Portal:Cars

The Cars Portal

An electric car charging station at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This station is run by Petrobras and uses solar energy.

A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people (rather than goods).

Cars were invented in 1886, when German inventor Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Cars became widely available during the 20th century. One of the first cars affordable by the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced horse-drawn carriages. In Europe and other parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War II. The car is considered an essential part of the developed economy.

Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort, and a variety of lights. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, making them progressively more complex. These include rear-reversing cameras, air conditioning, navigation systems, and in-car entertainment. Most cars in use in the early 2020s are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fuelled by the combustion of fossil fuels. Electric cars, which were invented early in the history of the car, became commercially available in the 2000s and are predicted to cost less to buy than gasoline cars before 2025. The transition from fossil fuels to electric cars features prominently in most climate change mitigation scenarios, such as Project Drawdown's 100 actionable solutions for climate change. (Full article...)

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"Cog" is a British television and cinema advertisement launched by Honda in 2003 to promote the seventh-generation Accord line of cars. It follows the convention of a Rube Goldberg machine, utilizing a chain of colliding parts taken from a disassembled Accord. Wieden+Kennedy developed a £6 million marketing campaign around "Cog" and its partner pieces, "Sense" and "Everyday", broadcast later in the year. The piece itself was produced on a budget of £1 million by Partizan Midi-Minuit. Antoine Bardou-Jacquet directed the seven-month production, contracting The Mill to handle post-production. The 120-second final cut of "Cog" was broadcast on British television on 6 April 2003, during a commercial break in ITV's coverage of the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix.

The campaign was very successful both critically and financially. Honda's UK domain saw more web traffic in the 24 hours after "Cog"'s television début than all but one UK automotive brand received during that entire month. The branded content attached to "Cog" through interactive television was accessed by more than 250,000 people, and 10,000 people followed up with a request for a brochure for the Honda Accord or a DVD copy of the advertisement. The media reaction to the advertisement was equally effusive; The Independents Peter York described it as creating "the water-cooler ad conversation of the year", while Quentin Letts of The Daily Telegraph believed it was "certain to become an advertising legend". ('Full article...)

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The Huning Highlands Conoco Service Station is a historic gas station in the Huning Highlands neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was built in 1937 by the Continental Oil Company (Conoco) and is notable as a well-preserved example of the automobile-oriented development that shaped the city during the mid-20th century. The building was listed on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties and the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

The service station is built in the form of a cottage, a popular design at the time, with a steeply pitched compound gable roof and a chimney. The walls are white glazed brick with green trim. The building has a side-gabled office section on the west side adjoining two front-gabled garage bays with wooden roll-up doors. The easternmost garage bay was an addition built onto the original station around 1939. The property also includes concrete gas pump islands, a c. 1960s light pole and a steel sign post, though the pumps, tanks, and signage have been removed. The station was operated by Conoco until 1961, then by Horn Oil Company until around 1983. In 1992, the vacant station was leased by the Albuquerque Conservation Association (TACA), which uses the building as headquarters for its preservation workshops and other activities. (Full article...)

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Porsche 911 GT3 Touring

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Ferdinand Karl Piëch (German pronunciation: [ˈfɛʁdinant ˈpiːɛç] (listen); 17 April 1937 – 25 August 2019) was an Austrian business magnate, engineer and executive who was the chairman of the executive board (Vorstandsvorsitzender) of Volkswagen Group in 1993–2002 and the chairman of the supervisory board (Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender) of Volkswagen Group in 2002–2015.

A grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, Piëch started his career at Porsche, before leaving for Audi after an agreement that no member of the Porsche or Piëch families should be involved in the day-to-day operations of the Porsche company. Piëch eventually became the head of Audi, where he is credited with evolving and growing Audi into a competitor to equal Mercedes-Benz and BMW, thanks in part to innovative designs such as the Quattro and 100. In 1993, Piëch became the chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group, which he is credited with turning into the large conglomerate it is today; He oversaw the purchase of Lamborghini and Bentley, as well as

the founding of Bugatti Automobiles, all of which he integrated with the Volkswagen, Škoda, SEAT and Audi brands into a ladder-type structure similar to that used by Alfred Sloan at General Motors. Piëch was required to retire at age 65 per Volkswagen company policy, but he remained on its supervisory board and was involved in the company's strategic decisions until his resignation on 25 April 2015. (Full article...)

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On this day February 3

1951 — August Horch dies

1973 — American Motors (AMC) signs a licensing agreement with Curtiss-Wright, allowing the smallest U.S. automaker to build Wankel engines.

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Did you know...

...that the racing version of the Dauer 962 Le Mans, winner of 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans, is a roadcar converted from a Porsche 962 racecar, which dominated Le Mans, Group C and IMSA during the 1980s.
...that the 25 Millionth VW Golf rolled off the production line in Wolfsburg in March 2007. The first Golf started production in 1974, 33 years later the 1.4 litre TSI version became the 25 Millionth car.
...that the nearly identical Ford Model T engines were produced for exactly 12,000 days
...that the first production turbocharged cars were General Motors' A-body 1962 Chevrolet Corvair and Oldsmobile F-85?
...that Jeep introduced the 1993 Grand Cherokee and 2007 Wrangler in the same way — by driving them through a plate glass window?
...that a small number of Renault 20s, badged as Dacia 2000, were made in the 1980s by Dacia in Romania for Romanian communist dignitaries of that time?
...that the Autobianchi Primula was the Fiat's first automobile with the front-wheel drive, transverse engine setup and rack and pinion steering?
...that the Plymouth Sundance is a liftback, even though the outside appearance might suggest that it is a sedan?

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Selected quote of the day

People can have the Model T in any color -- so long as it's black.

—Henry Ford

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General images

The following are images from various car-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 2German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 3Gustave Trouvé's tricycle, the first ever electric automobile to be shown in public (from Car)
Image 4Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 5Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 6The second Marcus car of 1875 at the Technical Museum in Vienna (from History of the automobile)
Image 7Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 8Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France (from Car)
Image 9The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 101974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 111929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 12Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 13Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 141959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 15A Stanley Steamer racecar in 1903. In 1906, a similar Stanley Rocket set the world land speed record at 205.5 km/h (127.7 mph) at Daytona Beach Road Course (from History of the automobile)
Image 16Steam Machine Of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 17Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 181946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda one of the first mass-produced cars with pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 19Armand Peugeot (from Car)
Image 20The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 211927 Ford Model T (from Car)
Image 221929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 23Émile Levassor (from Car)
Image 24A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 25Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 261926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 27The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 28Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Company in 1903. (from Car)
Image 29Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 30The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, first built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 311958 Lancia Appia (from History of the automobile)
Image 32Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 33The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 34Gurgel Supermini (from History of the automobile)
Image 35Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 36The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 37Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 38A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 39The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 401954 Plymouth Savoy Station Wagon, one of the first US all-metal station wagons (from History of the automobile)
Image 411885-built Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first car to go into production with an internal combustion engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 42A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 43This exhaust gas is not the only car pollution
Image 441924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 45Low battery and motors can improve safety (from Car)
Image 46Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 47Mass production at a Toyota plant in the 1950s (from Car)
Image 48Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 49Kiichiro Toyoda, president of the Toyota Motor Corporation 1941–1950 (from Car)
Image 50A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 512011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 52In the Ford Model T the left-side hand lever sets the rear wheel parking brakes and puts the transmission in neutral. The lever to the right controls the throttle. The lever on the left of the steering column is for ignition timing. The left foot pedal changes the two forward gears while the centre pedal controls reverse. The right pedal is the brake. (from Car)