Key moments in auto history

[Jordan White]

First front wheel drive fullsize domestic car with a V8, the toronado.

Course the first domestic FWD with 8 cylinders was the 1929 Cord L-29.

[Nick Winter]

Course the first domestic FWD with 8 cylinders was the 1929 Cord L-29.

Cord was north american?

[Jordan White]

Cord was north american?

From Wiki:

Cord was the brand name of a United States automobile, manufactured by the Auburn Automobile Company from 1929 through 1932 and again in 1936 and 1937.

[CAL]

Cord was north american?

Yup Oaklahoma I believe.

[Nick Winter]

Ok I didn't know that.

[Jordan White]

Yup Oaklahoma I believe.

More like Indiana.

The Auburn Automobile Company grew out of the Eckhart Carriage Company, founded in Auburn, Indiana, in 1875 by Charles Eckhart (1841–1915).

[CAL]

More like Indiana.

The Auburn Automobile Company grew out of the Eckhart Carriage Company, founded in Auburn, Indiana, in 1875 by Charles Eckhart (18411915).

Connersville In?

nevertheless it's still in North America

I guess it was the company that tired to bring them back to life was in OK.

Edited March 18, 2010 by CAL

[Jordan White]

Connersville In?

nevertheless it's still in North America

Connersville? I said Auburn, which is where they got the name from.

[CAL]

Connersville? I said Auburn, which is where they got the name from.

The Cord page says both.

[Jordan White]

The Cord page says both.

I see it now. It looks like they had two plants in the state that they used.

[CAL]

I see it now. It looks like they had two plants in the state that they used.

3 if you want to count the 812 repop.

[Harry P.]

Actually harry it would have been Willy's.

Jeeps were produced for the US military by several manufacturers, including Willys. But they're all "Jeeps."

[camaroman]

'72 monte carlo

My first car!

[von Zipper]

1929 Cord L-29, although it was a straight 8cyl. the Cord 812s were v-8s frontwheel drive

Here's a picture of E.L.Cords office

There were many automobile makers in Indiana in the early 1900's

[old-hermit]

1964 El Camino: First car/truck combo vehicle

The first el Camino was 1959

that would be the '57 Ranchero.

Both beautiful cars.

[MrObsessive]

1959 Cadillac: the car with the biggest tailfins

1958 Plymouth Fury/Belvedere: first cars with torsion bar and aire ride suspention

1964 El Camino: First car/truck combo vehicle

Actually, 1961 Chrysler Imperials had the tallest by about an Inch or thereabouts.

[MrObsessive]

I can think of a couple IMO......

1953 Studebaker Starliner:

This one paved the way for the "personal cars" that we would see in later years. 1958 T-Bird, 1963 Pontiac Grand Prix, etc. Also it's design would influence Chrysler down the road as the 1957 models were going on the drawing board as of mid 1954.

The entire 1957 Chrysler lineup:

Chrysler's entire '57 lineup is what caused a giant such as GM to TOTALLY scrap their original plans for 1959 and entirely redo their designs from top to bottom.

Not a lot of things swayed GM in those days as they were at the top of their game---------but when a relatively small company such as Chrysler designs something which causes an industry giant to sit up and take notice (literally), I'd say that's pretty significant.

[Modelmartin]

This thread is interesting in that one can see that some folks are quite knowledgable and some are very much not. This isn't to slam anyone because automotive history isn't everyone's thing. I happen to enjoy knowing the broad sweep of automotive development and history including knowing about the people making the cars.

I am glad the Cord thing got ALMOST straightened out! The Oklahoma cars were the Cord 8/10 which was a 4/5 scale Cord with a Corvair driveline up front. Glenn Pray was the man behind it. It was the precursor of all of the "Replicars" we see today.

From an engineering standpoint I would nominate the 1890s Panhards from France. They were the first front-engine rear-drive car! The Chrysler Airflow was significant because they moved the engine forward so the passenger compartment would be completely between the wheels and lower. The first production monocoque (unibody) car was the Lancia Lambda from the 20s. The first production 4 wheel brakes were on the 1920s Duesenberg Model A produced in New Jersey before E.L. Cord bought them out.

A must on the significance list has to be the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. It is hard to imagine how high they raised the bar on reliabilty with this car. The early days of motoring were rife with breakdowns. The ghost was as reliable as a modern Toyota - without the unintended acceleration!!

A Dodge pickup with tailfins? Waaaaaa?

[Nick Winter]

This thread is interesting in that one can see that some folks are quite knowledgable and some are very much not. This isn't to slam anyone because automotive history isn't everyone's thing. I happen to enjoy knowing the broad sweep of automotive development and history including knowing about the people making the cars.

I am glad the Cord thing got ALMOST straightened out! The Oklahoma cars were the Cord 8/10 which was a 4/5 scale Cord with a Corvair driveline up front. Glenn Pray was the man behind it. It was the precursor of all of the "Replicars" we see today.

From an engineering standpoint I would nominate the 1890s Panhards from France. They were the first front-engine rear-drive car! The Chrysler Airflow was significant because they moved the engine forward so the passenger compartment would be completely between the wheels and lower. The first production monocoque (unibody) car was the Lancia Lambda from the 20s. The first production 4 wheel brakes were on the 1920s Duesenberg Model A produced in New Jersey before E.L. Cord bought them out.

A must on the significance list has to be the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. It is hard to imagine how high they raised the bar on reliabilty with this car. The early days of motoring were rife with breakdowns. The ghost was as reliable as a modern Toyota - without the unintended acceleration!!

A Dodge pickup with tailfins? Waaaaaa?

Not like a Cadillac but still fins,

[Modelmartin]

The first American front driver was the Christie made from 1904 to 1910 in very limited numbers. It had a V4 of almost 20 liters....1200 cid for you non-metric types. It was a beastie, that's for sure.

Christie racecars

Walter Christie history

Edited March 19, 2010 by Modelmartin

[Modelmartin]

Not like a Cadillac but still fins,

I knew about the vehicle. What I meant was that it has no possible significance in automotive history. You are welcome to like it. It is amusing. But it is ugly and is a mere footnote.

[MrObsessive]

1959 Cadillac: the car with the biggest tailfins

1958 Plymouth Fury/Belvedere: first cars with torsion bar and aire ride suspention

1964 El Camino: First car/truck combo vehicle

Not to pick on you Kevin------but the "aire" in Chrysler's "Torsion-aire", stood more for Chrysler's industry wide use of tubeless tires, and not to an actual air suspension. Chrysler AFAIK, never got into that troublesome system------that award goes to GM and to a much lesser degree Ford.

[Harry P.]

How about a Checker Marathon? Kind of an iconic car if you ask me...

[Jordan White]

Not to pick on you Kevin------but the "aire" in Chrysler's "Torsion-aire", stood more for Chrysler's industry wide use of tubeless tires, and not to an actual air suspension. Chrysler AFAIK, never got into that troublesome system------that award goes to GM and to a much lesser degree Ford.

So that means Kevin is wrong on all three!

[Aaronw]

I kind of thought who ever threw out Willys as the first SUV meant the Willys wagon from the late 40s-1950s, not the 1/4 ton Jeep. I think Chevy gets the credit for first with their Suburban which appeared in the late 30s, I think Willys and Dodge are the first to offer a real 4x4 "SUV" in the modern form, Chevy didn't offer the Suburban with 4x4 until the mid 50s.

If SUV just translates into 4x4 car / light duty truck Dodge was building their 1/2 ton (later 3/4 ton) 4x4 trucks to the Army a year or two before the 1/4 ton Jeep was introduced.

I'll give my plug for the Ford C series truck, built from 1957 to 1990 and used for everything from delivery trucks to semi tractors and fire engines.