Relating Cars to cultures (US - Jap - Europe)

[christophv]

agree on the inventions but peeps, don't turn it into an US-hater- or America vs rest-thread

[Joseph1082]

Lol... 2 things... one. if there is noe nation that has ever been an engineering rival to the US, it would have to be Germany, I'm sorry I didn't mention this before Christophv, you brought it up, but Europe was brought up as a whole. A lot of technologies you guys mention may indeed be American inventions, they just may have been put into Military Vehicles rather than automobiles.

[drunken monkey]

A lot of technologies you guys mention may indeed be * inventions

um.....
how about we play a game of 'insert the name of your country where the * is'?

[Joseph1082]

Ok, well, if you want me to get really damn picky, the modern automobile would not be the same if it wasn't for America... we invented the Steering wheel, and the electric starter, and I'm sure a host of other innovations.

[crayzayjay]

Let's not forget that Henry Ford was responsible for bringing the automobile to the masses.

The US and cars is kind of like the English and football (soccer). More or less invented it, then got left way, way behind

[Jimster]

But I give the innovation prize to the French.

-Radial tyres (Citroen DS)
-Front Wheel Drive (Citroen 15CV)
-Hydraulic suspension (Citroen DS)
-The hatchback (Though that was arguably done by the Czechs)- Renault 16
-various other less important doo-dads, or ones that I was thinking about that evaded me.

The British however, did bring us Disc brakes (Jaguar XK120), Transverse mounting of an engine (Mini)- but not much else comes straight to mind, but given the enormousness of the BMC at one point, there is probably more.

The US, however has indeed innovated in it's own right- things like the Automatic transmission (1940 Oldsmobile), the moving production line, etc.

[szczecinek]

i think some people may be missing a bigger picture....cars are more than the gadgets u put in them... and whoever said american cars are consumer orientated... WTF??? i dont live in US but i observe this... they are given the choice of ugly american cars that are heavy, boat handling, gas guzzling barges or DECENT imported cars for a lot more $$$...if u ask me americans get a raw deal. ... since i am a fan of jap and euro cars i will impart my opinion which may be a repeat of what some already said ... Jap: making the best of what you got... 206kw power limit, kei cars, emmisions etc, and u get a car that works well and is fairly cheap. put it this way... to find a fair rival for a japanese performance car u need to pay a lot more for a european car... thats just what i think ... euro: for performance cars euro take the approach of unlimited resources etc.. think of cars mainly made out of CF, the mclaren f1 gold plated engine... etc.. so yeah, thats just me

[drunken monkey]

no offence but um, steering wheel and electric starter....
is that the best you can come up with?
take a look at the few things that i mentioned earlier.
they're the kind of things i'm talking about....

[christophv]

I think the main difference on technology between Europe and the US-

In Europe, it's not about how much power you get out of your engine, but how you get the power out of it, see?

Sure, 7-litre V8s are durable like granite, but they're rather for trucks.

European engineers would never consider such large engines with maybe 200hp, like in the 60s.

I looked it up, the turbocharger, a pretty much revolutionary innovation, was constructed by a swiss engineer in 1905.

And radial tyres and steering wheels are important innovations - but they have nothing to do with "Relating cars to cultures"

[blindside.AMG]

Some American inventions:

- The first car with an actual refrigeration system (A/C) was the 1940 model year Packard

- In 1929, American Paul Galvin, the head of Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, invented the first car radio.

- Buick introduced the first electric turn signals in 1938.

- Cruise control was first offered in the 1958 Chrysler Imperial, New Yorker and Windsor car models

- As far as I'm aware, I believe air bags are also an American invention

That's all I can get at the moment because I have to go fix broken Mercedes Benz.

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

(quote from one of the generals reviewing american products:
'my god, you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with that'..... this is true. i'll try to find the quote details)

Please try harder to find more info on this, I'm dying to hear who said it and why it was said.

[drunken monkey]

..that quote was taken from an article in new scientist....
i've got quite a few issues to dig through.....

[Z_Fanatic]

How about Henry Ford assembling the first production car? Horseless buggies... man I tell you what, Americans and their crazy ideas.

:22yikes:

I wonder what happens when you change the air filter and put in a new exhaust on a horse.

[Joseph1082]

Drunken Monkey... "is that the best you can come up with?" um... ok,
so you can go have a car with a sterring handle and a crank starter, ok, have a nice day.
I would bet good money America has had more innovations than any other country. I'm not trying to say this to be a D*ck, it would actually be rather logical consider the size and diversity of the country.

[Jimster]

Originally Posted by Z_Fanatic

How about Henry Ford assembling the first production car? Horseless buggies... man I tell you what, Americans and their crazy ideas.

:22yikes:

I wonder what happens when you change the air filter and put in a new exhaust on a horse.

Actually, German inventor Karl Benz and his mate Daimler were the first to make cars.

Blindside- The car radio's back in those days were hopeless though- they drained batteries faster than Aussies drained a bar and they sounded like crap, though the concept is there. The first airbag was fitted to the Mercedes S Class in about 1970-odd, if I remember correctly.

[Z_Fanatic]

Was it a production car for the masses? I didn't think so.

http://www.ausbcomp.com/~bbott/cars/carhist.htm