The front panel of many early cars was reminiscent of the “dashboard” fo the horse carriage — so-called because it saved the coachman from being “dashed” by flying stones thrown up by the horses. Even today, a car’s instrument panel is still referred to as the dash.


The driver of a horse carriage needed a high seat to see over the horses. Early cars had a similar high seat.


Renault championed the idea of a shaft, rather than a chain, to drive the rear wheels.


Owning a car provided every reason for dressing up and getting equipped for touring. Indeed, protective clothing was vital in the open cars of the pioneer era. Motorists would often come home covered from head to foot in a thick layer of muck.


In the early days, lighting was so poor that few motorists ventured out on the road after dark. The lights on the first cars were candle lamps inherited from horse-drawn carriages. They were so dim that they did little more than warn other road users of the car’s presence.


But perhaps none was quite so distinctive as the mid-1950s to mid-1960s in the US. This was the era of rock’n’roll and drive-in movies, fast food and new freeways. The booming confidence of America in those years was reflected in some of the most outrageous, flashiest cars ever made. Competition among American carmakers was fierce, and each tried to outdo the others in the glamor of its cars.


Car bodies are made so that the passengers sit inside a strong box which protects them in a crash. The front and back of the car, however, are “crumple zones,” designed to collapse progressively and cushion the passengers from the impact.


The burning fuel releases huge amounts of energy. Barely a third of this energy can be used to drive the car; the rest is wasted heat. Much of the heat goes straight out of the exhaust; the rest is carried away by the engine’s cooling system.


The more the charge is squeezed by the rising piston, the better it burns. Many high performance engines have a high “compression ratio” to boost power — which means that the pistons squeeze a lot of fuel into a tiny space.


10, 25, even 50 times a second, the circuit is switched on, and the current sizzles across the gap like a flash of blue lightning to ignite the charge. A huge current is needed — at least 14K volts — for the spark to leap the gap. Yet the car’s battery only gives 12 volts. So the current is run through a coil, with thousands of winding of copper wire, to boost it dramatically for an instant.


A car will not run without a good electrical system. Electricity is needed to start the engine, to fire the ignition, and to power the lights, windshield wipers, and other accessories.


Wire wheels are costly to make and, since WW2, most mass-produced cars have had pressed-steel disc wheels. These are light, strong, and above all, cheap to make.


Only a tiny area of the tire touches the road so tread design is crucial.


A recent survey by a major automobile insurance company found that 26% of Americans who responded “love” their car, 9% claim their car is the “center of my life.” 67% of Americans have nicknames for their cars.