Many believe the first automobile was built by Ford in the early 1900's but that's not true the first automobile was built in 1769 by Nicolas Joseph Cugnot. It was powered by a steam engine and it had a top speed of 4.8mph. However, the first design of a self propelled vehicle was created by Leonardo Da Vinci around 1470-1480. Almost one hundred years later after Cugnots automobile was built, the first successful internal combustion engine was built by Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir in 1859. In 1863, Lenoir built his first automobile named the “Hippomobile”. The engine proved to be inefficient, loud, and had over heating problems. A second design was created and proved to be very efficient and caught attention around the world. In 1879, Karl Benz patented his very first engine and in 1885 He built his first automobile named the “Motorwagon”. In 1883, He created his company named “ Benz & Cie” which is now known as Mercedes Benz. Karl benz is known as the inventor of the Modern day Automobile because his motorwagon was the first successful automobile that can travel a long distance and sold worldwide.
Cars have changed significantly since Karl Benz created His Motorwagon. In the early 1900's-1930 cars were small and most had a convertible top. Most cars in this time period had about a top speed of 50mph more or less, had a total of about 20-40hp, and it wasn't until the late 20's when they started to put radios in them. In the 1930's-1950's, cars were made to be large and Luxurious. Cars in this time period generally had about a 100hp increase. Disc brakes, air condition, automatic transmission, and power steering was first introduce in this time period.In the 1960's-1970's also known as the muscle car era, automobiles had a smaller body, bigger engines, and a dramatic increase to hp. Automobiles in this era had hp upwards of 300 more or