Whata Fool wrote in
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:

Don;'t like paying beaurocrats? Go support someone who's doing
something. But a proiduct that's moving things the right way..
Even leaving aside the ecological aspects of continued use of IC engines
, the saddest part is after 130 years they haven't improved much at all.
I love old engines. i've owned a bbunch of real old machines ( including
a coule of 19th century cars) and their efficiency isnt significantly
worse than what;s out there today ( though they were a bit draftier)
Bertie

You owned a couple of 19th century cars?

Were they made in Europe?


One was, an early DeDion Bouton. The other was a a 1899 Sperry ( yes
Elemr,the same guy who , with his son, developed the first AC gyros)
electric. An extremely advanced propulsion system was the hallmark of this
contraption, btw. It had regenerative braking. Well, it still does. I sold
it to a friend. THe rest was strictly horse and buggy and it wasn't very
fast, but it did have a reasonable range of about 30 miles. Beautiful thing
it was, too. It was later marketed as the Cleveland electric. Elmer and his
son Lawrence also designed and installed many of the electric trolley
systems in the US around the turn of the century.
Lawrence is also credited with being the first mile high club member.
Tehre were lots of cars made in the US in the 19th century, but not as many
as europe. Henry Ford didn;t get going til 03 and his cars dserve their
place in history. Well, actually he started earlier, but lost his first
company whihc was bough up by a guy who renamed it after the town it was
built in. Cadillac MI.

Ferry Porsche also built electrics around this time. His electrics also had
regenerative braking. They also had motors which were integral with the
hubs of the wheels, which was a bad idea from the unsprung weight angle,
but a good one form efficiency. Four wheel drive as well.
I also owned a 1903 Ford A, a 1911 DeDion, a 1902 Olds, a 1922 Morris a
1906 Le Zebre and a couple of other oddballs that were a bit more
obscure...
A fascinating period in automotive history. There wasn't much that hadn't
been tried by 1905. Four wheel drive, fuel injection ( of sorts) variable
valve timing, V8s , you name it. France was the absolute center of the
universe for both autos and aviation then, BTW. Both their airplanes and
their cars set the patterns for both for the next century..





Bertie