2. The Automobile in America

The Automobile Pioneers

Evolving from earlier experiments with steam-powered vehicles, models using the gasoline-fueled internal-combustion engine were first developed by the German engineers Karl Benz (1885) and Gottlieb Daimler (1886). U.S. leadership in automobile production began with Henry Ford 's founding (1903) of the Ford Motor Co., its production (1908) of the inexpensive Model T, and its development of assembly-line techniques.

General Motors, Ford's principal competitor, became the world's largest automobile manufacturer in the 1920s, and U.S. dominance of the field continued until the 1970s, when it was challenged by growing sales of Japanese and German cars.

Today

Concern about pollution from gasoline combustion has led to the development of cars powered by electricity from rechargeable storage batteries and by the combustion of natural gas, but such vehicles have been limited in the distance they can travel and have only been used on a small scale, largely in metropolitan areas. The development of the automobile resulted in major sociological changes and caused new economic conditions.

Economic and Health Impacts

The main economic and health impacts of the automobile over the years include:

Future changes in automobile technology are likely to include:

The American automobile industry began modestly in 1896, when the Duryea Motor Wagon Company of Springfield, Massachusetts sold 13 identical gasoline-powered vehicles. The company would only last three years, however, brothers Charles and Frank Duryea became the first Americans to attempt to build and sell automobiles at a profit. This started the commercial period of the Automobile industry.

The first production Model T Ford was assembled at the Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit on October 1, 1908. Over the next 19 years, Ford would build 15 million automobiles with the Model "T" engine, the longest run of any single model of car, except for the Volkswagen Beetle. From 1908 to 1927, the Model T would endure with little change in its design. Henry Ford has succeeded in his quest to build a car for the masses.

Now that the masses had their vehicles, they enjoyed them to the fullest. In 1920, Norman Rockwell painted a Saturday Evening Post cover, showing a family outing that turns into a race.

By the late 1920's, the auto dealership became popular, and installment plans were available.