Archive for the ‘Automobiles’ Category
Born on February 18, 1898 in the city of Modena in Italy is the man behind one of the world’s leading car manufacturing companies – Enzo Anselmo Ferrari.
Ferrari had little formal education but was passionate about car racing. He worked as mule a mule -skinner (a person who drives mules) during the World War II for the Italian army. In 1916, his father and brother died from Italian flu outbreak. In 1919, he started racing for the CMN team but had little success. In 1920, he worked for Alfa Romeo to race cars in local competitions and gained more success. In 1924, Ferrari won the Coppa Acerbo and with his achievements in local racing, Alfa Romeo offered him the opportunity to join more prestigious competitions which he turned down. He continued to work for Alfa Romeo where he managed developing the Alfa Cars factory and building a car racing team with more than forty drivers. He continued racing until 1932, when his first son was born.
In 1937, Ferrari became Director of Sports for Alfa Romeo. He then left the company but his contract clause did not allow him to race or design cars for a period of four years. He founded Auto-Avio Costruzioni, a car company that supplied parts to racing teams. After World War II, in 1947, he founded a company bearing his name – Ferrari.
More than 50 years later, Ferrari is still one of the world’s leading manufacturers of sports cars. It is also one of the most successful racing teams in the history of Formula One. Indeed Enzo Anselmo Ferrari is a person who gave so much pride to Italy Flag.
The story of Porsche could begin in 1950 with the introduction of the Porsche 356 to the United States by Max Hoffman. It could begin in 1948, when the first auto bearing the name of Porsche came out. In September of that year, Ferdinand Porsche was born in the Bohemian village of Haffersdorf.
Ferdinand Porsche showed indications of his technical genius at the age of 18 when he wired the family home for electricity. His only formal education was received when he was a part-time engineering student in Vienna, although the title ‘Doctor’ is often appended to his name. By the time he was 25, Porsche had gone into automotive design. The Viennese firm of Loyner & Co accepted his first car design. Over the next twenty years, he successfully associated himself with every major car manufacturer in Germany, and he designed about a dozen of the most technically important automobiles in history at the same time.
When he worked for Mercedes-Benz, he helped to create the SSK series, while for NSU, he designed the Auto Union Wandered and the Type 32, which as an ancestor of the Volkswagen Beetle. His disagreements with Mercedes-Benz over the company’s engineering policies prompted him to establish his own engineering group, which became Porsche A.G. He collected a premier group of engineers to work under the name of “Doctor of Engineering Ferdinand Porsche, Inc. Construction Facility for Land, Air, and Sea Transportation” in Stuttgart. The elder Porsche and his engineers were busy. The company created its most well-known designs for NSU and Zundapp. Prototypes were characterized by Porsche’s torsion-bar suspension and rear-mounted engine. Neither of the firms manufactured the designs, so Porsche sold the idea to the German government. He then provided the oversight on the construction of a plant in Wolfsburg to build the design. He called it the Type 60, but the world knows it as the Volkswagen Beetle.
After World War II, the Porsche Company began to create the vehicles that now bear the name of Porsche. Almost one hundred years later, Porsche became the marque, and the family that developed the unique and lasting contributions to automotive design and engineering has gone down in history.
Owing to the economic necessity created by the First World War, which ended in 1918, Benz and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschat signed an agreement of mutual economic interest, in 1924. The two companies merged on June 28, 1926, and a unique logo was designed for the car. The production of Mercedes-Benz rose to 7,918 automobiles by 1927. Mercedes enjoys a global presence and as such, their dealerships promises great offers.
Among all Mercedes cars sold in Canada, the most convenient and road-friendly Mercedes Benz is the Mercedes C class series. The Mercedes Benz 2006 C class includes sedans. The sedans are available with the new V6 engine technology with a high-tech seven-speed automatic transmission.
The Mercedes-Benz SLK model, however, is designed for the rich and famous. A new generation of high-tech, scratch-resistant vinyl was developed for the SLK class to offer a more glamorous appearance. The SLK model runs on a super-smooth soundproof engine. A touch of a button on the key fob converts the car into a closed coupe with a hard top. The present day SLK is a sleek sports car, deviating from its original road cruiser design and is a popular Mercedes Benz variety.
The term classic auto or classic car in common parlance is used to describe any antique car belonging to an era gone by. For example, authorities define classic cars as those, which have been manufactured between 1925 and 1948.
These cars are now strictly collector’s items and carry truly prohibitive price tags. Other factors, including engine displacement, custom coachwork and luxury accessories such as power brakes, power clutch, and ‘one-shot’ or automatic lubrication systems, help determine whether a car is classic or not. The SLK model may not feature in this list but in the modern sense of the term Classic, it sure is a beauty to behold.