The collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was the most symbolic event in the ending of the “Cold War” between East and West. But the emergence of the Trabant, spluttering its way into a bright new Europe, was the automotive equivalent. Trabant 1958 West German motorists were horrified at its highly polluting, two-stroke 600cc […]

KANSAS-BORN Walter P. Chrysler had worked his way up through the railroad business before his talents were taken up by the motor industry. Hired as a production manager at the General Motors’ marque Buick in 1911, he became president from 1916 until 1919. Chrysler Building, New YorkAt 1,047-ft (319-m) tall, this was briefly the world’s tallest

HENRY FORD was born on a farm in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1863. At age 16, he moved to nearby Detroit to train as a mechanic. In 1891 Ford went to work for the Detroit Edison company, and he began experimenting with engines in his spare time. He built his first “horseless carriage” in 1896. 2010 Ford

A specific little vehicle intended for specific uses, the Haflinger was created with scant regard for passenger niceties and a total focus on off-road ability. Steyr-Puch Haflinger 1959 Although many were built as pickups and military field cars, some came as open four-seaters, qualifying them as “automobiles.” The Haflinger was a tiny four-wheel drive contraption powered by

The Simca Fulgur (fulguris Latin for “flash”) is possibly the silliest concept car of the 1950s. But that wasn’t surprising-the project was a fantasy car of the year 2000, created with suggestions from young readers of a French children’s magazine. Simca Fulgur 1959 Had it ever worked as the children intended, it would have been

Ireland has few car-making boasts, despite Henry Ford’s establishment of a Model T assembly plant in Cork as early as 1917. But the Shamrock is a rare exception, built with the ambition of captivating US customers. Shamrock 1959 Possibly inspired by the American success of the Nash Metropolitan, Californian businessman Wilbur Curtis decided to up

The crowds at the Festival of Britain exhibition on London’s South Bank in 1951 must have sensed that Britain’s motor industry was on top of its game. Rover Jet 1 1950 For here was a car demonstrating Britain had the technology and ingenuity to keep pace with America and Europe. It was Rover’s “Jet 1,”

The two buzz phrases in the global car industry of the 1950s were “aerodynamics” and “jet-powered.” Many show cars of the time adopted one of these themes to grab attention, but Renault decided to unite both in 1956, to pursue a serious goal: the world land speed record for a gas-turbine car. Renault Etoile Filante

In the arcane world of British microcars, David Gottlieb is a near-mythical figure. The designer of three of the most infamous of these Suez crisis-era fuel-misers-the Allard Clipper, Powerdrive, and the Coronet the whiff of failure surrounding them is also the aroma of his mystique. Powerdrive 1956 In 1953, Gottlieb’s Powerdrive company sold the concept of

After all the space-age excess that had characterized the so-called “dream cars” paraded by General Motors in the first half of the 1950s, the Club De Mer was as refreshing as a sea breeze. Pontiac XP 200 Club De Mer 1956 Not that it wasn’t a dramaticlooking car, especially with its prominent stabilizing dorsal fin