Whether driving for work or leisure, an automobile is a vital means of transport. It is a powerful force that has shaped twentieth-century life. It has revolutionized industries like steel and petroleum, but it also has had negative impacts on the environment, particularly through air pollution, noise, and staking out prime land for roads and parking lots.
The first automobiles were developed in Europe during the late 1860s and 1870s. In September 1870 Siegfried Marcus, a German working in Vienna, fitted a horse carriage with a gas-powered two-stroke internal combustion engine. That car was never put into production, but in 1888 Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach built a second vehicle that included seats, brakes, and steering and used a four-stroke internal combustion engine.
The earliest automobiles were large and expensive, but by the 1920s mass personal automobility was a reality. The car enabled suburban lifestyles and new types of services and businesses. It gave people access to cities, and rural residents could escape to the countryside. The cars also allowed people to travel to places they had never before been.
The modern automobile has evolved through mass production, starting with Ransom E. Olds’ 1901-1906 one-cylinder, three-horsepower, tiller-steered curved dash Oldsmobile that resembled a motorized horse buggy. The large-scale, assembly line manufacturing method introduced by Henry Ford in 1910 made automobiles affordable to middle-class Americans and opened the door to a new world of mobility. The cars’ evolution has been accelerated by technological advances and a changing culture.