Over a century ago, a number of engineers working independently in various parts of Europe had a hand in the development of horseless carriages powered by motor engines.

The first motor car to be driven by an internal combustion used a mixture of coal gas and air for fuel. Its engine was designed in 1859 by a Frenchman called Etienne Lenoir.

In 1860 a German, Nicholas Otto patented the four stroke internal combustion engine. Another two Germans in the mid 1880s, working quite separately, are credited to be the first to construct and sell motor cars to the public - Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz. In 1893, on the outskirts of Paris, Count Albert De Dion and his business partner George Boulton produced small but powerful petrol engines using Daimler's engine patents. These engines were used by the first car producers.

In Britain, opposition to the car came about from powerful vested interests such as the horse breeders, railway shareholders and canal owners. There were protests that car exhausts were poisonous and that the people and animals would be killed when the cars went out of control.

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Veteran Driving
The earliest cars were hand built wooden open carriages without horses. To start the engine a starting handle was needed. To steer, the choice was bicycle handlebars, the tiller of a boat or a wheel. There was no fuel pump, so petrol was fed to the engine by gravity. This would mean that cars had to be turned round and reversed up any steep hill. The road wheels were made of wood and the tyres were like those on a bicycle. Frequent stops to repair punctures were a necessity due to there being so many horseshoe nails.

Road surfaces were made of gravel or stone chippings and were dusty in the summer and muddy in the winter. Direction and other signs were small and infrequent. While blacksmiths saw opportunities converting to repair garages, petrol supply was sparse.

Veteran cars were crude, clumsy and ponderous by modern standards. There were so many practical problems that the pioneer motorist needed to be well prepared for even the shortest journey .

At this time, cars were unreliable and considered by ordinary people to be the 'playthings of the rich'. The wealthy employed chauffeurs to drive and repair their cars. The name chauffeur means 'to heat up' in French. This is derived from the time when chauffeurs had to light a fire and build up steam with external combustion engine motor cars.

During the Edwardian period, cars became more dependable. Their development and popularity was promoted through racing cars, initially on ordinary roads between large towns in France. In some cases, inspired through the aeroplane industry, luxury and eventually sports cars capable of 100 mph (160 km/h) were to go on public sale. Motor manufacturers were to become household names.

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Early Major Motor Manufacturers
Austin. Herbet Austin worked for Wolseley, a sheep shearing equipment manufacturer in Australia. He returned to Britain as their General Manager and founded his own business in 1906 and in 1922 introduced the best selling Austin 7. Boasting four wheel brakes it was not only built under licence in Germany by BMW but also France and the United States.

In 1903, the first motor vehicle purchased by the Metropolitan Police was a 7½ horse power Wolseley. This business was taken over by Vickers who produced them as high grade luxury cars.

Daimler. This was the first motor firm in Britain established in 1893. The Daimler Motor Company of Coventry was later sold to Jaguar. In 1897 Emil Jellinek, a prosperous Austrian businessman and diplomat persuaded the main company to produce a car using pressed metal rather than wood and better brakes. Designed by Wilhelm Maybach the car was named after the Jellinek's 10 year old daughter, Mercedes. A later Austro-Daimler car was named after the technical director, Dr. Ferinand Porsche.

Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz never met, but their two companies signed an agreement of mutal interest in 1924 and merged two years later. The Union led to the creation of Mercedes-Benz.

General Motors. In the United States, Ransom E. Olds began making steam-driven and petrol driven cars with his father in 1890. The Oldsmobile became the first car to be mass produced in 1902. William Durant bought the business and another firm of a Scotsman named David Dunbar Buick. He also bought Cadillac and Oakland, and in 1908 formed 'General Motors'.

FIAT. Italy started her motor industry later than other European countries. There had been a number of small firms that were merged to form Fabbrica Italiana Automobilili Torino or 'FIAT' for short.

Ford. A steam engine demonstrator in the United States named Henry Ford first read about internal combustion engines in magazines sent from Britain. Having visited a display of Daimler engines in Chicago he built his first experimental car in 1898. Ford had also worked as a designer for William Murphy who owned Cadillac. (Antoine de la Mothe Cadilac was the French officer who founded Detroit as a fur trading centre in 1701). Following a disagreement, Ford left and established his own business.

Hillman and Humber. William Hillman founded his company in 1907. Tom Humber's motor company also made aeroplanes around 1910. Humber cars were popular with civic dignitaries.

Morris. William Morris began in business repairing bicycles. He bought a garage where he repaired motorcycles and cars. This is where he first built his famous 'bullnose' Oxford and cheaper Cowley that rivalled the Model T Ford.

Peugeot. Began as ironmonger. In 1885 Peugeot started manufacturing bicycles. This French family built a successful steam car in 1889.

Renault. French brothers Louis, Marcel and Fernand Renault founded their motor business using de Dion engines. They were the first engineers to use a propeller shaft to drive the wheels instead of chains. Became State owned.

Riley. The Riley family of Coventry were one of the original motor businesses, building models in 1898.

Rolls Royce. Charles Rolls and Henry Royce began a partnership in 1904. Rolls came from an educated background, he'd been a racing driver and sold cars in Mayfair, London. Royce, an electrical engineer came from a poor background, built his first car in 1903 and Royce, impressed with the workmanship, agreed to sell as many as he could produce. In 1906 they marketed the 'Silver Ghost', so called because of its quiet running. Its reliability and refinement established the company's international reputation.

Rover. Originally a British bicycle manufacturer, the Rover Company built an electric car in 1888. They produced a tricar in 1903 based on a cycle type frame and belt drive.

Singer. Not connected with the sewing machine company, Singer was a bicycle manufacturer who began producing cars in 1912

Standard. Founded in 1903, their first model was a six cylinder that was used by King Edward VII on a State visit to India.

Sunbeam. Another bicycle manufacturer who produced their first car in 1899.

Vauxhall. The Vauxhall Ironworks in Vauxhall, London produced a three cylinder car in 1905. They moved to Luton in 1907 when they charged their name to Vauxhall Motors. They produced Britain's first Sports car in 1911 and purchased by General Motors in 1927.

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Early Driving Tuition
An engineer's apprentice with Thomas Sopwith, Stanley Roberts, was keen to go in for 'motoring'. In 1910 Stanley established the British School of Motoring.

Regular police traffic patrols were introduced in the early 1930s, bringing about the need for an advanced type of driver training. Calling upon the expertise of racing drivers, Malcolm Campbell and Lord Cottenham, in 1934, the world renowned Metropolitan Police Motor Driving School at Hendon, North London was established.

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Vintage Driving - Dawn of the Golden Age of Motoring
The years between the wars saw the car begin to overtake public transport as the most successful form of travel. At the 1920 Motor Show, 149 British Motor manufacturers were represented. Times were changing socially and within the motor industry. Women, who'd previously been driving ambulances and buses during the Great War, were becoming motorists.

Driving as a skill was starting to become easier with the introduction of electronic starter motors and improved gear boxes. The accelerator pedal was moved from the centre to the right and accessories such as windscreen wipers were fitted as standard.

In the 1920s there was relatively little traffic and few driving restrictions. Mass production was steadily reducing the cost of cars and motoring, Austin and Ford competing to pioneer cheap driving. It however took until 1932 before Ford to put a full sized saloon, the British 'Model Y', made in Dagenham, on the market at £100.

While there were advances in electrical equipment, suspension and tyres, most cars still did not have heaters. Regular servicing was becoming an established practice, the engine oil needing a change in the summer and the winter. The cylinder head required decarbonisation every few thousand miles.

During the 1930s the British motor industry combined into several groups including Nuffield (Morris, MG, Wolseley and Riley), Rootes Brothers (Commer, Humber, Hillman, Sunbeam and Talbot) and Birmingham Small Arms (BSA - Daimler and Lanchester). Similarly in the United States, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler emerged as the main firms. In Germany 'Auto Union' was formed from Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer.

In France, Andre Citroen was a manufacturer of gears. His most successful had teeth shaped like a chevron. This sign he put on the front of his cars. Andre is renowned for introducing 'front wheel drive' in 1934. The famous Citroen 2CV was produced as a car that could carry the farmer's wife, a pig in the back and a basket of eggs that would not break, even when driving across a ploughed field. It was the lightest production car on the market.

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Mass Motoring
In 1900 there were 20,000 vehicles on the road in Britain, the passing decades have witnessed an increase in vehicle number by the million. While this is a positive testimony to mass motoring, the most economical form of private transport remained for many years the motorcycle and side car, manufactured by such companies as BSA, Enfield and Truimph.

Competing motor manufacturers in the 1950s included Ford, Jaguar, the Rootes Group, Standard Triumph, Rover & Land Rover, Lotus, Vauxhall, Jensen, Morgan and Reliant. Some of these once-proud brand names are extinct. From a nostaglc view, these cars of this period retain a certain charm, distinctive appearances and even characters.

Previously unimagined luxury was becoming reality. Technological advances in the 1960s made for further improvements in driving, including overhead camshaft engines, radial ply tyres, synchromesh gears, halogen headlamps & independent rear suspensions.

Roads have also improved. They've been widened, properly surfaced and lighted. Town and village by-passes have been built using dual carriageways, and a motorway network connects major cities.

The need to set minimum driving standards
At the inquest into the world's first road traffic death in 1896, the coroner reported 'this must never happen again'. Over a century later, 1.2 million people are killed on roads every year and some 50 million are injured.

The UK has always maintained a relatively good road safety record when compared with other countries. One reason has to be the setting of minimum driving standards through driver licensing. There was concern about the mounting road casualties. In 1934 there were 7,000 road deaths at a time when there were fewer than 2.5 million cars on our roads. Today the annual death toll is below 3,400 despite over 27 million vehicles using our roads.

The driving test was introduced in 1935. The price of a driving lesson at this time was fifteen shillings (75p). The price of the new driving test was seven shillings and six pence. The price relationship has in the 60 odd years of its existance, reversed.

Mass Motoring
tIn 1900 there were 20,000 vehicles on the road in Britain, the passing decades have witnessed an increase in vehicle number by the million. While this is a positive testimony to mass motoring, the most economical form of private transport remained for many years the motorcycle and side car, manufactured by such companies as BSA, Enfield and Truimph.

Competing motor manufacturers in the 1950s included Ford, Jaguar, the Rootes Group, Standard Triumph, Rover & Land Rover, Lotus, Vauxhall, Jensen, Morgan and Reliant. Some of these once-proud brand names are extinct. From a nostaglc view, these cars of this period retain a certain charm, distinctive appearances and even characters.

Previously unimagined luxury was becoming reality. Technological advances in the 1960s made for further improvements in driving, including overhead camshaft engines, radial ply tyres, synchromesh gears, halogen headlamps & independent rear suspensions.

Roads have also improved. They've been widened, properly surfaced and lighted. Town and village by-passes have been built using dual carriageways, and a motorway network connects major cities.

With the increase in traffic, driver testing and training has gradually responded to the changes, however, the first Advanced Driving Test, established in 1956 has never been made compulsory.

Our twenty first century modern motor car has all the comforts of home, radio, telephone and air conditioning. Navigation systems are available to make the task of getting from A to B so much more easy. How could we live without our car ?

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