Automobiles are more than just cars    

Automobiles have come a long way and have a storied history that leads to today. Nowadays, there are automobiles ranging from sports cars, to huge RVs, to models of electric powered, self-driving cars, along with an infinite amount of styles. Technically, the first real automobile, in 1885, was invented by Karl Benz, but the history of automobiles has great depth, and goes even further back in time. Some early plans of automobiles, “date back to the 15th century when Leonardo da Vinci was creating designs and models for transport vehicles” (Library of Congress). Automobiles have a long and eventful history that went through many challenges. 

Back in 1769, the first self-propelled road vehicle was invented by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, for the French army. It was a three-wheeled steam vehicle that went 2.5 mph.

The next highlight in 1832-1839, was the electric carriage built in Scotland by Robert Anderson. 

Then, finally in 1885, the automobile invented by Karl Benz was probably considered the first real automobile because it was an “automobile powered by an internal combustion engine: three wheeled, four cycle, engine and chassis form a single unit.”

In the US, in 1893, the first successful gas powered car was invented by the Duryea brothers, Charles and Frank. 

Many people had a hard time rationalizing that a machine could do the work of an animal, so well-educated people put into fancy and flowery language their rationales for why animals were superior to machines. Did it work? Nope.

“You know horses are smarter than people. You never heard of a horse going broke betting on people.” ~Will Rogers.

Switching from horses to cars took about a decade and was not a smooth process. Although you eliminated the stench and heft of horse manure (shoveling it must have been fun), the noise added to cities was overpowering. Many people preferred horses because for one, they were extremely cheap, and a more effective user of energy, than automobiles at the time. Hay does not equal gas.

“Horses are self-feeding, self-controlling, self-maintaining and self-reproducing, but they are far more economical in the energy they are able to develop from a given weight of fuel material, than any other existing form of motor.” ~Robert Thurston.

In other words, horses are very much capable of making more copies of themselves without a factory, can maintain themselves (no one needs to help them chew, digest, nor defecate), and are more economically efficient in energy than any other automobile. But watch out for those road apples! But what am I saying – one must feed, bathe, curry and lodge these beasts! With a car, all you have to do is park it and shut her down!

Some of the reasons for why cars were more useful than horses are because the price of these machines had plummeted.

Cars like the Ford Model T sold for $850 in 1908, but then fell to $260 in 1916 ($6k now) and became more reliable. Sounds like a bargain to me. Additionally, trucks got more valuable; quickly developed for World War I, they could carry heavier loads farther, and much faster than horses. 

I could write on and on about the famous inventions, brands, how much Lambos cost, how the Porsche was invented, why the Ferrari’s logo is a horse, but what I want to do is blow your minds with exploring the strangest cars of all time.

“Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.” – E.B. White

Self-driving cars are expected to have a few benefits, one of them being the biggest cause of accidents. 94 percent of traffic accidents happen because of human error. Self-driving cars don’t get drunk, or drowsy, or even distracted by text messages, so by preventing humans from having full control over these speedy modes of transportation can reduce the amount of accidents that happen. 

As of right now, you may have seen commercials of many vehicles that are considered semi-autonomous, which means that they have warning signals, parking assistance, and brake systems. Some even have the ability to drive themselves, with supervision, such as the Tesla. They are capable of driving themselves, but require human supervision at all times. But when you are on the freeway, you can set the Tesla on autopilot, which means that it can change lanes, accelerate, brake, and notice other cars around you, so you can sit back, relax, and have a nice cold Hawaiian drink, while listening to Li’l Nas’s new album. 

Who needs to buy a car and a boat, when you can buy the amphicar?

The Amphicar (aka the boat car) was built in West Germany and was in production from 1961 to 1968. Back in the day when these were created, although they were creative, they weren’t actually a good car or boat. The amphicar was called the Model 770 because it was supposed to go 7 knots on water, and 70 mph. Through the years the amphicar has developed, and gotten better, and who knows, could be the future of cars and boats. “The engine only puts out 43 horsepower. But you can’t measure the car’s ability to amuse” (an advertisement from the time).

3878 amphicars were built in Germany from 1961-1968. From 1961-1967, 3046 boat cars were imported to America. Originally, there were only 4 colors for the amphicar: Beach Sand White, even though beach sand isn’t really white, Regatta Red (get it, because it’s a “boat car”), Lagoon Blue as if it were actually riding on lagoons (and as if lagoons weren’t blue already!). Fjord Green, not that they would be riding in a Norway? How does the amphicar move on water, and land you might ask? It is propelled by twin nylon propellers, and a special two-part land-water transmission that was built by Hermes, who are the makers of the Porsche transmission (no not the god!?). This allows the wheels and propellers to be operated independently, and simultaneously. The land transmission has a 4-speed reverse unit, while the water transmission has only a 2-speed unit, the front wheels acting as rudders for the boat. 

So if you ever need to steer away from some ferocious huge 40-ft wave, with a kraken tentacle sticking out of it ready to suck you into the depths of the ocean, you can do all that you can to steer away from that wave, why? Because of the genius invention of using the front wheels as rudders to save your life.

The last unique car that I will be talking about is the flying car. Although the flying car is an advanced technology, attempts of making this automobile have dated back all the way to the 18th century, when someone attempted a gliding horse cart (no, I’m not joking).  The first real attempt at this was in 1917, when Glenn Curtiss, who would later be called the father of the flying car, made an aluminum autoplane (so not exactly a car), with three wings that was 40 feet. The car’s motor was in the back. This car never actually flew, but managed a few hops. 

In 1946, Robert Fulton created the Airphibian. This in my opinion was a very cool and interesting invention. Instead of attempting to make a car fly, he attempted to make a plane suitable for a road. The wings and tail would be removed and the propeller would be stored inside the plane. It took 5 minutes for the plane to transform into a car. It was considered the first flying car by the Civil Aeronautics Administration. It could fly 120 mph, and drive 50 mph. The Airphibian did not last as long because of financial reasons. The Avocar, in 1958, was designed for the military, between the Canadian, and British army. It was like a flying-saucer thingys that you might see in movies, to deploy troops on the battlefield.

But guess what? The Avocar never took off – it was simply too awkward.

Lastly, the Aerocar, still developing today into an advanced automobile, was inspired by the Airphibian. It is the most successful flying car, and is designed to drive, fly, and then drive again without delay. It can go 120mph, being the last road worthy aircraft to receive FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) approval. 

You may have heard various statements along the lines of electric cars being good, or bad for the environment. There are many viable opinions out there, and I think it is a very interesting argument that has lasted for a long time, not having a clear, or direct answer. For electric cars to function, they need to be charged up, and they do that by taking electricity from the grid. The cars store that electricity in rechargeable batteries in the car that supposedly power the motor (which is responsible for turning the wheels), so the car can move. Electric cars accelerate faster than gas cars, which makes them feel light and swift.

Electric cars don’t release tailpipe emissions. Some electric cars have interior parts made from recyclable materials. The BMW has interior parts made from recyclable plastics, making it 95% recyclable. Also, the battery is recyclable, and if used right, can be used elsewhere with still 70-80% capacity left. Another common argument people say is that the batteries release toxic gasses into the air, but batteries running on fossil fuels are recycled in the US. One last thing that a lot of people have arguments that electric cars produce less pollution in the atmosphere, and have a lower production of CO2 emissions.

However, electric cars take longer to charge than just pumping the gas in, and can be more expensive to recharge. The charged battery can only last so long, compared to other gas emission vehicles that can travel much farther. Of course, some people argue that electric cars are not environmentally-healthier than gas cars because the electricity used to charge electric vehicles requires fossil fuels. Also, because the large batteries in the car are made of earth minerals: graphite, cobalt, nickel, etc, these minerals are beneath the earth which means that there had to be some polluting processes in digging for these underground. The need for these mining activities can expose toxic metals, which can create pollution. But the bottom line for eco-conscious consumers is that though electric cars are not at zero emissions, they don’t release co2 into the air while driving.

“The human relationship to combustion is as mysterious as it is fraught with madness. From the candle flame to the nuclear blast, it has lit up the human imagination with fear and fascination.” ~Michael Leunig

How a combustion engine works may seem complicated, but it’s actually pretty simple. A combustion engine is the most common engine for cars. Basically, a combustion engine works by drawing in air and fuel, compressing it, igniting it, and having it getting pushed down by pistons, generating force that ultimately moves the car. The first stroke, the Intake stroke, is the one that draws in air and fuel into the cylinders, as the piston moves down. The next stroke, the Compression Stroke, has air go into the engine, and the fuel is compressed when the cylinder moves upwards. The Combustion Stroke ignites the air and fuel mixture with a spark, creating pressure that moves the piston downward. Finally, there’s the Exhaust Stroke, where the whole gas mixture created by the spark is expelled from the cylinder as waste. Just because the engine has more cylinders, doesn’t necessarily mean it has more horsepower. The engine’s output varies on the number of cylinders, which I will get to next.

Inline engines are cylinders arranged in a straight line. Most four-cylinder cars have inline engines. The 6 cylinder inline engine is balanced, resulting in a less vibrating, smoother ride. BMW and Mercedes-Benz use this. Inline engines are also less expensive to build, adding on to its utility.

V engines are engines that have 2 rows of cylinders at a 90 degree angle. Their engines are shorter, taking up less room, and leaving more room for passengers. 

Boxer engines are supposedly shaped like two boxers, horizontal from each other, having a more bulky, weird shape. They are more difficult to fit, resulting in weird-shaped cars, but have better handling. The pistons do not go up and down, but rather side to side. Ever hear on the road a loud sound of a Porsche, or an old Subaru? That’s because those cars use a boxer engine, which is also why they are lower to the ground.

Diesel engines don’t require spark. They vary in number of cylinders. Since they don’t require spark, they need higher pressure for combustion. Because of this, they have an engine built like a tank. They last longer, and are more efficient, extracting more energy than gas engines.

There are obviously many, many more components to automobiles than I have covered in this essay. Some things such as what is an external combustion, or exactly how self-driving cars are made, or… who would win, a kraken tentacle, or a boatcar? But I think that there is so much to automobiles’ history, and their origin than most people consider. I mean, the boxer engine has to originate from somewhere, right?