The History Of Cars In 5 Minutes

The first means of transportation appeared around 5,000 BCE. The Native Americans invented the travois- an A shaped frame made of wood dragged along by a horse. These were obviously missing wheels, which weren’t invented until around 3,500 BCE. The Greeks then created gears, and the Romans gave us roads as they linked up their empire with a massive network of cutting-edge roads.

Advances were few and far between until 1712. Thomas Newcomen built a machine that was eventually to become known as the steam engine, helped by James Watt. That same century, Frenchman Nicholas Joseph Cugnot used technology from the steam engine to create a three wheeled tractor used to pull heavy army cannons. This could be considered the very first car however it was extremely primitive and only reached 3mph.

In 1885, German engineer Karl Benz built a simple gasoline engine and attached it to a three wheeled carriage- thus creating the world’s first practical gas-powered car. These cars soon became reliable, fast, exciting, and expensive. Henry Ford created the Model T in 1908 with the aim of the vehicle being far more accessible and affordable than those in the past. Around 15 million Model Ts were sold.

German auto-maker Dr Ferdinand Porsche was asked by German dictator Adolf Hitler to create a people’s car. Later renamed the Beetle, over 20 million cars were sold. By the mid 20th century, multiple countries were focusing on large road building schemes. Hitler helped to develop Germany’s Autobahns in the 1930s, however Britain did not start building motorways until the 1950s.

These advances were all developed over thousands of years, collating multiple people’s ideas and inventions, to shape the car as we know it today! You can check out other guides including the ultimate guide to saloons, or you can view our range of new and used cars, and contact us.