Cars We Remember; Notable ‘firsts’ in the automotive industry

Cars We Remember; Notable ‘firsts’ in the automotive industryAlthough dangerous by today’s standards, this 1962 Rambler advertisement promoted a safer way of transporting young children. The more common way? Holding babies and kids in the lap of the front seat passenger. Thus, AMC receives a deserved “back pat” for proactive child safety thinking. (Former AMC)

I’ve had several letters recently following my article on the 1955 Chevrolet overhead valve 265-inch small-block V8, notably the most popular V8 ever invented. 

However, I noted that the engine was Chevy’s first overhead valve design, and it was pointed out that I should have described the effort as Chevy’s first post-WWII, or second overhead valve V8. Specifically when it comes to “first ever,” it was not Chevrolet’s first as that tribute goes to the D-Series Chevrolet overhead valve V8 built for the 1917 and 1918 model years. It may not have had valve covers, but it was indeed an overhead valve design!

Cars We Remember; Notable ‘firsts’ in the automotive industry

Henry Ford’s first car was not the Model T. Following several garage built prototypes at his home back in 1896, the 1903-04 Ford A and C models were produced through 1904 and totaled 1,750 in production. The C model had a more powerful engine, 10-horsepower, and a bigger radiator. (Ford Museum)

With this in mind, let’s discuss some of the other big “first ever” accomplishments in the auto industry as I’ve been collecting data for many months.

Seat Belt Laws: New York was the first state to require the wearing of seatbelts by the driver and passengers as mandatory. The first seat belt law in the United States arrived Jan. 1, 1968, and mandated all car manufacturers include seat belts in every vehicle for every passenger. 

Seat Belt Option: American car manufacturers Nash (in 1949) and Ford (in 1955) were the first to offer seat belts as options. By the time 1968 rolled along seat belts were no longer an option. 

Cars We Remember; Notable ‘firsts’ in the automotive industry

The 1953 Chrysler Imperial featured a special edition in honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation. Chrysler was the first to feature air conditioning as an option on all Imperial models. (Chrysler)

Air Conditioning: The 1953 Chrysler Imperial was one of the first production cars in 12 years to offer air conditioning as an option. This followed prototype experiments by Packard in 1940 and Cadillac in 1941.

Power Steering: Chrysler introduced the first commercially available passenger car power steering system on its 1951 Chrysler Imperial under the name “Hydraguide.” Francis W. Davis receives the credit, he’s a hydraulic engineer who first started his power steering experiments way back in 1906 with Pierce-Arrow. He installed his first prototype power steering system in his own Pierce-Arrow Roadster.

Cars We Remember; Notable ‘firsts’ in the automotive industry

The very first hatchback award goes to the 1949 to 1954 Kaiser Traveler. This type of “colorful” advertising was common during the era. (Kaiser-Frazer)

Car Radio: American Paul Galvin, of the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, invented the car radio in 1929. Customers that wanted a radio in their car needed to purchase it as an aftermarket item as carmakers were not yet offering them. Then just one year later, the 1930 Ford Model A had a $200 option radio feature, which was huge money back then. In today’s dollars, it’s $3,285.15 for that radio. 

Oldest Car Brand: The oldest car brand that originated in America and remains active is Buick. It was founded on May 19, 1903, as the Buick Motor Company. Auto mogul William Durant took over Buick in 1904 and became the flagship brand of the company he founded in 1908, namely General Motors.

Cars We Remember; Notable ‘firsts’ in the automotive industry

It took until 1948 for a fully automatic transmission to appear as prior efforts included a clutch like assist to standard transmission shifting. The 1948 Oldsmobile receives credit for its HydraMatic, which it promoted as “Futuramic” in its advertising. (General Motors)

First Ford: Always a good discussion as it was not the Model T. Henry Ford built his first experimental car in a workshop behind his home in Detroit in 1896. After formation of the Ford Motor Company, the first Ford car mass assembled at the Mack Avenue assembly plant in July 1908 was known as the Model T. However, Ford’s Model A and C came first, debuting in 1903 and 1,750 were built through 1904. The A and C Fords more resembled a powered horse buggy while the “T” looked more like the cars we grew to love.

First 8-Track Tape Player: The 1966 Mustang was the first car with a factory in-dash 8-Track player. The 8-Track replaced the “Madman” Muntz 4-track Stereo-Pak. 

Disc Brakes: The first mass-produced American disc brake applications arrived in 1949 and 1950 on several models. The sub-compact Crosley cars and pickups utilized them, as did the full-size Chrysler Imperial Crown as standard equipment.

Cars We Remember; Notable ‘firsts’ in the automotive industry

The Frazer Vagabond was sibling to the Kaiser Traveler and is this writer’s first ever hatchback award winner. Shown is the 1951 Frazer Vagabond. (Kaiser-Frazer)

Compact Disc Player (CD): The first car with an original equipment (OEM) CD player was the 1987 Lincoln Town Car, while the last of the new cars in the American market with factory cassette decks in-dash are the Nissan / Infiniti brands through 2020. Thanks to Pioneer, several cars utilized aftermarket car CD players back in 1984. By 1990, Car CD changers boomed in popularity and many were trunk mounted and could hold numerous CDs while dash mounted CDs could hold six or more. 

Sunroof / Moonroof: The very first sunroof award goes to the 1937 Nash. Although crude by today’s standards, it featured a metal panel that was capable of sliding open and offering an “open cabin” experience.

Automatic Transmission: The 1948 Oldsmobile is the first American automobile to use a fully automatic transmission. General Motors engineer Earl Thompson developed and advertised the Hyrda-Matic as the “greatest advance since the self-starter.” Other manufacturers like Hudson and Chrysler worked with clutch style automatics, but Olds had the first fully automatic. 

First Hatchback: I’ve bestowed this honor to the 1949-1954 Kaiser Traveler and Frazer Vagabond utility sedans in past columns and there’s no need to change my opinion now.

Cars We Remember; Notable ‘firsts’ in the automotive industry

Way ahead of the competition was the 1957 International 4-door pickup dubbed the Travelette. It is the first crew cab to appear in pickup style and seven years ahead of the next one to appear. This factory photo features the 1962 model. (International Harvester)

First 4-door crew-cab truck: The first crew cab truck in the U.S. was made by International Harvester (IH) in 1957 dubbed Travelette, followed by Dodge in 1963, Ford in 1965 and Chevrolet in 1973. To this day, International is a major brand in heavy and severe duty trucking.  

Safety Glass: In 1926, the Rickenbacker cars offered safety glass as a standard feature all the way around. Ford then added safety glass to its Model A and in a 1928 full-page ad from the Triplex Safety Glass Company it noted, “The new Ford is equipped with a windshield of Triplex – the glass that will not shatter.” And yes, the Rickenbacker was the brainchild of WWI flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker. The company lasted only from 1922 to 1927 and the 35,000 cars built were gorgeous, fast and expensive. 

Air Bag: In 1971, Ford built an experimental airbag fleet while General Motors tested airbags on the 1973 Chevrolet that was only available for government use. However, in 1973 the Oldsmobile Toronado was the first car with a passenger airbag available to the public. GM then made its own air cushion restraint system (ACRS) available as an option on Cadillac, Oldsmobile and Buick models in 1974.

In summary of these firsts, I’ve got to give Rambler a pat on the back, as the attached Rambler advertisement shows a child buckled-in riding in the front reclined seat of a 1962 Rambler. Even though by today’s standards this was a very dubious child position, back then most children were used as airbags thanks to being held in the lap of the front passenger, who wasn’t buckled in either. Today, thanks to protective child seats, the practice of holding a baby in your arms is illegal, so Rambler receives my vote as being proactive in promoting the protection of children.

I’ve been putting together these “firsts” for months now, and thanks to search engines Google, Wiki, Yahoo, the manufacturers and, oh boy, my baby-boomer memory. Seems the latter of which isn’t working like it used to!

(Greg Zyla is a syndicated auto columnist. He welcomes reader input and questions at greg@gregzyla.com on collector cars, auto nostalgia and motorsports.)

4 Comments on "Cars We Remember; Notable ‘firsts’ in the automotive industry"

  1. Greg, In the early 40’s Mercury had an automatic called a Liquamatic (sp?) It was apparently not a success. I have never heard of one surviving.
    Tom Evans

  2. Greg, I think Olds had a hydramatic prior to 1948. possibly in 1941 or so. I think I rode in one once.
    Tom Evans

  3. Greg, I googled Mercury Liquamatic and came up with an interesting article. This transmission was not a full automatic, so I am correcting myself. The article did provide me with information I was not aware of and was most interesting! I do enjoy your columns so much!
    From Tennessee,
    Tom Evans

  4. thanks Tom…the 1940 Olds was the first with a fully automatic…I hit the wrong key. thanks for your kind comments. greg

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