6. Here are some facts about cars and their past. Read them and be ready to discuss.

• The first cars did not have steering wheels. Drivers steered with a lever.

• The New York City Police Department used bicycles to pursue speeding motorists in 1998.

• In 1916, 55% of the cars in the world were Model T Fords, a record that has never been beaten.

• The first gas gauge appeared in cars in 1922.

• In 1923, 173 new inventions for cars by women had been reported. Among them were a carburetor and an electric engine starter.

• The automobile is the most recycled consumer product in the world today.

Text 11.

THE HISTORY OF THE AUTOMOBILE

(A) Although many automotive pioneers helped to shape the modern car, only Karl Benz actually ‘invented’ it. His ‘Motorwagen’ was made official in 1886. However, his spindly 3-wheeler, with its single-cylinder, 4-stroke internal gas combustion engine, spluttered into life on the roads of Germany.

The first British gasoline car took to the road in Birmingham in 1895. Frederick Lanchester designed the whole thing from scratch, including the centrally located single-cylinder engine. It had a three-speed gearbox and was steered by an upright tiller. It could also do 24kph – highly illegal at that time. What it could not do was get up hills very well. Two years later a new, more powerful and superbly balanced twin-cylinder engine was installed.

Henry Ford’s first car clattered into life in 1896. The tiny 4-wheeled, single-seated contraption – the ‘Quadricycle’ was the result of considerable effort for Ford. His vehicle was extremely light. Only the engine, wheels, axles and steering rod were metal. The rest of the structure was wooden. There were two speeds available, selected by twin drive belts that could be engaged by a floor-mounted clutch. There was no reverse gear and no brakes at all.

Two things held back car sales in their earliest days (price and mistrust). The new car ‘Oldsmobile’ appeared in 1901. Lights, mudguards and a hood were fitted at extra cost. The rear-mounted, water-cooled, single-cylinder engine was gravity-fed from a brass carburetor and there was a semi-automatic, 2-speed and reverse transmission. Two huge springs provided the suspension.

Early Stanley cars featured a tubular chassis frame with a light, wooden buggy body. The vertical boiler under the double seat at first featured copper fire tubes, with a vaporizing gasoline burner underneath. Drive vent from the engine crankshaft to a rear mounted differential by chain. The design was a success. So, an improved model was put into production in 1901. It featured the new horizontally mounted engine, geared direct to the back axle. The boiler was later shifted to the front.

1. Answer these questions:

1. Who ‘invented’ the car?

2. What do you know about Motorwagen?

3. What British car was invented the first?

4. Can you tell a few words about Quadricycle and Oldsmobile?