Category Car Of The Month History

DKW & Auto Union – Jörgen Skafte Rasmussen  –  This Danish born engineer
moved to Germany where he wanted to build a motorcar but fuel was almost
unobtainable at that time, so his first venture was the DKW, or Dampf – Kraft –
Wagen (Steam powered vehicle) in 1916. The steam car was not a success, as it needed
a constant supply of wood and water, which was not very practical. At this time he
became interested in the two stroke engine, which lead to the production of a small
18cc DKW toy engine in 1918, which was named “Des Knaben Wunsch”
(Every Boy’s Dream) and became an instant hit. When further developed, it was sold
as an auxiliary engine for bicycles in 1919, marketed as “Das Kleine Wunder” (The
Little Marvel) which was a great success, and was also supplied to some 70 o...

GSM – Bob van Niekerk started building toy cars from age of 6 and proceeded to study
Engineering at Stellenbosch University. Bob was a keen racing driver, mostly with saloon
cars he stripped and tuned to take on some of the best race cars at the time. After
dreaming of building his own motorcars, Bob van Niekerk decided to follow Willie
Meissner to England after he has told of an amazing new material called fiberglass. There
the two joined up with Verster de Wit, another South African who was a talented designer.
De Wit came up with the design for their new car and the other two were tasked to build
clay quarter scale models, which was followed by a full size model and eventually a mould,
which was shipped to South Africa, where they formed the Glassport Motor Company
(Pty) Ltd (GSM) with...

Henry Ford  –  In 1903 the Ford Motor Company was established in Detroit. Henry
was a farm boy who was fascinated with horseless carriages. He had been building
gasoline buggies for several years and had bankrupted two companies already. While
other auto makers designed luxury cars, Henry Ford designed a basic car that anyone
could afford. Here he is standing next to his iconic Model T.

In 1909 he astonished the world by marketing the world’s most inexpensive automobile
and offered qualified workers an unprecedented $5 a day. Ford became an overnight folk
hero; a champion of the common man. His obsession was mass production and in 1913 he
introduced the first moving assembly line for cars. Within 18 months, the time needed to
build a Model T was reduced from 12.5 to 1.5 man-hours.

The...

The Checker Taxi. Charles C. Darnall, was the head of the Commonwealth
Motors Corp. when he launched the Commonwealth 40hp touring in 1919, a
car with a very sturdy construction and more interior space, which made it
particularly suited for taxi companies. Next he built a purpose built taxi cab
named Mongul Taxi, which used a body provided by Lomberg Auto Body
Mfg. Co., which was then used by most Taxi operators across the country.
Lomberg Auto Body was owned by a Russian immigrant named Abraham
(Abe) Lomberg. To expand production Lomberg needed extra cash, so he
borrowed $15’000 from another Russian immigrant named Morris Markin.
Markin had made a fortune providing uniforms to the US Army during World
War I. Eventually Lomberg was unable to keep up the payments, so Markin
took over the...

This Mercedes Lotec C1000, was built as a one-off project for a wealthy
United Arab Emirates businessman in 1995 with the aim of building the
world’s fastest street legal car at the cost of $3.5 million.

This all carbon fiber body 5.6L Mercedes-Benz V8 is equipped car with twin Garrett
turbochargers that generate 1000 horsepower to achieve a top speed of
268 mph (374kmh). Quite amazing considering that today’s Bugatti
Veyron Super Sport is limited to 257 mph.

Giovanni Agnelli was born in a small town Villar Perosa, Italy in 1866. As an engineer
he was fascinated by the horseless carriage and in 1899 became a founding member,
and later Managing Director of Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino, which was later
abbreviated to FIAT. Agnelli continually increased his shareholding in FIAT.

Manufacturing started in 1900 with 135 cars in the first year. FIAT expanded rapidly
and appointed their first US FIAT dealership in Manhattan as early as 1906, well
before the first Ford plant was operational.

Louis Chevrolet was born in Switzerland in 1978. It was soon apparent that Louis
had good mechanical skills and he soon started work at a bicycles shop, where he
started bicycle racing. Louis became interested in motorcars and spent a short time in
France. When Vanderbilt, an American, asked him to repair his car, he learned that
America was the new country of motorcars and so at age 22, he decides to move there.

The year was 1900, the beginning of the auto industry, and with his mechanical skills
he quickly found employment, initially at the factory of Dion-Bouton. Following his
bicycle racing, it did not take long for him to become involved in motorcar racing,
where he quickly became known as one of the best racing drivers in the world, racing
mostly cars built or modified by himself...

Buick established in 1899 by David Dunbar Buick is the oldest American auto
manufacturer. In 1904 William C. Durant was brought in to manage the company.

Durant, a natural salesman did well to promote Buick cars and in no time at all
Buick was the largest car manufacturer in America.

Durant also founded General
Motor Corporation and incorporated Buick and other brands into General Motors.
Buick, a prestige car, continued to flourish and is sold to this day.

The brand is particularly popular in China today.

This model represents the height of the aircraft
inspired period with wrap around windscreen and large tail fins.

This Buick is a very comfortable six seater car which is easy to drive over long distances.

The design is very striking and these cars are sought after collector’s cars to...

Luis Renault was a mechanic with De Dion when he started playing around with
his De Dion motorcar. He built a new chassis with seperate suspension on all four
wheels and mounted the engine in front instead of the back and replaced the chain
drive with a cardan shaft.

Renault obtained a patant on this configuration and in 1899 he started building his
own cars. Business was good and in 1900 Luis managed to sell more than 200 cars
which was quite an achievement.

France was the largest car manufacturing country in 1903 with 30‘000 cars, 780 of
which were built by 600 workers in the Renault factory. Only ten years later in 1913
more than 10‘000 cars were built by 15‘200 workers. Renault expanded into building
of buses and trucks and during the first world war they also built small tanks...