From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
FIRST AND LAST: Very little is truly new in terms of technical innovation. Someone, somewhere, has thought of it before although often they were ahead of their time in that perhaps the materials or the manufacturing ability did not yet exist to allow their idea to be successfully born.
Regarding engines first, the first diesel-engined private car to be marketed was the Mercedes Benz 260D of 1936.
The 1922 Ballot 2LS was the first car to be introduced with a twin-overhead camshaft engine but as it was only made in very small numbers, the D-Type Salmson of 1921 can claim to be the first production car with this feature. Superchargers have recently come back into more widespread use but their introduction dates back to the Mercedes 6/25/40 PS which was first shown at the 1921 Berlin Motor Show.
The first British car to enter production with a supercharger was the S Type Lea-Francis of 1927. The 10.5hp Wolseley of 1919 was the first inexpensive car to feature an overhead-camshaft engine, while twelve-cylinder engines were first offered in a production car when Packard introduced the Packard twin-six in 1916.
Sealed-for-life cooling systems were pioneered on Renault's 750 and 850cc R4 model in 1961 while the first car to be offered with a synchromesh gearbox was the 1929 Cadillac.
Two years later the German ZF firm offered the first fully synchromesh gearbox but it was another two years before any car offered this as standard. The Alvis Speed Twenty of 1933 became the first to do so while it was not until 1935 when the Adler Diplomat was introduced that such a feature became available on a German car. The first of what we would recognise as a 'modern' automatic transmission was offered as an option on the 1940 Oldsmobile.
To Alec Issigonis and the BMC Mini is usually credited the first production car with transverse front-wheel drive and all-round independent suspension, but both these features were to be found on twin-cylinder DKWs in 1931.
Likewise, it is often claimed that the first production car with front-wheel-drive and all-independent suspension was the 1934 Citroën traction-avant but both features were on the Alvis 12/75 hp sports car on sale in 1928. To the Jensen FF of 1966 goes the distinction of being the first car fitted with four-wheel-drive for road use only while the first hypoid bevel rear axles were to be found on 1927 Packards.
The Chevrolet Corvette of 1953 became the first car to go into series production with a fibreglass body while the Lotus Elite of 1958 became the first car to be marketed with a unitary fibreglass body. Servo-assisted brakes were first fitted to the Type H6 Hispano-Suiza in 1919 while hydraulic four-wheel brakes were first offered by Dusenberg on their Model A straight-eight in 1921.
Disc brakes are usually regarded as an innovation introduced by Jaguar on their racing cars (Mille Miglia 1952) but they were pioneered by Lanchester in 1903 and AC in 1910 and were offered on the 1949 Chrysler models.
The last car to be offered for sale with solid tyres was the Trojan Type XL in 1929 while the last steam car to be marketed was the American Doble of 1932. The Doble had a 'flash' boiler weighing some two tons and had a top speed of over 90mph. The last Dobles used the chassis, bodies and running gear of contemporary Buick or Cadillac models. In 1932 they cost a massive $12,000 - something which no doubt hastened the demise of the once popular steam car.