Early+Autos

America's passion for the automobile developed rather quickly in the beginning of the twentieth century. At the turn off that century, there were few automobiles, or horseless carriages, as they were called at the time, and those that existed were considered frivolous playthings of the rich. They were rather <range type="comment" id="565650309_8">fragile </range id="565650309_8">machines that <range type="comment" id="565650309_9">sputtered </range id="565650309_9">and smoked and broke down often; they were expensive toys that <range type="comment" id="565650309_10">could not be counted on</range id="565650309_10"> to get one where one needed to go; they could only be <range type="comment" id="565650309_11">afforded </range id="565650309_11">by the wealthy class, who could afford both the expensive <range type="comment" id="565650309_12">upkeep </range id="565650309_12">and the <range type="comment" id="565650309_13">inherent </range id="565650309_13"><range type="comment" id="565650309_14">delays </range id="565650309_14">that resulted from the use of a machine that tended to break down time and again. These early automobiles <range type="comment" id="565650309_15">required </range id="565650309_15"><range type="comment" id="565650309_16">repairs </range id="565650309_16">so frequently both because their engineering was at an <range type="comment" id="565650309_17">immature </range id="565650309_17">stage and because <range type="comment" id="565650309_18">roads </range id="565650309_18">were <range type="comment" id="565650309_19">unpaved </range id="565650309_19">and often <range type="comment" id="565650309_20">in poor condition</range id="565650309_20">. These <range type="comment" id="565650309_21">horrendous </range id="565650309_21">road conditions <range type="comment" id="565650309_22">forced </range id="565650309_22">drivers to use their automobiles on <range type="comment" id="565650309_23">grooved, rutted, and bumpy roads.</range id="565650309_23"> Then, when breakdowns <range type="comment" id="565650309_24">occurred</range id="565650309_24">, there were no <range type="comment" id="565650309_25"><range type="comment" id="565650309_26">services </range id="565650309_26"></range id="565650309_25">such as <range type="comment" id="565650309_27">roadside gas stations</range id="565650309_27"> or <range type="comment" id="565650309_28">tow trucks</range id="565650309_28"> to assist drivers needing help in their <range type="comment" id="565650309_29">predicament</range id="565650309_29">. Drivers of <range type="comment" id="565650309_31">horse-drawn carriages</range id="565650309_31"> <range type="comment" id="565650309_30">considered </range id="565650309_30">the<range type="comment" id="565650309_33"> horseless <range type="comment" id="565650309_32">mode </range id="565650309_32">of transportation</range id="565650309_33"> <range type="comment" id="565650309_34">foolhardy</range id="565650309_34">, preferring <range type="comment" id="565650309_35">instead </range id="565650309_35">to <range type="comment" id="565650309_36">rely </range id="565650309_36">on their <range type="comment" id="565650309_37">foul</range id="565650309_37">-legged "<range type="comment" id="565650309_38">engines</range id="565650309_38">," which they considered a <range type="comment" id="565650309_39">tremendously </range id="565650309_39">more <range type="comment" id="565650309_40">dependable </range id="565650309_40">and <range type="comment" id="565650309_41">cost-effective</range id="565650309_41"> <range type="comment" id="565650309_42">means </range id="565650309_42">of getting around. Automobiles in the beginning of the twentieth century were quite <range type="comment" id="565650309_43">unlike </range id="565650309_43">today's models. Many of them were electric cars, <range type="comment" id="565650309_44">even though</range id="565650309_44"> the electric models had quite a limited range and needed to be <range type="comment" id="565650309_45">recharged </range id="565650309_45"><range type="comment" id="565650309_46">frequently </range id="565650309_46">at electric charging stations; many others <range type="comment" id="565650309_47">were powered by steam</range id="565650309_47">, though it was often <range type="comment" id="565650309_48">required </range id="565650309_48">that drivers of steam cares be <range type="comment" id="565650309_49">certified </range id="565650309_49">steam engineers <range type="comment" id="565650309_50">due to</range id="565650309_50"> the dangers <range type="comment" id="565650309_51">inherent </range id="565650309_51">i<range type="comment" id="565650309_52">n operating a steam-powered machine</range id="565650309_52">. The early automobiles also <range type="comment" id="565650309_53">lacked </range id="565650309_53">much emphasis on body design; in fact, they were often little more than benches on wheels, though by the end of the first decade of the century they had progressed to leather-upholstered chairs or sofas on thin wheels that absorbed little of the incessant pounding associated with the movement of these machines. In spite of the rather rough and undeveloped nature of these early horseless carriages, something about them grabbed people's imagination, and their use increased rapidly, though not always smoothly. In the first decade of the last century, roads were shared by the horse-drawn and horseless variety of carriages, a situation that was rife with problems and required strict measures to control the incidents and accidents that resulted when two such different modes of transportation were used in close proximity. New York City, for example, banned horseless vehicles from Central Park early in the century because they had been involved in so many accidents, often causing injury or death; then, in 1904, New York state <range type="comment" id="565650309_78">felt </range id="565650309_78">that it was necessary to control automobile <range type="comment" id="565720203_1">traffic </range id="565720203_1">by<range type="comment" id="565720203_2"> placing speed limits</range id="565720203_2"> of 20 miles per hour in open areas, 15 miles per hour in villages, and 10 miles per hour in cities or areas of <range type="comment" id="565720203_3">congestion</range id="565720203_3">. However, the measures taken were<range type="comment" id="565720203_4"> less a means of limiting use</range id="565720203_4"> of the automobile and <range type="comment" id="565720203_5">more a way of controlling</range id="565720203_5"> the effects of an <range type="comment" id="565720203_6">invention </range id="565720203_6">whose use <range type="comment" id="565720203_7">increased </range id="565720203_7">dramatically in a relatively short period of time. <range type="comment" id="565720203_8">Under </range id="565720203_8">5,000 automobiles were sold in the United States for a total <range type="comment" id="565720203_9">cost </range id="565720203_9">of <range type="comment" id="565720203_10">approximately </range id="565720203_10">$5 million in 1900, <range type="comment" id="565720203_11">while considerably</range id="565720203_11"> more cars, 181,000, were sold for $215 million in 1910, and by the middle of the 1920s, automobile <range type="comment" id="565720203_12">manufacturing </range id="565720203_12">had become the top industry in the United States and <range type="comment" id="565720203_13">accounted </range id="565720203_13">for 6 percent of the manufacturing in the country.



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