Car History From 1900 To 1940


A timeline of history of cars in the early twentieth century. This is where the modern car history really starts:

1900 Gottlieb Daimler dies and Maybach designs a model named Daimler-Mercedes.

Ransom Olds and Oldsmobile
1902 New model DMG automobile is produced and named Mercedes.

1902 Ransom Olds starts production-line manufacturing of more affordable cars in his Oldsmobile factory.

1902-03 Maybach quits DMG nad opens his own business.

1910 Internal combustion engines achieve dominance over steam powered vehicles.

Henry Ford
1911 Ford France and Ford Britain established.

1910-1911 Charles Kettering develops electric ignition and the electric self-starter.

1914 Henry Ford expands and improves the Ransom Olds production-line manufacturing. Ford car comes off the line every three minutes.

1914 Ford drops all colors but black because it is the only color (made in Japan) that dries fast enough.

Ford T-Model - one of the most famous cars in car history
1914 Ford factory worker can buy a Model T with four months' pay.

1921 Citroen was the first European manufacturer to adopt production-line manufacturing. If you need some more information on Citroen try classic Citroen cars.

1924 Benz and Daimler sign an Agreement of Mutual Interest valid until the year 2000.

1924 Morris sets up its production line at Cowley.

1924 Opel sets up production line at Russelsheim, first German mass-manufactured car is Opel 4PS Laubfrosch. Soon Opel has 37% of the German market.

1925 Morris has 41% of total British car production.

1925 Citroen, Renault and Peugeot produce 550.000 cars, other car companies can not compete.

1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG merge as the Daimler-Benz company and name all their automobiles Mercedes Benz.

1926 Fast-drying color - Durco lacquer is developed.

Mercedes Benz from 1929
1929 Karl Benz dies.

1930 250 car companies that did not have production-line manufacturing disappeared by this year.

1940 Only 17 car manufacturers were left in USA due to the great depression.