6 Fun Facts About Cars Through History

The 1976 Cadillac Eldorado Was Advertised as the Last-Ever Convertible

Convertible cars were synonymous with “cool” for decades, from the Alfa Romeo Spider to the Ford Shelby. In 1965, at the convertible’s peak, American automakers produced 509,415 of them. But in the 1970s, open-top cars dwindled as one by one, automakers removed them from production. This was due to a few factors: Automobile manufacturers were expecting new safety regulations around rollover accidents; high freeway speeds, air pollution, and the availability of air conditioning made an open car less appealing; and sunroofs, a more comfortable alternative, entered the scene in 1968.

By 1975, General Motors was the only car manufacturer still making convertibles, and in 1976, GM made only one single model: a luxurious white Cadillac Eldorado, which the company claimed was the last American convertible. Each car even had a numbered plaque. When the expected highway regulations never surfaced, convertibles crept back on the market in 1982. Not wanting to be left behind, GM resumed making the convertible Eldorado, angering the small group of people who had purchased the 1976 model thinking it would be a collector’s item. 

The Prius Wasn’t the First Hybrid Car

A century before the Toyota Prius’ 1997 debut, Ferdinand Porsche — who later founded the eponymous sports car company — developed a hybrid, gas-electric vehicle. He even put one on the market. At the turn of the 20th century, gas engines hadn’t become standard yet, and one-third of all cars on the road were electric. Porsche, then working for vehicle magnate Ludwig Lohner, devised an automobile that used both gas and electric power by mounting electric motors to the wheel hubs, powered by a generator fueled by gas engines. Electric cars at the time had especially limited ranges, and by integrating the charger into the car, he expanded them considerably. He and Lohner dubbed their invention “Semper Vivus,” Latin for “always alive,” and presented it at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

A second, improved model, the Lohner-Porsche Mixte, actually went on the market for more than a decade, although not at a large scale. At the equivalent of more than $80,000 today, they were prohibitively expensive, so not many of the hybrid cars sold —but they performed well enough for Porsche to win the large car division of the 1902 Exelberg Hillclimb race while driving one.

Flying Cars Have Existed Since the 1950s

Flying cars are the ultimate futuristic vehicle, cemented in the public imagination by shows such as The Jetsons. Weirdly enough, flying cars actually existed — and were even on the market — years before the animated series premiered in 1962. They just weren’t very practical, and the transition from road to sky, while surprisingly fast, was far from seamless.

Moulton Taylor, a former naval engineer, prototyped the Aerocar in 1949, although the Civil Aeronautics Administration (a precursor to the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA) didn’t certify it until 1956. The main body of the vehicle was a sporty, compact coupe, with detachable wings that could either be carried behind it like a trailer or just left behind entirely. It took less than 15 minutes to transform the vehicle from car to airplane: You’d flip the license plate to attach the tail, then swing the wings up and pin them into place so the Aerocar could take flight.

The car did not go completely unnoticed. Taylor showed one off on the 1950s game show I’ve Got a Secret; it was featured prominently on the 1961 TV series The Bob Cummings Show; and a Portland, Oregon, radio station used one for weather reporting from 1962 to 1963. But the car never really caught on, and flying cars remain the purview of the imagination today.

America’s First Car Race Lasted More Than 10 Hours

The first American motorcar race took place in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day in 1895, and it had one very notable entrant: the Duryea Motor Wagon, the first gas-powered American automobile, driven by co-inventor Frank Duryea.

The race itself was harrowing. After a blizzard rolled in, the route was cut from 92 miles to 50 miles, and entrants had to wrap their tires in twine for traction. At least 70 racers planned to take part, but only six actually participated, and just four made it significantly past the starting line. Ultimately, only two cars, the Motor Wagon and a Benz, finished the race. Duryea, who took 10 hours and 23 minutes (including stops for refueling and repairs) to complete the race at an average speed of 7.3 miles per hour, took first place and a $2,000 prize. The runner-up rolled through two hours later.

That race sure didn’t go as planned — especially for the drivers that crashed along the way — but it worked out swimmingly for Duryea, at least in the short-term. He and his brother Charles got enough publicity to sell the very first vehicles purchased in the United States. They also made the first American car to enter (and the first to win) the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (known then as the Emancipation Run), in 1896. Their luck proved to be short-lived, however, and the company folded in 1898.

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