacturers. ♦ Studebaker introduced windshield washers. |
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| 1939 First later-day attempt at a small, economy car resulted in the Crosley. ♦ Sealed-beam headlights were generally adopted. ♦ Olds pioneered first of the notably successful automatic drives, the Hydra-Matic ♦ Packard pioneered air conditioning. |
| 1940 Industry incorporated running boards into body shell. |
| 1946 Radio telephones in cars came into use. ♦ Power-operated windows were introduced. ♦ Studebaker pioneered self-adjusting brakes. |
| 1948 Tubeless tires introduced by Goodrich ♦ Buick unveiled Dynaflow, first torque-converter type of automatic drive. |
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| 1949 “Hardtop,” a sedan without center pillars, introduced by Buick, Old, and Cadillac. ♦ Chrysler introduced ignition-key starting. |
| 1950 First one-piece curved wind-shields appeared on several cars. ♦ Chrysler introduced first all-steel station wagon. |
| 1951 Power steering introduced by Chrysler and Buick. |
| 1952 Industry’s first included automatically dimmed headlights, suspended brake and clutch pedals, ball-joint front suspension, 12-volt electrical systems. |
| 1954 First, experimental, gas-turbine engine fitted on a Plymouth |
| 1955 Safety door latches introduced. |
| 1956 Four-lamp headlights announced. ♦ Torsion-bar suspension appeared on Chrysler Corp. cars. ♦ Other firsts: six-way power seats, electric door locks, warning buzzer for excess speed, nonslip differential. |
| 1957 Paper air cleaners appeared. |
| 1960 Miniature vans appeared. |
| 1961 Brake systems with separate reservoirs for front and rear wheels introduced. ♦ Seat belts began coming into general use. |
| 1962 Amber turn signals introduced by industry. ♦ Transistorized ignitions and transistor AM-FM radios became available. ♦ Chrysler guaranteed its power trains for 50,000 miles, first of the long-term warranties. |
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| 1963-64 Retractable seat belts appeared ♦ First all-automatic interior “climate control” appeared on the Cadillac. |
