Portal:Cars

The Cars Portal

An electric car charging station at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This station is run by Petrobras and uses solar energy.

A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people, not cargo.

The French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first steam-powered road vehicle in 1769, while the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed and constructed the first internal combustion-powered automobile in 1808. The modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use—was invented in 1886, when the German inventor Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Commercial cars became widely available during the 20th century. One of the first cars affordable by the masses was the Ford Model T, begun in 1908, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced horse-drawn carriages. In Europe and other parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War II. The car is considered an essential part of the developed economy.

Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort, and a variety of lamps. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, making them progressively more complex. These include rear-reversing cameras, air conditioning, navigation systems, and in-car entertainment. Most cars in use in the early 2020s are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fueled by the combustion of fossil fuels. Electric cars, which were invented early in the history of the car, became commercially available in the 2000s and are predicted to cost less to buy than petrol-driven cars before 2025. The transition from fossil fuel-powered cars to electric cars features prominently in most climate change mitigation scenarios, such as Project Drawdown's 100 actionable solutions for climate change. (Full article...)

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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

2005 Aston Martin DB9

The Aston Martin DB9 is a two-door grand touring car produced by the British automaker Aston Martin.

Produced between 2004 and 2016, the Aston Martin DB9 was available as both a coupe and a convertible, the latter termed the "Volante". The designers of the car were Ian Callum and Henrik Fisker, who also worked on its descendant, the 2005 Vantage. The DB9 is the successor to the DB7, which Aston Martin produced from 1994 until 2004. The DB9 debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2003, while the Volante debuted at the same motor show in the subsequent year. It was produced in Gaydon, a village in Warwickshire. The company built the car's chassis upon the vertical/horizontal platform, which employed extensive use of aluminium throughout the body. (Full article...)

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The Lincoln Town Car is a model line of full-size luxury sedans that was marketed by the Lincoln division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. Deriving its name from a limousine body style, Lincoln marketed the Town Car from 1981 to 2011, with the nameplate previously serving as the flagship trim of the Lincoln Continental. Produced across three generations for thirty model years, the Town Car was marketed directly against luxury sedans from Cadillac and Chrysler.

Marketed nearly exclusively as a four-door sedan (a two-door sedan was offered for 1981 only), many examples of the Town Car were used for fleet and livery (limousine) service. From 1983 to its 2011 discontinuation, the Town Car was the longest car produced by Ford worldwide, becoming the longest mass-production car sold in North America from 1997 to 2011. While not a direct successor of the Town Car, the Lincoln MKS would become the longest American sedan until 2016 (overtaken by the Cadillac CT6). (Full article...)

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McLaren F1

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Shinichiro Sakurai in 1953

Shinichiro Sakurai (桜井眞一郎, Sakurai Shin'ichirō, 1929–2011) was a Japanese engineer inducted into the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame who originally worked for Prince Motor Company then later moved to Nissan. After graduating from Yokohama National University, Sakurai worked for the Shimizu Corporation before he was given the opportunity to work in the Japanese automotive industry, which was his first intent. He later joined Prince as a chassis engineer in 1952, and was heavily involved in the development of the first generation Nissan Skyline (also called the Prince Skyline). He continued to head the Nissan Skyline project long after the Nissan takeover, headed the Nissan MID4 project, and was appointed President of Autech (a Nissan subsidiary) in 1986. He continued to work in the automotive field up until his death.

Sakurai died of heart failure on January 17, 2011.

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On this day May 30

1911 — Ray Harroun wins the first Indianapolis 500

1967 — Mazda begins selling the Wankel engined Cosmo 110 Sport

2006 — The first front wheel drive Jeep, the Compass, is built.

2007 — Ford ceases operations at the Windsor Casting plant after 73 years.

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Did you know...

...that the racing version of the Dauer 962 Le Mans, winner of 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans, is a roadcar converted from a Porsche 962 racecar, which dominated Le Mans, Group C and IMSA during the 1980s.
...that the 25 Millionth VW Golf rolled off the production line in Wolfsburg in March 2007. The first Golf started production in 1974, 33 years later the 1.4 litre TSI version became the 25 Millionth car.
...that the nearly identical Ford Model T engines were produced for exactly 12,000 days
...that the first production turbocharged cars were General Motors' A-body 1962 Chevrolet Corvair and Oldsmobile F-85?
...that Jeep introduced the 1993 Grand Cherokee and 2007 Wrangler in the same way — by driving them through a plate glass window?
...that a small number of Renault 20s, badged as Dacia 2000, were made in the 1980s by Dacia in Romania for Romanian communist dignitaries of that time?
...that the Autobianchi Primula was the Fiat's first automobile with the front-wheel drive, transverse engine setup and rack and pinion steering?
...that the Plymouth Sundance is a liftback, even though the outside appearance might suggest that it is a sedan?

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Selected quote of the day

To Users, Agents, Importers, Dealers and Manufacturers of Gasolene Automobiles:

United States Letters Patent No. 549,160, granted to George B. Selden, November 5, 1895, controls broadly the commercial forms of gasolene automobiles. ... Both the Basic Selden patent and all other patents owned as aforesaid will be enforced against all infringers.

—1904 advertisement by the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers exhorting compliance with the Selden patent

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General images

The following are images from various car-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The weight of the low battery stabilises the car. This is a dual-motor, four-wheel-drive layout but many cars only have one motor. (from Car)
Image 21959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 3Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 4Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 5The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 6A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 7The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 8In the Ford Model T the left-side hand lever sets the rear wheel parking brakes and puts the transmission in neutral. The lever to the right controls the throttle. The lever on the left of the steering column is for ignition timing. The left foot pedal changes the two forward gears while the centre pedal controls reverse. The right pedal is the brake. (from Car)
Image 9Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 101958 Lancia Appia (from History of the automobile)
Image 11The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 12Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 13Trucks' share of US vehicles produced, has tripled since 1975. Though vehicle fuel efficiency has increased within each category, the overall trend toward less efficient types of vehicles has offset some of the benefits of greater fuel economy and reductions in pollution and carbon dioxide emissions. Without the shift towards SUVs, energy use per unit distance could have fallen 30% more than it did from 2010 to 2022. (from Car)
Image 141929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 15The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 16Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 17The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 18The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 19Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 20A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 21A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 22A Stanley Steamer racecar in 1903. In 1906, a similar Stanley Rocket set the world land speed record at 205.5 km/h (127.7 mph) at Daytona Beach Road Course. (from History of the automobile)
Image 231946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 24The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 25Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 261954 Plymouth Savoy Station Wagon, one of the first US all-metal station wagons (from History of the automobile)
Image 27Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 28Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 29Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 30Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 311974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 32Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 331924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 34Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 35The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 36A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 371929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 38Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 39Stuttgart, a cradle of the car with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach working there at the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and place of the modern day headquarters of Mercedes-Benz Group and Porsche (from Car)
Image 40Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 411885-built Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use (from History of the automobile)
Image 421926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 43Gurgel Supermini (from History of the automobile)
Image 442011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 45Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 46A Tesla Model Y electric car, the world's best-selling car in the first and second quarters of 2023. (from History of the automobile)
Image 47Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 48The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 49Scaled model of the second Marcus car of 1875 (from History of the automobile)
Image 50The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)