Whilst the automobile industry is abuzz with new technologies and newer car launches by the day, there was a time when the Atkinson’s cycle was a relatively new concept plus 4 wheels on rubber was an entirely distant dream. Not only have we progressed so much but also evolved that if we told you that the first car was cranked by hand, then you wouldn’t believe it. Also, there were only two seats and stuff. There are many legends or trivias going around which many would have missed out. However, here we are about to bring them alive in this article. There are about 15 of them and this includes both the cars made in India as also abroad. Here is the list of the 15 trivias about cars.
1. In the US of A, in 1982, the Honda Accord was the first car from Japan to make its debut. From then, till now, the Accord has continued its dominance in most of the markets that it is sold in.
2. Speaking of America, the General cannot be far behind. GM have the distinction of selling more than a million of Chevy Impalas in the year 1965. We remember that many of the Chevy Impalas had come to India as well, albeit a bit later.
3. Wouldn’t you be surprised if your car came sans a steering wheel but instead had a lever? Well, the first cars had just this piece of technology. Playstation, anyone?
4. Porsche as an automobile manufacturer is more known for its 911 cars. However, the very first Porsche 911 was made in the year 1964 and its peak power output was of 130 horsepower (a very big figure in those times).
5. How many times do automotive portals like ours advise prospective buyers of going in for airbag equipped cars? Well, almost 99 percent out of 100, unless the manufacturer doesn’t offer that even as an option. The reason behind asking for airbag equipped cars is because they hardly take 40 milliseconds to open up post the occurrence of an accident.
6. Fiat may be making about 85 or more than 85 cars per day, however, its well known subsidiary Ferrari can manage to produce only 14 cars on per day basis. Well, we thought they made only 14 in 6 months.
7. Who doesn’t hate traffic jams? Especially the ones which have all the involved cars refusing to even budge from their place even after 2-3 hours. Imaging the plight of the affected motorists of this particular jam where the length of the jam extended to 110 miles. This is recorded as the world’s longest traffic jam. It happened on a French Autoroute located between Lyon and Paris. This incident happened in 1980.
8. Along with a new or old vehicle, you get insurance. Whether its third party or comprehensive is a different story. However, way back in 1897, the first insurance policy for an automobile was taken by a customer residing in Westbury, MA.
9. This one comes to India and we all are familiar about it. Its none other than the Tata Nano being the world’s cheapest car and still the Chinese are yet to make a copy of it. Well, the distinction is for the first part and if you are really serious, then you can consider the second one as well.
10. Women. What would men do without them? Well, this is literally true in the case of cars with a woman being credited to having thought of the idea of inventing windshield wipers.
11. Mercedes Benz are world renowned for their cars however few know that this is a coalition company and the latter in 1887, was setup to be sold. What’s new in this story is that it was the first car company to be put up on sale.
12. In 1769, a man named as Nicholas Cugnot is credited to having invented a self propelled vehicle, the first of its kind. It was more like the modern day vehicle that we know as the autorickshaw and was front engined with three wheels. Its maximum speed was a laughable 6 kmph. It was a French invention and the cannons used for the French invasion were carried by the French army in this vehicle.
13. Nicholas didn’t quite sit back with his achievement. In the earlier parts of the 18th century he first built a steam motored car and then a more powerful one two years later. He however earned the dubious distinction of having run into the first car accident recorded in the world. Too bad that insurance was brought into the picture a bit later.
14. Issac Rivaz took over from where Nicholas stopped. Well, we are not referring to the accidents or to the fact that he started off with inventing airbags and stuff. But then, he made the ICE i.e Internal Combustion Engine for you, which used oxygen and hydrogen to produce electricity. Later on he went on to make a proper 4 wheeler with this ICE engine.
15. Well, Otto was the first person to actually make a 4 stroke engine and one which was commercially viable. Otto was no scientist and was infact some one who used to work for a grocer. He happened to come across some article about ICE engines but two stroke ones. He was inspired by this and decided to make a 4 stroke version of the ICE engine. It was only in 1876 that he could manage to achieve his dream. This very same engine was taken up by Daimler and turned into a much practical proposition. Even today, this same engine is used in many cars.
