Portal:Cars

The Cars Portal

The Ford Model T, produced from 1908 to 1927, is widely credited with being the first mass-affordable automobile, and it remains one of the best-selling cars of all time.

A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat 1–8 people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are over 1.6 billion cars in use worldwide as of 2025^[update].

In 1769 the French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first steam-powered road vehicle, a large three-wheeled dray to carry artillery pieces at walking pace. In 1808 the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed and constructed the first internal-combustion-powered automobile; range was limited to tens of metres by the gaseous fuel held in a large balloon. Until the late nineteenth century the only source of mechanical power for long-distance travel by land was coal in a steam engine. A notable early example of a personal steam carriage was that made in 1840 by Frank Hills of Deptford, near London. This cruised at 26 km/h (16 mph) and was used for day trips, including one of 206 km (128 miles).^{: 149–150}

The modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use—was invented in 1886, when the German inventor Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. By the end of the nineteenth century, Benz was selling 500 a year of later versions of this. Commercial cars became widely available during the 20th century. The 1901 Oldsmobile Curved Dash and the 1908 Ford Model T, both American cars, are widely considered the first mass-produced and mass-affordable cars, respectively. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced horse-drawn carriages. In Europe and other parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War II. In the 21st century, car usage is still increasing rapidly, especially in China, India, and other newly industrialised countries. (Full article...)

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Ford Pinto

The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America from 1970 until 1980. The Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America.

The Pinto was marketed in three body styles across its production: a two-door fastback sedan with a trunk, a three-door hatchback, and a two-door station wagon. Mercury offered rebadged versions of the Pinto as the Mercury Bobcat from 1975 until 1980 (1974–1980 in Canada). (Full article...)

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2010 Ford Taurus Limited

The Ford Taurus is an automobile that was manufactured and marketed by the Ford Motor Company in the United States from 1985 to 2019. From 1985 to 2009, Ford marketed the Taurus alongside its rebadged variant, the Mercury Sable. Four generations of the high-performance version (named the Ford Taurus SHO) were also manufactured from 1988 to 1999 and 2009 to 2019.

The original Taurus was a milestone for Ford and the American automotive industry, as the first automobile at Ford designed and manufactured using the statistical process control ideas brought to Ford by W. Edwards Deming, a prominent statistician consulted by Ford to bring a "culture of quality" to the enterprise. The Taurus had an influential design that introduced new features and innovations. (Full article...)

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1928 Model A Ford

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Ferruccio Lamborghini Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (/ˌlæmbərˈɡiːni/ LAM-bər-GHEE-nee, Italian: [ferˈruttʃo lamborˈɡiːni]; 28 April 1916 – 20 February 1993) was an Italian automobile designer and industrialist who created Lamborghini Trattori in 1948 and Automobili Lamborghini in 1964, a maker of high-end sports cars in Sant'Agata Bolognese.

Born to grape farmers in Renazzo, within the municipality of Cento in the Emilia-Romagna region, his mechanical know-how led him to enter the business of tractor manufacturing in 1948, when he founded Lamborghini Trattori, which quickly became an important manufacturer of agricultural equipment in the midst of Italy's post-WWII economic boom. In 1959, he opened an oil burner factory, Lamborghini Bruciatori, which later entered the business of producing air conditioning equipment. (Full article...)

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On this day October 27

1927 – Production of the Ford Model A begins at the River Rouge Plant

2006 – Production of the Ford Taurus ends with the final car sold to Chick-fil-A founder, Truett Cathy

2006 – Albrecht von Goertz, designer of the BMW 507, Datsun 240Z, Toyota 2000GT, and Montblanc pen, dies

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Did you know...

...that the racing version of the Dauer 962 Le Mans, winner of 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans, is a roadcar converted from a Porsche 962 racecar, which dominated Le Mans, Group C and IMSA during the 1980s?
...that the 25 Millionth VW Golf rolled off the production line in Wolfsburg in March 2007? The first Golf started production in 1974, 33 years later the 1.4 litre TSI version became the 25 Millionth car.
...that the 2011 Ford Crown Victoria was the last car to offer a cassette tape player as an option?
...that the first production turbocharged cars were General Motors' A-body 1962 Chevrolet Corvair and Oldsmobile F-85?
...that Jeep introduced the 1993 Grand Cherokee and 2007 Wrangler in the same way — by driving them through a plate glass window?
...that a small number of Renault 20s, badged as Dacia 2000, were made in the 1980s by Dacia in Romania for Romanian communist dignitaries of that time?
...that the Autobianchi Primula was the Fiat's first automobile with the front-wheel drive, transverse engine setup and rack and pinion steering?
...that the Plymouth Sundance is a liftback, even though the outside appearance might suggest that it is a sedan?
...that the name Volvo really means 'I Roll?' That's how Volvo rolls.

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We could remain independent while we had a fighting chance. Emissions and new Japanese competition showed us we didn't.

—Sir John Egan, explaining the sale of Jaguar Cars to Ford

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General images

The following are images from various car-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 21926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 3Carl Benz, creator of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, considered by many as the first modern car. (from History of the automobile)
Image 4Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 5In the Ford Model T the left-side hand lever sets the rear wheel parking brakes and puts the transmission in neutral. The lever to the right controls the throttle. The lever on the left of the steering column is for ignition timing. The left foot pedal changes the two forward gears while the centre pedal controls reverse. The right pedal is the brake. (from Car)
Image 6Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 7Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 8A Stanley Steamer racecar in 1903. In 1906, a similar Stanley Rocket set the world land speed record at 205.5 km/h (127.7 mph) at Daytona Beach Road Course. (from History of the automobile)
Image 9Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 10The first production car: 1888 Benz Patent-Motorwagen Model 2 on loan from Science Museum, London to Automuseum Dr Carl Benz, Ladenburg, 2014 (from Car)
Image 11Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 121929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 13A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 14The second Marcus car of 1888 (from History of the automobile)
Image 151959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 162011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 171974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 18A Tesla Model Y electric car, the world's best-selling electric car, and the best selling nameplate in 2023. (from History of the automobile)
Image 19The first practical car, Carl Benz's Patent-Motorwagen Nr. 2 of 1886 (image from 1888) (from Car)
Image 20Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 211982 Toyota Camry (from History of the automobile)
Image 22Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 231955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible (from History of the automobile)
Image 24Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 25Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 26The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 27Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 281929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 291924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 30The weight of the low battery stabilises the car. This is a dual-motor, four-wheel-drive layout, but many cars only have one motor. (from Car)
Image 31Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 32A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 33Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 34Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 35The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 36The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 37Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 38The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 39Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 40The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 411987 Renault Espace (from History of the automobile)
Image 42Percentage-of-total-sales figures for electric, plug-in hybrid, and hybrid vehicles approximately quadrupled from 2020 to 2026. (from History of the automobile)
Image 43The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 441946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with a pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 45Frank Hills' steam carriage, 1840 (from Car)
Image 46Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 47The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 48A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 49A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)