Gallery: 100 Years of Automotive Innovation, in One Amazing Display
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In 1968, Ford made the GT40 Mark III Coupe, one of the first production cars with a mid-engine design. While its predecessors, the Mark I and Mark II, were meant for racing, this car was made to be driven on the street, although only a handful were built.
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Placing the engine in the middle of the car—behind the driver but ahead of the rear axle—helped the car’s weight distribution and made it easier to keep under control at high speeds.
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The 1941 Mercedes-Benz 770K W150 Offener Tourenwagen was built during World War II to move Nazi officials in safety. The armored car featured bullet proof glass, an protected underbody, and a 7.7 liter (thus the name) engine to move the extra heavy vehicle.
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In the aftermath of the war, while the Allies were scouring Germany for stolen artworks, Jackson says, men like Tom Barrett, his father’s partner and co-founder of Barrett-Jackson, were looking for cars like this one to bring home.
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At this year’s Concours, one featured class of cars was Eastern European motorcycles. This is the Czech-made 1930 Bohmerland, the first motorcycle that had solid-cast wheels instead of spokes like you see on bicycles.
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This Bohmerland could seat three passengers, hit a top speed of 65 mph, and could go 70 miles on a gallon of gas.
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These days, front-wheel drive is the norm, and sending power to the rear wheels is for performance-oriented cars. But early cars were all about rear-wheel drive. Ruxton, a short-lived American car maker, was among the first to sell something different to large numbers of consumers. Front-wheel drive cars are easier to control in rough conditions, Jackson says: It’s easier to keep a car in a straight line when the front rears are pulling than when the back ones are pushing.
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This car, the 1929 Ruxton A, also featured woods headlights, which provided a more focused beam of light. They may have also offered aerodynamics, but in the age before wind tunnels, that wasn’t much of a concern.
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One highly-touted feature in today’s luxury sedans from the likes of Mercedes and BMW is headlights that swing to light the road ahead as the car turns. The 21st-century technology is based on cameras watching the road, but it’s not quite as new as it seems.
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The headlamps on the 1933 Auburn 12-165 Salon Speedster also swiveled to light the road ahead. No cameras here: they were attached via rods to the steering column, so turning the wheel made them go left or right.
