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Car evolution essay
Evolution of cars essay
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Cars have gone through many changes throughout the years. We have seen car designs from the 40’s land boats, all the way to the exotic styles we see today. People tend to look past the fact that cars are not only just a form of transportation, but also a passion and an art style, that has been carried down throughout the years. Cars are a way for an artist to express themselves through time, and hard work. If we really want to try and inform people on how much work goes into one car, we need to go back to some of the most iconic cars in history. While car aerodynamics have not always been very successful and efficient (1960 land boats), car companies seem to learn from their mistakes, however sometimes it does not always happen immediately. …show more content…
Not only were the engines of cars not able to supply the car with that amount of power, but the cars were just tall boxes, and didn’t necessarily go with the wind. I had found that cars didn’t actually start reaching highway speeds until the Ford Model A.(The Model T’s predecessor) At this time, the Model A’s top speed was said to be about 65, however realistically could barely reach modern highways speeds, and even so would be considered extremely slow. In Serra, Jonah. "The Evolution of Car Design From 1910 to Now,” it is stated that car companies didn’t really start looking into making cars aerodynamically efficient, and didn’t worry about power output and fuel consumption until about 1910. Although cars at this started to take into consideration that air flow might have a thing or two to do with speed, for the most part, people tended to think larger engines means more speed. Which in some cases can be true. However, it wasn’t until about 1910 like I said before, that the light bulb clicked for aerodynamic efficiency. However, once the year of 1910 came around, car designs started to drastically changed, and manufacturers started to notice that air flow might actually have something to do with
design made the car very strong and durable that is one main reason you see many
Some say that automotive racing began when the second car was built. For over a hundred years, competition has driven innovation in the car industry, thus the industry maxim “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” NASCAR and drag racing contributed greatly to muscle cars’ success. Muscle cars were born from these competitions as factory made race cars. Because of this, the muscle car quickly moved from a low quantity specialty item to the image of the American automotive scene. Each brand had to have one and each one needed better performance and personality than the next. The Golden Age began in the 1960s with the introduction of more performance models such as the Chevy SS Impala and the Ford Galaxy Starliner (Auto Editors).
After the steam engine was created in the early 17th century, many people and companies tried to take that same technology and apply it to automobiles. Nobody was successful until a British inventor by the name of Richard Trevithick created a multi passenger automobile that ran on a power source that was driven by a steam-propelled piston at high pressure (Bellis). Up until the mid 1900’s cars were only produced by specifically skilled blacksmiths, and were very expensive. There were only about 4,000 cars produced from the 1890’s to mid 1900’s (Bellis).
When we look at the classic Car image, it reminds us of the experiences that surround our daily lives. The Classic Car image is in black and white which reminds us of the picture realities that held sway some decades ago. I do not readily understand all that transpired in the wreck of this car. However, some points are quite easy to note. It shows that the beauty of every vehicle is not just in its outward design but in its safety features. This shot was taken from one of the vehicles parked in the Alaska Car Museum. There are so many stories that surround the cars in this iconic location.
one of the most majestic cars created. Nick?s comments on the vehicle describe its luster, ?...and
Starting in the late 1700's, European engineers began tinkering with motor powered vehicles. Steam, combustion, and electrical motors had all been attempted by the mid 1800's. By the 1900's, it was uncertain which type of engine would power the automobile. At first, the electric car was the most popular, but at the time a battery did not exist that would allow a car to move with much speed or over a long distance. Even though some of the earlier speed records were set by electric cars, they did not stay in production past the first decade of the 20th century. The steam-driven automobile lasted into 1920's. However, the price on steam powered engines, either to build or maintain was incomparable to the gas powered engines. Not only was the price a problem, but the risk of a boiler explosion also kept the steam engine from becoming popular. The combustion engine continually beat out the competition, and the early American automobile pioneers like Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford built reliable combustion engines, rejecting the ideas of steam or electrical power from the start.
Kiley, David. Driven: Inside BMW, the Most Admired Car Company in the World. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2004. Print.
During the late 1900’s, fuel efficiency was given very little thought by automakers. Instead, they competed with each other by coming out with larger and more powerful vehicles each year, and by doing so they sacrificed fuel efficiency, because each new vehicle that they built got fewer miles per gallon. Americans craved bigger and more powerful cars, so to comply with the car buyers, that is what the automakers built (Surowiecki 25). However, “polls show that, given an option, some three-quarters of them vote for dramatic increases in fuel-economy standards” (Surowiecki 25).
By the early 1900’s, automobiles had become a common sight on the roads of the United States. Edison tried to create an electric battery that could power an electric car. Due to the abundant availability of gasoline, the electric car did not receive the response that Edison hoped for. However, the car battery was a huge success, and still plays a pivotal role in the automobile industry.
The image of a self-propelled vehicle dates back around the early thirteenth century. Europe is the birthplace of the automobile, but it was adopted by America. Roger Bacon had a vision of cars being made without animals so they can be at astonishing speeds and maneuverability . About three hundreds years later, Leonardo Da Vinci rejuvenate Bacon's idea with hopes of creating a military vehicle. His idea was transformed into the modern day tank. The first step in making a self-propelled vehicle was taken by Nicholas Joseph Cugnot. He was an eighteenth century French artillery officer. "In 1769 he built and ran a three-wheeled carriage mounting a steam engine of his own design, with the idea that it might be used for pulling guns"2. It was very clumsy vehicle that was shot into the air when it reached the top speed of three miles an hour. Cugnot's vehicle provided almost no improvement of the horse. In the early years of the nineteenth century an American and British duo had began an automotive experiment. Richard Trevithick, a British engineer, and American genius, Oliver Evans created a workable but crude vehicle propelled by steam3. This early experiment was an improvement, but the railroads and stagecoach companies joined together. With this new combining of forces the new steam vehicle, the Orkuter Amphibolos, was brought down.
This fearless and tenacious spirit is overwhelming in the concept cars of the space race. They allowed the creators to feel a sense of freedom and positivity about a future that was almost expected once man had set foot on the moon. The automobile was an excellent platform for this experimentation and the artistic results have generated a sense of nostalgia that is accessible to everyone and will continue to do so for many years to come.
Automobiles play an essential role in American society. As if being the major means of transportation was not impressive enough, automotives can be seen on T.V., in movies, in magazines, and can sometimes be indicative of a person’s wealth and social status. On average, Americans drive nearly 40 miles and drive for just over 50 minutes driving per person per day (http://www.bts.gov). That means a person spends roughly one-sixteenth of a day driving. It would make sense, then, to make such an essential part of society as efficient, cost effective, and clean as possible. However, that is not the case. As the years have passed cars have actually begun to move away from efficiency. Hawken writes, “[The automobile] design process has made cars ever heavier, more complex, and usually costlier. These are all unmistakable signs that automaking has beco...
The aerodynamic efficiency is the single most important element in designing a competitive car for professional racing or getting the car model on the front of a Car and Driver or Motortrend. Aerodynamics is the study of the motion of gases on objects and the forces created by this motion. The Bernoulli effect is one of the most important behind car design. The Bernoulli Effect states that the pressure of a fluid, in gaseous or liquid state, varies inversely with speed or velocity and a slower moving fluid will exert more pressure on and object than the same fluid moving slower (Yager). The goal of car designers is to make the air passing under a car move faster than the air passing over the car. This causes the air passing over the car to create more downforce than the air passing under the car creates upforce creating a force additional to the car’s weight pushing the car to the road. Large amounts of downforce are needed to keep light cars grounded at high speed and keep to cars from sliding around turns at high speeds.
329) There was not one specific person who "invented the automobile," but, there were many people who contributed to the invention of the automobile.(Ingrassia, 5) (Boyne, 31) These people include Isaac Newton, who developed a power carriage in the fourteen twenties, and Joseph Cugnot, who built the first steam powered automobile in seventeen sixty nine. The first American to develop an automobile was Nathan Redd.(Brown, 329) The use of the automobile in the United States became common due to the convenience and reliability of a quick, easy to operate source of transportation. The American people began to build their homes further from their jobs, and further from civilization because they could commute back and forth much more quickly.(Simanaitis, 337) The convenience, reliability, and easy commute were only a few positive effects of the development of the automobile in the United States. The invention of the automobile also directly stimulated the economical growth and success of the United States.
Aerodynamics of a race car while performing is highly complex and there are many variables that come into play. According to Bill Montagne of Hot Rod Network, on a basic level, aerodynamics begins to manifest when a vehicle is traveling at speeds greater than 50 mph (Montagne, Aerodynamics in Race Cars Explained). This is due in part because when traveling less than 50 mph, a vehicle’s weight plays a more significant role than aerodynamic improvements. As velocity increases, downforce and drag increase. Kristen Geisler, writer in howstuffworks explains downforce as, “The force or increased weight created by air pressure moving over a race car’s various surfaces” (Geisler, howstuffworks). While this gives the race car more grip around corners, it also reduces overall speed of the race car. Bernoulli’s principle occurs when pressure decreases as a result of increasing speed. This effect is enhanced in a race car where air increases in speed as pressure decreases on the bottom of the car which creates a larger downforce. In Aero 315, we learned that drag is parallel to the airflow and reduces the speed of a race car (Aero 315, Post). We also learned about incompressible