Remember these? I believe Ford made them to compete with VW's. Look at the size of the steering wheel, you could drive a bus with that thing. No frills and I think they came with V6's. Other manufacturers also made the pickup style vans during the 60's. They were not very heavy vehicles, which made them great for racing - Remember Dodge's 'Little Red Wagon'?
THE INVENTION OF THE AUTOMOBILE
So you think you know who invented the
automobile?! Karl Benz is the typical answer and well, the more you
research it, the more you will realize that there are too many answers
to this question and Benz is only a small part. Here's food for thought on one take regarding the
"invention" of the automobile.
And here's a timeline of the internal combustion engine, that may surprise you >
1680
- Dutch physicist, Christian Huygens designed (but never built) an
internal combustion engine that was to be fueled with gunpowder.
1807
- Francois Isaac de Rivaz of Switzerland invented an internal
combustion engine that used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen for fuel.
Rivaz designed a car for his engine - the first internal combustion
powered automobile. However, his was a very unsuccessful design.
1824
- English engineer, Samuel Brown adapted an old Newcomen steam engine
to burn gas, and he used it to briefly power a vehicle up Shooter's Hill
in London.
1858 - Belgian-born engineer, Jean JosephÉtienne
Lenoir invented and patented (1860) a double-acting, electric
spark-ignition internal combustion engine fueled by coal gas. In 1863,
Lenoir attached an improved engine (using petroleum and a primitive
carburetor) to a three-wheeled wagon that managed to complete an
historic fifty-mile road trip. (See image at top)
1862 - Alphonse
Beau de Rochas, a French civil engineer, patented but did not build a
four-stroke engine (French patent #52,593, January 16, 1862).
1864
- Austrian engineer, Siegfried Marcus*, built a one-cylinder engine
with a crude carburetor, and attached his engine to a cart for a rocky
500-foot drive. Several years later, Marcus designed a vehicle that
briefly ran at 10 mph that a few historians have considered as the
forerunner of the modern automobile by being the world's first
gasoline-powered vehicle (however, read conflicting notes below).
1873
- George Brayton, an American engineer, developed an unsuccessful
two-stroke kerosene engine (it used two external pumping cylinders).
However, it was considered the first safe and practical oil engine.
1866
- German engineers, Eugen Langen and Nikolaus August Otto improved on
Lenoir's and de Rochas' designs and invented a more efficient gas
engine.
1876 - Nikolaus August Otto invented and later patented a
successful four-stroke engine, known as the "Otto cycle".
1876 -
The first successful two-stroke engine was invented by Sir Dougald
Clerk.
1883 - French engineer, Edouard Delamare-Debouteville,
built a single-cylinder four-stroke engine that ran on stove gas. It is
not certain if he did indeed build a car, however,
Delamare-Debouteville's designs were very advanced for the time - ahead
of both Daimler and Benz in some ways at least on paper.
1885 -
Gottlieb Daimler invented what is often recognized as the prototype of
the modern gas engine - with a vertical cylinder, and with gasoline
injected through a carburetor (patented in 1887). Daimler first built a
two-wheeled vehicle the "Reitwagen" (Riding Carriage) with this engine
and a year later built the world's first four-wheeled motor vehicle.
1886
- On January 29, Karl Benz received the first patent (DRP No. 37435)
for a gas-fueled car.
1889 - Daimler built an improved
four-stroke engine with mushroom-shaped valves and two V-slant
cylinders.
1890 - Wilhelm Maybach built the first four-cylinder,
four-stroke engine.
ALSO OF NOTE IS THE FACT STEAM POWERED VEHICLES GO BACK TO BC, YES, BC - OVER WELL OVER 2000 YEARS AGO!
Generally regarded as one of the worse TV shows ever,
this
short-lived series mirrored Gilligan's Island but set in the Wild West.
Now, I should point out when watching this that you could get hooked.
Personally, I didn't think it was that bad. I don't remember the show
at all - I was a Freshman in high school and other things were keeping
me busy. Also of note regarding this particular episode above; it played on
Christmas night.
From the mid to late 1950's, first with the Flathead, then with the Chevy (shown here), Bender & Hier were one of the dominant Junior Fuel race teams of Southern California. The picture shown here was from San Fernando where they probably won more races (& Top Eliminator's) than any other track they went to.
RARE PHOTO
Vern Hier, who passed away this past
year, had kept some pictures of his younger brother Ron when he was drag
racing back in the 50's and 60's. Until now, no pictures had been
saved of Ron and Hanks Fiat Topolino. Unearthed recently, this photo
was found and is the only one of the Bender and Hier Altered. They had
raced their own cars before but this was purposely
built for drag racing. Ron bought the roller (frame from a 34 Ford?)
and Hank put his engine (from his 37) in it with Joe Ito helping put it
all together. The time is somewhere
around 1954 or 1955.
MIKE SOROKIN
A GREAT STORY ON THE SOROKIN'S
Adam Sorokin recently won the infamous March Meet, to match a deed his dad (Mike) did over 4 decades ago. We know Mike's looking down from above as a very proud father and we here in the Hier family, are very proud of this fete as well. Adam and his father before him, were and are good friends of ours and we understand the emotion and congratulate Adam on this huge achievement.
Henry Ford built his 1st car in 1895, but in the annals of history, no one car made as much of an impact as the Ford Model T.
1908 was the year and historically was known as the first assembly line built automobile - the Model T would put Ford on the map and make a place in history.
"You can paint it any color so long as it's black." - Henry Ford
Some interesting facts on the Ford Model T:
The 1st Model T had less horsepower than some of your current day lawn tractors.
It got 20mpg (some say as much as 25mpg) - not bad considering it was 100 years ago!
The 1922 Model T sold for $250.
It cruised at 45 mph, an amazing speed when you consider how long ago it was.
Because of the Model T, Ford eventually had up to HALF of all auto sales.
By the way, did you know Ford had 2 Model A's - the first production Ford, built in 1903 was called a Model A and then again, the more famous Model A of 1927-1931.
