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109-531: The first attempt at vehicle manufacture in 1894 was planned to be powered by an 'air compressor' but it did not work. The first successful motor vehicles were Benzes built under license by M. Laboure of La Maison Parisienne. In 1898 the company engineer, a M. Serex, designed a flat-twin car which ran in the Marseille - Nice Race of that year; this, too, was built along the lines of a Benz. The 'Victoria Combination' voiturette achieved front-wheel drive by mounting

218-409: A horseless carriage . Based on his experience with, and fondness for, bicycles, he used similar technology when he created an automobile . It featured wire wheels (unlike carriages' wooden ones) with a four-stroke engine of his own design between the rear wheels, with a very advanced coil ignition and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator. Power was transmitted by means of two roller chains to

327-624: A scales factory. In 1868 he went to Pforzheim to work for the bridge building company Gebrüder Benckiser Eisenwerke und Maschinenfabrik . Finally, he went to Vienna for a short period to work at an iron construction company. In 1871, at the age of twenty-seven, Benz joined August Ritter, in launching the Iron Foundry and Mechanical Workshop in Mannheim , later renamed Factory for Machines for Sheet-metal Working. The enterprise's first year went very badly. Ritter turned out to be unreliable, and

436-646: A Victoria Combination won its class in the Paris-Rambouillet-Paris event, covering the 100-kilometre course at 26 km/h (16 mph). In 1900 it completed 240 kilometres (150 mi) non-stop at 29 km/h (18 mph). When production ceased in mid-1901, over 400 units had been sold for 3,000 Francs (circa $ 600) each. A different concept was the Lohner–Porsche of 1897 with an electric motor in each front wheel, produced by Lohner-Werke in Vienna. It

545-494: A bicycle repair shop in Mannheim owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger. In 1883, the three founded a new company producing industrial machines: Benz & Companie Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik , usually referred to as Benz & Cie. Quickly growing to twenty-five employees, it soon began to produce static gas engines as well. The success of the company gave Benz the opportunity to indulge in his old passion of designing

654-550: A cheaper, and even more successful Trumpf Junior model, which sold over 100,000 in August 1939, and in the same year Citroën introduced the very successful Traction Avant models in France, over time selling them in the hundred thousands. Hupmobile made 2 experimental models with front-wheel drive in 1932 and 1934, but neither came into production In the late 1930s, the Cord 810/812 of

763-461: A director of Benz & Cie. During a birthday celebration for him in his home town of Karlsruhe on 25 November 1914, the seventy-year-old Benz was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, the Karlsruhe University , thereby becoming—Dr. Ing. h. c.  Benz. Almost from the very beginning of the production of automobiles, participation in sports car racing became

872-476: A few months later. According to German law, the child acquired the name "Benz" by legal marriage of his parents. When he was two years old, his father died of pneumonia , and his name was changed to Karl Friedrich Benz in remembrance of his father. Despite living in near poverty, his mother strove to give him a good education. Benz attended the local school in Karlsruhe and was a prodigious student. In 1853, at

981-452: A flexibly located electronically controlled cooling fan. This configuration was pioneered by Dante Giacosa in the 1964 Autobianchi Primula and popularized with the Fiat 128 . Fiat promoted in its advertising that mechanical features consumed only 20% of the vehicle's volume and that Enzo Ferrari drove a 128 as his personal vehicle. The 1959 Mini used a substantially different arrangement with

1090-518: A four-speed gearbox made by Guyenet et Balvay to the patent design of J Didier. When production ceased in mid-1901, over 400 copies had been sold for 3,000 Francs (circa $ 600) each. Examples of the 'Victoria Combination' are currently displayed at the 'Tampa Bay Automobile Museum in Florida' [1] 'Musée Automobile de Vendée' fr:Musée automobile de Vendée in Talmont-Saint-Hilaire , France, and

1199-453: A major method to gain publicity for manufacturers. At first, the production models were raced and the Benz Velo participated in the first automobile race: Paris to Rouen 1894 . Later, investment in developing racecars for motorsports produced returns through sales generated by the association of the name of the automobile with the winners. Unique race vehicles were built at the time such as

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1308-441: A massive increase in grip and handling over all but the most expensive cars on the market. It initially used flexing rubber instead of needle rollers at the inboard universal joints of the driveshafts but later changed to needle rollers, and GKN designed constant-velocity joint at each outboard end of the drive shafts to allow for steering movement. The Mini revived the use of front-wheel drive which had been largely abandoned since

1417-464: A more powerful transverse engine: accordingly, faster versions featured longitudinally mounted (north–south) engines. Despite these developments, however, by the end of the 1980s, almost all major European and Japanese manufacturers had converged around the Fiat-pioneered system of a transversely mounted engine with an "end-on" transmission with unequal length driveshafts. For example, Renault dropped

1526-565: A transverse-mounted engine behind the front axle. This design would continue for 3 decades in Germany. Buckminster Fuller adopted rear-engine, front-wheel drive for his three Dymaxion Car prototypes. Other German car producers followed: Stoewer offered a car with front-wheel drive in 1931, Adler in 1932 and Audi in 1933. Versions of the Adler Trumpf sold five-figure numbers from 1932 to 1938, totalling over 25,600 units. In 1934, Adler added

1635-722: A transversely installed engine was the Suzuki Suzulight , which was a small "city" car, called a kei car in Japanese. In 1955, the Polish producer FSO in Warsaw introduced the front-wheel-driven Syrena of its own design. In 1959 Austin Mini was launched by the British Motor Corporation , designed by Alec Issigonis as a response to the first oil crisis, the 1956 Suez Crisis , and

1744-491: Is near the centre of the car, making the main component of its moment of inertia relatively low). Another result of this design is a lengthened chassis. Except for Citroën, after the 1930s, front-wheel drive would largely be abandoned for the following twenty years. Save the interruption of World War II , Citroën built some 3 ⁄ 4 million Traction Avants through 1957; adding their cheap 2CV people's car in 1948, and introducing an equally front-wheel driven successor for

1853-460: Is still used by Porsche , Subaru , and some high performance engines used in racing cars . In motorcycles, the most famous boxer engine is found in BMW Motorrad , though the boxer engine design was used in many other models, including Victoria , Harley-Davidson XA, Zündapp , Wooler , Douglas Dragonfly , Ratier , Universal, IMZ-Ural , Dnepr , Gnome et Rhône , Chang Jiang , Marusho , and

1962-485: Is the list of applicants for entry to the world's first motoring competition, the 1894 Paris–Rouen Competition for Horseless Carriages ( Concours du 'Petit Journal' Les Voitures sans Chevaux ) run by the Paris newspaper Le Petit Journal . The application, listed as number 52, stated that the 'Société Parisienne de constructions Velo' of Paris would use a four-seater vehicle powered by an 'air compressor'—It did not show up at

2071-464: The Mercedes-35hp of 1902. The engine was built to the specifications of Emil Jellinek under a contract for him to purchase thirty-six vehicles with the engine, and for him to become a dealer of the special series. Jellinek stipulated the new engine be named Daimler- Mercedes (for his daughter). Maybach would quit DMG in 1907, but he designed the model and all of the important changes. After testing,

2180-462: The Board of Management . Ganß worked in the commercialization department, which is somewhat similar to marketing in contemporary corporations. The new directors recommended that Benz should create a less expensive automobile suitable for mass production . From 1893 to 1900 Benz sold the four wheel, two seat Victoria , a two-passenger automobile with a 2.2 kW (3.0 hp) engine, which could reach

2289-468: The British Motor Corporation – moved over to the industry-standard solution for the Austin Maestro in 1983, and all its subsequent front-wheel-drive models. By reducing drivetrain weight and space needs, vehicles could be made smaller and more efficient without sacrificing acceleration. Integrating the powertrain with a transverse as opposed to a longitudinal layout, along with unibody construction and

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2398-592: The Cadillac lineup) back to rear-wheel drive. There were relatively few rear-wheel-drive cars marketed in North America by the early 1990s; Chrysler 's car line-up was entirely front-wheel drive by 1990. GM followed suit in 1996 where its B-body line was phased out, where its sports cars (Camaro, Firebird, Corvette) were the only RWDs marketed; by the early 2000s, the Chevrolet Corvette and Cadillac Catera were

2507-602: The Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its automobiles as Mercedes-Benz , honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the 1902 Mercedes 35 hp , along with the Benz name. The name of Mercedes 35 hp had been chosen for ten-year-old Mercédès Jellinek , the daughter of Emil Jellinek who had set the specifications for the new model. Between 1900 and 1909 he was a member of DMG's board of management, however had resigned long before

2616-487: The Douvrin engines used in the larger Renaults (20, 21, 25 and 30) used this longitudinal "forward" layout. The Saab Saab 99 , launched in 1968, also used a longitudinal engine with a transmission underneath with helical gears. The 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado was the first U.S. front-wheel-drive car since the Cord 810 . It used a longitudinal engine placement for its V8, coupled with an unusual "split" transmission, which turned

2725-582: The Eureka ) were manufactured at 10 Avenue de la Grande Armée . From 1900 to 1901 the Duc-Spider and Duc-Tonneau were more conventional models, with the engine mounted in the rigid chassis and driving the rear wheels via a propeller shaft. The 'Duc' (Duke) models used Aster engines of 5,000cc or 6,500cc. The company became known for a front-wheel drive voiturette called the Victoria Combination , which

2834-568: The Fiat 128 featured a transverse-mounted engine with unequal-length drive shafts and an innovative clutch release mechanism – an arrangement which Fiat had strategically tested on a previous production model, the Primula , from its less market-critical subsidiary, Autobianchi . Ready for production in 1964, the Primula featured a gear train offset from the differential and final drive with unequal length drive shafts . The layout enabled

2943-600: The Great Depression , by 1932 the Cord L-29 was discontinued, with just 4,400 sold. The 1929 Ruxton sold just 200 cars built that year. The first successful consumer application came in 1929. The BSA (Birmingham Small Arms Company) produced the unique front-wheel-drive BSA three-wheeler. Production continued until 1936 during which time sports and touring models were available. In 1931 the DKW F1 from Germany made its debut, with

3052-590: The Honda Gold Wing . Although Gottlieb Daimler died in March 1900—and there is no evidence that Benz and Daimler knew each other nor that they knew about each other's early achievements—eventually, competition with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Stuttgart began to challenge the leadership of Benz & Cie. In October 1900, the main designer of DMG, Wilhelm Maybach , built the engine that would later be used in

3161-522: The Mercedes-Benz among other brands. Benz is widely regarded as "the father of the car", as well as the "father of the automobile industry". Carl Benz was born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant on 25 November 1844 in Mühlburg , now a borough of Karlsruhe , Baden-Württemberg, which is part of modern Germany. His parents were Josephine Vaillant and a locomotive driver, Johann Georg Benz, whom she married

3270-603: The Prince Motor Company also developed a transmission-in-sump type layout for its first front wheel drive model, which after the company's takeover by Nissan , emerged as the Datsun 100A (Cherry) in 1971. In 1960 Lancia could evolve the project CemsaF11 of Antonio Fessia with the innovative Lancia Flavia for first time with motor Boxer on auxiliary frame for low centre of gravity. This scheme continued in Lancia until 1984 with

3379-1018: The Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm . It's really wonderful to follow the work of these multiple machine tools, they seem intelligent, pre-programmed, and finish parts with a mathematical precision, ready for use. Thus we realised that the bicycles of Société Parisienne are veritable precision machines. C'est vraiment merveilleux de suivre le travail de ces multiples machines-outils qui semblent donées d'intelligence, et de voir sortir d'un morceau informe une pièce finie, avec une précision mathémathique et prête à être mise en place. Aussi nous avons pu nous rendrecompte que les vélocipèdes de la Societe Parisienne sont de veritables pièces de precision. Benz %26 Cie. Carl (or Karl ) Friedrich Benz ( German: [kaʁl ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈbɛnts] ; born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant ; 25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929)

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3488-454: The Taunus   P4 . The 1965 Triumph 1300 was designed for a longitudinal engine with the transmission underneath. Audi has also used a longitudinally mounted engine overhung over the front wheels since the 1970s. Audi is one of the few manufacturers which still uses this particular configuration. It allows the use of equal-length half shafts and the easy addition of all-wheel drive , but has

3597-802: The Tracta constant-velocity joint in 1926. In October 1928 a sensation at the 22nd Paris Motor Show was the Bucciali TAV-6. Six years before the appearance of the Citroën Traction Avant and more than two years before the launch of the DKW F1, the Bucciali TAV-6 featured front-wheel drive. Both German makers DKW in 1931 and Adler in 1933 bought Tracta licenses for their first front-wheel-drive cars. Imperia in Belgium and Rosengart in France manufactured

3706-452: The ignition using sparks with battery , the spark plug , the carburetor , the clutch , the gear shift , and the water radiator . Problems arose again when the banks at Mannheim demanded that the Benz's enterprise be incorporated due to the high production costs it maintained. They were forced to improvise an association with photographer Emil Bühler and his brother (a cheese merchant), to get additional bank support. The company became

3815-466: The joint-stock company Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim in 1882. After all the necessary incorporation agreements, Benz was unhappy because he was left with merely five percent of the shares and a modest position as director. Worst of all, his ideas weren't considered when designing new products, so he withdrew from that corporation just one year later, in 1883. [REDACTED] (mechanically operated inlet valves) Benz's lifelong hobby brought him to

3924-501: The 170 km Paris–Trouville event in August Monsieur Serin finished 32nd in 8 hours 36 minutes. At the 1898 Marseille–Nice race Labouré finished 23rd in his Parisienne, covering the 226 km in 11 hours 12 minutes 47 seconds. It was second in the 200–400 kg class. In 1899 a Parisienne Victoria Combination entered the voiturette class of the 371 km Paris– St Malo race, finishing 23rd overall and second(last) in

4033-443: The 1930s. The transversely mounted engine combined with front-wheel drive was popularized by the 1959 Mini ; there the transmission was built into the sump of the engine, and drive was transferred to it via a set of primary gears . Another variant transmission concept was used by Simca in the 1960s keeping the engine and transmission in line, but transverse mounted and with unequal length driveshafts. This has proven itself to be

4142-588: The 1948 Saab 92 . In 1946, English car company Lloyd cars produced the Lloyd 650 , a front-wheel-drive roadster. The two-stroke, two-cylinder motor was mounted transversely in the front and connected to the front wheels through a four-speed synchronised gearbox. The high price and lacklustre performance doomed its production. Only 600 units were produced from 1946 to 1950. In 1946 in Italy, Antonio Fessia created his Cemsa Caproni F11 , with 7 examples produced. His innovation

4251-420: The 1986 Ford Taurus . By the mid-1980s, most formerly rear-wheel-drive Japanese models were front-wheel drive, and by the mid-1990s, most American brands only sold a handful of rear-wheel-drive models. The vast majority of front-wheel-drive vehicles today use a transversely mounted engine with "end-on" mounted transmission, driving the front wheels via driveshafts linked via constant velocity (CV) joints , and

4360-561: The Adler under the licenses using the Tracta CV joints. During the second World War, all British vehicles, U.S. Jeeps made by Ford and Dodge command cars used Tracta CV joints. Russia and Germany also used the Tracta CV joints, but without the licensing. The United States only saw a few limited production experiments like the Cord L-29 of 1929, the first American front-wheel-drive car to be offered to

4469-530: The Benz Velo. The early Velo had a 1L 1.5-metric-horsepower (1.5 hp; 1.1 kW) engine, and later a 3-metric-horsepower (3 hp; 2 kW) engine. giving a top speed of 19 km/h (12 mph). The Velo participated in the world's first automobile race, the 1894 Paris to Rouen , where Émile Roger finished 14th, after covering the 126 km (78 mi) in 10 hours 01-minute at an average speed of 12.7 km/h (7.9 mph). In 1895, Benz designed

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4578-496: The French manufacturer Société Parisienne patented their front-wheel-drive articulated vehicle concept which they manufactured as a Victoria Combination . It was variously powered by 1.75 or 2.5 horsepower (1.30 or 1.86 kW) De Dion-Bouton engine or a water cooled 3.5 horsepower (2.6 kW) Aster engine. The engine was mounted on the front axle and so was rotated by the tiller steering. The name Victoria Combination described

4687-420: The Karlsruhe polytechnical school, which he subsequently attended. Benz graduated on 9 July 1864, aged 19. Following his formal education, Benz had seven years of professional training in several companies, but did not fit well in any of them. The training started in Karlsruhe with two years of varied jobs in a mechanical engineering company. He then moved to Mannheim to work as a draftsman and designer in

4796-538: The Motorwagen was a Parisian bicycle manufacturer Emile Roger , who had already been building Benz engines under license from Benz for several years. Roger added the Benz automobiles (many built in France) to the line he carried in Paris and initially most were sold there. The early 1888 version of the Motorwagen had only two gears and could not climb hills unaided. This limitation was rectified after Bertha Benz drove one of

4905-854: The Sydney motoring industry and invented a system that used a "spherical radial gear" that was fitted to what is believed to have been a Standard (built by the Standard Motor Company of England). A photo of the car with the system fitted is available from the Mitchell Library and the patent design drawing is still available from the Australian Patent Office. reference; "Gilltraps Australian Cars from 1879 – A history of cars built in Australia" (authors Gilltrap T and M) ISBN 0 85558 936 1 (Golden Press Pty Ltd) The next application of front-wheel drive

5014-514: The TA, the DS model, in 1955. Front-wheel drive continued with the 1948 Citroën 2CV , where the air-cooled lightweight aluminium flat twin engine was mounted ahead of the front wheels, but used Hooke type universal joint driveshaft joints, and 1955 Citroën DS , featuring the mid-engine layout. Panhard of France, DKW of Germany and Saab of Sweden offered exclusively front-wheel-drive cars, starting with

5123-601: The United States managed a bit better than its predecessor one decade earlier. These vehicles featured a layout that places the engine behind the transmission, running "backwards," (save for the Cord, which drove the transmission from the front of the engine). The basic front-wheel-drive layout provides sharp turning, and better weight distribution creates "positive handling characteristics" due to its low polar inertia and relatively favourable weight distribution. (The heaviest component

5232-539: The United States, and even competed in the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup and the French Grand Prix . In 1912 he began manufacturing a line of wheeled fire engine tractors which used his front-wheel-drive system, but due to lack of sales this venture failed. In Australia in 1915 G.J. Hoskins designed and was granted a patent for his front-wheel-drive system. Based in Burwood NSW Mr Hoskins was a prominent member of

5341-404: The age of nine, he started at the scientifically oriented Lyceum . Next he studied at Karlsruhe's polytechnical school under the instruction of Ferdinand Redtenbacher . Benz had originally focused his studies on locksmithing , but he eventually followed his father's steps toward locomotive engineering. On 30 September 1860, at age 15, he passed the entrance exam for mechanical engineering for

5450-429: The boom in bubble cars that followed. It was the first production front-wheel-drive car with a watercooled inline four-cylinder engine mounted transversely. This allowed eighty percent of the floor plan for the use of passengers and luggage. The majority of modern cars use this configuration. Its progressive rate rubber sprung independent suspension, low centre of gravity, and wheel at each corner with radial tyres, gave

5559-400: The business's tools were impounded. The difficulty was overcome when Benz's fiancée, Bertha Ringer , bought out Ritter's share in the company, using her dowry . On 20 July 1872, Benz and Bertha Ringer married. They had five children: Eugen (1873), Richard (1874), Clara (1877), Thilde (1882), and Ellen (1890). Despite the business misfortunes, Benz led in the development of new engines in

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5668-579: The car on 3 July 1886 in Mannheim at a top speed of 16 km/h (10 mph). The next year Benz created the Motorwagen Model 2, which had several modifications, and in 1889, the definitive Model 3 with wooden wheels was introduced, showing at the Paris Expo the same year. Benz began to sell the vehicle (advertising it as " Benz Patent-Motorwagen ") in the late summer of 1888, making it the first commercially available automobile in history. The second customer of

5777-522: The class. In October a Victoria Combination won its class in the Paris–Rambouillet–Paris event, covering the 100 kilometre course at 16 mph. In 1900 it completed 150 miles, non-stop, at 18 mph. The earliest cars built between 1896 and 1898 were reportedly initially based on Benz Viktorias , using a single cylinder, 2.9-litre, 4.5 hp petrol engine. From 1899 over 400 articulated front-wheel drive 'Victoria Combinations' (also known as

5886-432: The company in 1904 as the designer of passenger vehicles. That year, sales of Benz & Cie. reached 3,480 automobiles, and the company remained the leading manufacturer of automobiles. Along with continuing as a director of Benz & Cie., Benz founded another company, C. Benz Söhne , (with his son Eugen and closely held within the family), a privately held company for manufacturing automobiles. The brand name used

5995-442: The disadvantage that it makes it difficult to achieve 50/50 weight distribution (although they remedy this in four-wheel-drive models by mounting the gearbox at the rear of the transaxle ). The Subaru 1000 appeared in 1966 using front-wheel drive mated to a flat-4 engine, with the driveshafts of equal length extending from the transmission, which addressed some of the issues of the powertrain being somewhat complex and unbalanced in

6104-414: The early factory he and his wife owned. To get more revenue, in 1878 he began to work on new patents. First, he concentrated on creating a reliable petrol two-stroke engine . Benz finished his two-stroke engine on 31 December 1879, and was granted a patent for it on 28 June 1880. While designing what would become the production standard for his two-stroke engine, Benz patented the speed regulation system,

6213-553: The end production of Lancia Gamma and successfully cloned until today by Subaru . Lancia, however also made front-wheel drive its flagship even in sport cars as the winner of the Rally, Lancia Fulvia , and then with large-scale models with excellent road qualities and performances including Lancia Beta , Lancia Delta , Lancia Thema including the powerful Lancia Thema 8.32 with engine Ferrari and all subsequent models. Ford introduced front-wheel drive to its European customers in 1962 with

6322-439: The engine and gearbox to be located side by side without sharing lubricating fluid while orienting the cooling fan toward fresh air flow. By using the Primula as a test-bed, Fiat was able to sufficiently resolve the layout's disadvantages, including uneven side-to-side power transmission, uneven tire wear and potential torque steer , the tendency for the power of the engine alone to steer the car under heavy acceleration. The problem

6431-771: The engine compartment – the Alfa Romeo Alfasud (and its replacement, the 1983 Alfa 33 as well as the Alfa 145/146 up to the late 1990s) also used the same layout. Honda also introduced several small front-wheel drive vehicles, with the N360 and N600 , the Z360 and Z600 in 1967, the Honda 1300 in 1969, followed by the Honda Civic in 1972 and the Honda Accord in 1976. Also in the 1970s and 1980s,

6540-609: The engine directly on the front axle and then turning the whole assembly with a tiller, while the driver and passenger were towed in a Victoria trailer ( Calèche ). 'La Société Parisienne de constructions Velo' was founded in 1876 by Victor Reynard , who was awarded the 'Diploma of honour' at the Exposition Universelle (1878) . By 1891 it was run by Monsieur Couturier. 'La Société Parisienne de constructions Velo' manufactured velocipedes, bicycles and tricycles at its works at 10 avenue de la Grande Armée, Paris, from 1876, and

6649-412: The engine driving the front wheels through an offset final drive and unequal-length driveshafts, combined with MacPherson struts and an independently located radiator – subsequently became common with competitors and arguably an industry standard. The Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard drove a mass changeover of cars in the U.S. to front-wheel drive. The change began in 1978, with

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6758-517: The engine power 180 degrees. Power then went to a differential mounted to the transmission case, from which half-shafts took it to the wheels. The driveline was set fairly at centre-point of the wheels for better weight distribution, though this raised the engine, requiring lowered intake systems. Little known outside of Italy, the Primula is today primarily known for innovating the modern economy-car layout. – Hemmings Motor News , August 2011 Front-wheel-drive layout had been highly impacted by

6867-524: The engine. The layout often required the engine be removed to service the clutch. This Active Tourer MPV wants to be more stable than a BMW M3, and using the Dante Giacosa-pattern front-wheel-drive layout compacts the mechanicals and saves space for people in the reduced overall length of what will surely become a production 1-series tall-sedan crossover. – Robert Cumberford , Automobile Magazine , March 2013 As engineered by Dante Giacosa ,

6976-515: The event. At the 1896 Paris–Marseille–Paris race two Parisiennes (Parisienne-Benz) were entered by Guyonnet and Charles Labouré, and completed the 1,710 km course in 102 hours to record eleventh and twelfth places respectively. The cars were reportedly slightly modified Benz Viktorias , using a single-cylinder, 2.9-litre, 4.5 hp petrol engine. At the Marseille – Nice – La Turbie event in January 1897 M. Courtois ( sic ) (possibly M. Couturier)

7085-736: The first mid-engine and aerodynamically designed, Tropfenwagen , a "teardrop" body introduced at the 1923 European Grand Prix at Monza . In the last production year of the Benz Sons company, 1923, three hundred and fifty units were built. During the following year, 1924, Benz built two additional 8/25 hp units of the automobile manufactured by this company, tailored for his personal use, which he never sold; they are still preserved. The German economic crisis worsened. In 1923 Benz & Cie. produced only 1,382 units in Mannheim, and DMG made only 1,020 in Stuttgart. The average cost of an automobile

7194-599: The first front-wheel-drive car in the world. Henry's car was reported in the English press at the time and featured in the English magazine Autocar , after which the car was named. Two prototypes of the Autocar were built and the Austral Otis Company was going to go into business with Henry to manufacture Henry's car but the cost of the car was too prohibitive as it could not compete with the cost of imported cars. In 1898–99,

7303-423: The first initial of Benz's first name, "Carl". In 1909, the Blitzen Benz was built in Mannheim by Benz & Cie. The bird-beaked vehicle had a 21.5-liter (1312ci), 150 kW (200 hp) engine, and on 9 November 1909 in the hands of Victor Hémery of France, the land speed racer at Brooklands , set a record of 226.91 km/h (141.00 mph), said to be "faster than any plane, train, or automobile" at

7412-604: The first truck with an internal combustion engine in history. Benz also built the first motor buses in history in 1895, for the Netphener bus company. In 1896, Benz was granted a patent for his design of the first flat engine . It had horizontally opposed pistons , a design in which the corresponding pistons reach top dead centre simultaneously, thus balancing each other with respect to momentum . Many flat engines, particularly those with four or fewer cylinders, are arranged as "boxer engines", boxermotor in German, and also are known as "horizontally opposed engines". This design

7521-451: The first was delivered to Jellinek on 22 December 1900. Jellinek continued to make suggestions for changes to the model and obtained good results racing the automobile in the next few years, encouraging DMG to engage in commercial production of automobiles, which they did in 1902. Benz countered with Parsifal , introduced in 1903 with a vertical twin engine that achieved a top speed of 60 km/h (37 mph). Then, without consulting Benz,

7630-402: The front axles of almost every four-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicle. Neither automobile was particularly successful in the open market. In spite of the Cord's hallmark innovation, using CV joints, and being competitively priced against contemporaneous alternatives, the buyers demographic were expecting more than the car's 80 mph (130 km/h) top speed, and combined with the effect of

7739-419: The front of the vehicle, powering the front axle . It is possibly the world's first front-wheel-drive automobile, but it never saw series production, with just one prototype made. In 1898, Latil , in France, devised a front-wheel-drive system for motorising horse-drawn carts. In 1899 the inventor Henry Sutton designed and built one of Australia's first cars, called The Sutton Autocar. This car may have been

7848-536: The introduction of the first American-built transverse-engined cars, the Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni (based on the European designed Simca Horizon ), followed by the 1980 Chevrolet Citation and numerous other vehicles. Meanwhile, European car makers, that had moved to front-wheel drive decades before, began to homogenize their engine arrangement only in this decade, leaving Saab , Audi (and Volkswagen ) as

7957-418: The lightweight, two-seater trailer commonly known as a Victoria, combined with the rear axle and drive mechanism from a motor tricycle that was placed in front to achieve front wheel drive. It also known as the Eureka . By 1899 Victoria Combinations were participating in motoring events such as the 371 km (231 mi) Paris– St Malo race, finishing 23rd overall and second(last) in the class. In October

8066-632: The manner now referred to as live marketing. Today, the event is celebrated every two years in Germany with an antique automobile rally. In 2008, the Bertha Benz Memorial Route was officially approved as a route of the industrial heritage of mankind, because it follows Bertha Benz's tracks of the world's first long-distance journey by automobile in 1888. The public can now follow the 194 km (121 mi) of signposted route from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Pforzheim ( Black Forest ) and back. The return trip – which didn't go through Heidelberg –

8175-416: The merger. Benz was a member of the new Daimler-Benz board of management for the remainder of his life. A new logo was created in 1926, consisting of a three pointed star (representing Daimler's motto : "engines for land, air, and water" ) surrounded by traditional laurels from the Benz logo, and the brand of all of its automobiles was labeled Mercedes-Benz . Model names would follow the brand name in

8284-527: The model on which almost all modern FWD vehicles are now based. Peugeot and Renault on their jointly developed small car engine of the 1970s where the 4-cylinder block was canted over to reduce the overall height of the engine with the transmission mounted on the side of the crankcase in what became popularly known as the "suitcase" arrangement ( PSA X engine ). The tendency of this layout to generate unwanted transmission "whine" has seen it fall out of favour. Also, clutch changes required engine removal. In Japan,

8393-481: The most common layout for a front-wheel-drive car is with the engine and transmission at the front of the car, mounted transversely. Other layouts of front-wheel drive that have been occasionally produced are a front-engine mounted longitudinally, a mid-engine layout and a rear-engine layout. Experiments with front-wheel-drive cars date to the early days of the automobile. The world's first self-propelled vehicle, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot 's 1769/1770 "fardier à vapeur" ,

8502-595: The only manufacturers offering a front-drive longitudinal engine layout. Years before this was the most common layout in Europe, with examples like Citroën DS , Renault 12 , Renault 5 , Renault 25 (a Chrysler LH ancestor) Alfa Romeo 33 , Volkswagen Passat , etc. This transition can be exemplified in the Renault 21 that was offered with disparate engine configurations. The 1.7-litre version featured an "east–west" (transversely) mounted engine, but Renault had no gearbox suitable for

8611-584: The other directors hired some French designers. France was a country with an extensive automobile industry based on Maybach's creations. Because of this action, after difficult discussions, Benz announced his retirement from design management on 24 January 1903, although he remained as director on the Board of Management through its merger with DMG in 1926 and, remained on the board of the new Daimler-Benz corporation until his death in 1929. Benz's sons Eugen and Richard left Benz & Cie. in 1903, but Richard returned to

8720-925: The pre-war DKW F8 and F9 reappeared as the IFA F8 and IFA F9 in 1949, followed by the AWZ P70 in 1955, the Wartburg 311 in 1956 and the Trabant in 1958, all with front-wheel drive. The P70 and Trabant had Duroplast bodies, and the Trabant had both a monocoque body and a transversely mounted engine, a modern design in some ways. In 1950 West German makers also reintroduced front-wheel-drive cars: DKW had lost its production facilities in Eisenach (now in DDR) and reestablished itself in Ingolstadt. A version of

8829-555: The pre-war F9 was introduced as the DKW F89. Borgward introduced 2 new makes with front-wheel drive, the Goliath and the Lloyd in 1950. Gutbrod also came with a car in 1950; the Superior, but withdrew the car in 1954 and concentrated on other products. This car is best remembered for its Bosch fuel-injection . In 1955, one of the first Japanese manufacturers to utilize front-wheel drive with

8938-711: The public, and a few months later the Ruxton automobile . The Cord L-29's drive system was again inspired by racing, copying from the Indianapolis 500 -dominating racers, using the same de Dion layout and inboard brakes. Moreover, the Auburn (Indiana) built Cord was the first ever front-wheel drive production car to use constant-velocity joints . These very specific components allow motive power to be delivered to steered wheels more seamlessly than universal joints , and have become common on almost every front-wheel-drive car, including on

9047-408: The rear axle. Benz finished his creation in 1885 and named it " Benz Patent-Motorwagen ". The Motorwagen was patented on 29 January 1886 as DRP-37435: "automobile fueled by gas". The 1885 version was difficult to control, leading to a collision with a wall during a public demonstration. The first successful tests on public roads were carried out in the early summer of 1886. Benz first publicly drove

9156-424: The same convention as today. Front-wheel drive Front-wheel drive ( FWD ) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel-drive vehicles feature a transverse engine , rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive vehicles. By far

9265-516: The same transverse-mounted, forward-motor layout as modern front-wheel-drive automobiles. It even resembled the smaller version of its popular Alfa Romeo Giulia . However, due to the financial difficulties in post-war Italy, the 33 never saw production. Had Alfa-Romeo succeed in producing 33, it would have preceded the Mini as the first "modern" European front-wheel-drive compact car. The German car industry resumed from WW2 in 1949/1950. In East Germany (DDR),

9374-465: The success of small, inexpensive cars, especially the British Mini . As engineered by Alec Issigonis , the compact arrangement located the transmission and engine sharing a single oil sump – despite disparate lubricating requirements – and had the engine's radiator mounted to the side of the engine, away from the flow of fresh air and drawing heated rather than cool air over

9483-496: The time, a record that was not exceeded for ten years by any other vehicle. It was transported to several countries, including the United States, to establish multiple records of this achievement. Carl Benz, Bertha Benz, and their son, Eugen, moved 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of Mannheim to live in nearby Ladenburg , and solely with their own capital, founded the private company, C. Benz Sons (German: Benz Söhne ) in 1906, producing automobiles and gas engines. The latter type

9592-464: The top speed of 18 km/h (11 mph) and had a pivotal front axle operated by a roller-chained tiller for steering . The model was successful with 85 units sold in 1893, and was produced in a four-seated version with face-to-face seat benches called the "Vis-à-Vis". From 1894 to 1902, Benz produced over 1,200 of what some consider the first mass-produced car, the Velocipede , later known as

9701-468: The transmission in the sump, and the cooling fan drawing hot air from its side-facing location. Volvo Cars has switched its entire lineup after the 900 series to front-wheel drive. Swedish engineers at the company have said that transversely mounted engines allow for more crumple zone area in a head-on collision. American auto manufacturers are now shifting larger models (such as the Chrysler 300 and most of

9810-576: The transmission-in-sump " Suitcase " engine that it had co-developed with Peugeot in the 1970s for its compact models, starting with the Renault 9 in 1982. Peugeot-Citroen themselves also moved over to the end-on gearbox solution when it phased out the Suitcase unit in favour of the TU-series engine in 1986. Nissan also abandoned the transmission-in-sump concept for its N12-series Cherry/Pulsar in 1982. Perhaps symbolically, British Leyland themselves, heirs to

9919-473: The use of constant velocity jointed drive axles, along with front wheel drive has evolved into the modern-day mass-market automobile. Some suggest that the introduction of the modern Volkswagen Golf in 1974, from a traditional U.S. competitor, and the introduction of the 1973 Honda Civic , and the 1976 Honda Accord served as a wake-up call for the "Big Three" (only Chrysler already produced front-wheel-drive vehicles in their operations outside North America). GM

10028-547: The vehicles a great distance and suggested to her husband the addition of a third gear for climbing hills. In the course of this trip she also invented brake pads. The world's first long distance automobile trip was undertaken by Bertha Benz using a Model 3. On the morning of 5 August 1888 Bertha – supposedly without the knowledge of her husband – took the vehicle on a 104 km (65 mi) trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim to visit her mother, taking her sons Eugen and Richard with her. In addition to having to locate pharmacies along

10137-511: The way to refuel, she repaired various technical and mechanical problems. One of these included the invention of brake lining ; after some longer downhill slopes she ordered a shoemaker to nail leather onto the brake blocks. Bertha Benz and sons finally arrived at nightfall, announcing the achievement to Karl by telegram . It had been her intention to demonstrate the feasibility of using the Benz Motorwagen for travel and to generate publicity in

10246-418: Was 25 million marks because of rapid inflation. Negotiations between the two companies resumed and in 1924 they signed an "Agreement of Mutual Interest" valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, sales, and advertising—marketing their automobile models jointly—although keeping their respective brands. On 28 June 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as

10355-584: Was a German engine designer and automotive engineer . His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1885 is considered the first practical modern automobile and first car put into series production. He received a patent for the motorcar in 1886, the same year he first publicly drove the Benz Patent-Motorwagen. His company Benz & Cie. , based in Mannheim , was the world's first automobile plant and largest of its day. In 1926, it merged with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz , which produces

10464-473: Was a front-wheel-driven three-wheeled steam-tractor. It then took at least a century for the first experiments with mobile internal combustion engines to gain traction. Sometime between 1895 and 1898 the Austrian brothers and bicycle producers Franz, Heinrich and Karl Gräf (see Gräf & Stift ) commissioned the technician Josef Kainz to build a voiturette with a one-cylinder De Dion-Bouton engine fitted in

10573-404: Was added. Benz & Cie. had grown in the interim from 50 employees in 1889 to 430 in 1899. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899. Because of its size, in 1899, Benz & Cie. became a joint-stock company with the arrival of Friedrich von Fischer and Julius Ganß, who came aboard as members of

10682-512: Was along a different, slightly shorter route, as shown on the maps of the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Benz's Model 3 made its wide-scale debut to the world in the 1889 World's Fair in Paris; about twenty-five Motorwagens were built between 1886 and 1893. The great demand for static internal combustion engines forced Benz to enlarge the factory in Mannheim, and in 1886 a new building located on Waldhofstrasse (operating until 1908)

10791-536: Was also known as the Eureka and Société Parisienne patented the design of articulated front-drive unit and trailer. The specification of the Victoria developed over time, but the simple design belied the high quality of workmanship. The coachwork was built by a leading Parisian coach-builder Alfred Belvallette , the front axle units were built by Darracq . In June 1899 it was offered with a 2.5 hp De Dion Bouton engine fitted with 'Longuemare automatic carburettor, and

10900-416: Was classified 23rd after completing the 240 kilometres in 12 hours 50 minutes. At the 1897 Paris– Dieppe race three Parisiennes were entered and completed the 178 km distance. The new two-seater vehicle of Serin was classified last in 33rd position in a time of 10 hours 7 minutes 30 seconds. The older four-seater Parisiennes of Guyonnet and Labouré completed the distance but were outside the time limit. At

11009-561: Was described in L'Industrie Vélocipédique (Cycling Industry) of 1891 as 'the oldest velocipede manufacturer in France', by which time the workshop was regarded as a model for industrial organisation and practice. The bicycles were described as light, high-quality, 'precision machines', and the range included safety bicycles and a folding Military model. 'La Société Parisienne de constructions Velocipedes et Automobile' built motor vehicles at 10 avenue de la Grande Armée. The earliest record of Parisienne's ambition regarding motorised vehicles

11118-415: Was developed by Ferdinand Porsche in 1897 based on a concept developed by American inventor Wellington Adams . Porsche also raced it in 1897. J. Walter Christie of the United States patented a design for a front-wheel-drive car, the first prototype of which he built in 1904. He promoted and demonstrated several such vehicles, notably with transversely mounted engines, by racing at various speedways in

11227-538: Was even later with the 1979 Vauxhall Astra / Opel Kadett . Captive imports were the US car makers initial response to the increased demand for economy cars . The popularity of front-wheel drive began to gain momentum, with the 1981 Ford Escort , the 1982 Nissan Sentra , and the 1983 Toyota Corolla . Front-wheel drive became the norm for mid-sized cars starting with the 1982 Chevrolet Celebrity , 1982 Toyota Camry , 1983 Dodge 600 , 1985 Nissan Maxima , 1986 Honda Legend , and

11336-477: Was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, 30 May 1925. However, the idea of front-wheel drive languished outside the motor racing arena as few manufacturers attempted the same for production automobiles. Alvis Cars did introduce a commercial model of the front-wheel drive 12/50 racer in 1928, but it was not a success. In France, Jean-Albert Grégoire and Pierre Fenaille developed

11445-481: Was largely solved by making the shorter driveshaft solid, and the longer one hollow, to ensure both shafts experienced elastic twist which was roughly the same. After the 128, Fiat further demonstrated the layout's flexibility, re-configurating the 128 drive train as a mid-engined layout for the Fiat X1/9 . The compact, efficient Giacosa layout – a transversely-mounted engine with transmission mounted beside

11554-595: Was replaced by petrol engines because of lack of demand. This company never issued stocks publicly, building its own line of automobiles independently from Benz & Cie., which was located in Mannheim. The Benz Sons automobiles were of good quality and became popular in London as taxis . In 1912, Benz liquidated all of his shares in Benz Sons and left the family-held company in Ladenburg to Eugen and Richard, but he remained as

11663-643: Was the supercharged Alvis 12/50 racing car designed by George Thomas Smith-Clarke and William M. Dunn of Alvis Cars of the United Kingdom. This vehicle was entered in the 1925 Kop Hill Climb in Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire on 28 March 1925. Harry Arminius Miller of Menomonie, Wisconsin designed the Miller 122 front-wheel drive race-car that was entered in the 1925 Indianapolis 500 , which

11772-401: Was to create the happy combination of a low centre of gravity boxer engine (flat four) with a special frame. Due to post-war financial problems Cemsa could not continue production, but the project was resumed when taken on by Lancia in the 50s. In 1954, Alfa-Romeo had experimented with its first front-wheel-drive compact car named "33" (not related to the sports car similarly named "33"). It had

11881-440: Was variously powered by 1.75 hp or 2.5 hp De Dion-Bouton engine or a water-cooled 3.5 hp Aster engine. The engine was mounted on the front axle and so was rotated by the tiller steering. The name Victoria Combination described the lightweight, two-seater trailer commonly known as a Victoria, combined with the rear axle and drive mechanism from a motor tricycle that was placed in front to achieve front-wheel drive. It

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