The 1950s was the decade of successful front-engined racing cars, especially in sports-car racing. European marques derived from road going sports cars dominated, gradually becoming more and more different from their street origins. Disc brakes proved a huge advantage and would be rapidly adopted, along...
Henry Ford was the first automobile manufacturer to make the most of mass-production techniques, and his Model T sold by the million. Since then, the Ford Motor Company has grown into a global giant, the only big U.S. car maker to survive the recession of...
The 1950s saw prosperity slowly return after World War II, and with it increasing demand for cars of the highest luxury. But now, as roads improved and people’s horizons broadened, ultimate performance was a goal, too. The best post-war cars were expected to cruise all...
Post-war prosperity in the United States brought the most indulgent and flamboyant period ever in car design, as car makers at all levels of the market dressed up cars with ever increasing amounts of chrome plating and styling excesses: fins, bullets, and aircraft-inspired detail. Cars...
Europe specialized in the small, economical family car in the 1950s, producing a wide range of practical and often surprisingly civilized vehicles with much more space, pace, and comfort than their pre-war equivalents. However, some marques, such as Ford, bucked the modernizing trend by continuing...
Once hostilities were over, factory owners flush with money from war contracts hurried to fill their factories’ capacities with car manufacturing again. However, shortages of raw materials—especially steel—meant that many stayed initially with old-fashioned construction techniques like wood body frames, aluminum body panels, and fabric-covered...
Andre Citroën was one of the automotive industry’s earliest visionaries. Despite humble beginnings, his Citroën marque came to embody all that was original and daring about car design. Citroen produced an array of landmark automobiles that were uniquely French, appealing to the heart as well...
Surely the most extraordinary success story in the history of the automobile, the Beetle began life as a pet project of Adolf Hitler, who commissioned engineer Ferdinand Porsche to design a low-cost vehicle for the German people. Production eventually began post-World War II, under the...
After World War II there was a new automotive revolution. Most soldiers posted overseas had experienced long-distance travel for the first time. On their return home they wanted to be mobile and take their families much farther afield than their fathers had been able to....
From building motorcycle sidecars in a tiny workshop in a seaside town in northwest England, William Lyons’s company evolved into a manufacturer of high-quality sports cars and sedans. Over the decades, the Jaguar marque established a reputation for fast, refined cars, which it continues to...