Automotive History -- Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot

Has anyone ever told you that the Benz Motorwagen was the first car?  Well, if they did, they are very wrong.  There were, in fact, many cars before the Benz Motorwagen, but the car I am about to tell you about was the very first.  I am, of course, talking about the Cugnot Steamer.
          In 1965, Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot conceived the idea of a self-propelled land vehicle.  He worked on his idea for four years, and, in 1769, finally showed it to the public.  He claimed that it could carry up to four tons, and travel at a top speed of 4.8mph, but, at least in practice, in only ever got up to the speed of 2.25mph. It could seat four people, but could only go short distances before needing to have the boiler refilled, and the entire thing restarted.  Thus, it had a very short range, and bad reliability.  The boiler was bad quality, even for its time.  It also had bad stability, due to the fact that it only had three wheels.
          The Cugnot Steamer is most famously known, however, for being involved in the first car crash.  In 1771, it was reported that Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot drove his Steamer into a wall in France, breaking right through it, and then was arrested for dangerous driving.
            So there you have it.  The first car in the Automotive History series, and one that should be remembered.

Automotive History; Cisitalia

Cisitalia, in my opinion, has made some of the best looking cars out there, and some of the best performing for their time.  But I honestly didn't know much about the company before I researched for this post, so I'm learning too.  ⚠WARNING: You just might learn something if you read this post.  Read at your own risk.
          Cisitalia was founded in 1946 by soccer player and businessman Piero Dusio.  His company dominated the Voiturette racing series in the late 1940s, but after the 360 Porsche race car was developed, it proved too complicated and expensive to go through with, and that pretty much killed any more racing attempts by Cisitalia.  Below, I have put together an overview of the Cisitalia models.

1946 -- The D46, which Piero made mostly with Fiat parts (of which he had an extensive knowledge because he had actually designed the Topolino), makes its debut, and soon after the start of its racing career, dominates the Voiturette racing series, even against the most successful race cars of the day from automakers like Ferrari, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo.
1947 -- Cisitalia gets Ferdinand Porsche to help him with a new race car, the 360.  The 360 was extremely advanced for the day, with a mid-engine 12-cykinder layout, four-wheel drive that could be switched to just rear-wheel drive even while the car was in motion, a five-speed synchromesh two-gate transmission, and independent suspension for each wheel. The car would have made about 450hp at 10,500rpm, and weighed just 1,388 pounds, but unfortunately, Cisitalia didn't go through with the plan.  The car was too complicated and expensive to make, so the project was dropped.  The Cisitalia Porsche 360 never even raced.  The same year, the 202GT is unveiled at the GIMS, and is a resounding success.
1948 -- Cisitalia is practically is financial ruin.
1949 -- The 204A Spyder Sport is made in partnership with Abarth.
1950 -- The 204 Spyder Sport goes racing for the first time, with the legendary Tazio Nuvolari at the wheel.
1952 -- Cisitalia 808XF Vignale and 303DF arrive on the scene, temporarily saving Cisitalia.
1953 -- Cisitalia collaborates with Ghia on the 505DF, of which 10 were built.
1959 -- The 750GT and 750 Spyder are unveiled, based on the Abarth 750.
1960 -- The Cisitalia Abarth 850 Scorpione is unveiled.
1961 -- Cisitalia makes one last go at saving the brand with the DF85 Coupe, but ultimately fails.  Just 35 were ever made.

And that's all, folks!

 D46 race car

Porsche 360 prototype

202

204A Spyder Sport

808XF Vignale

303DF

505DF by Ghia

750

850 Abarth Scorpione

DF85 Coupe

 

Automotive History; Bristol (not the place, the company)

Chances are that if you have, in fact, heard of this car manufacturer before, you heard about the Bristol Fighter.  But, although the Fighter was an incredible machine, and deserves to be remembered, you might want to know more about the Bristol brand.  So, here is a brief history of Bristol Cars.
          The Bristol brand was founded in 1947, as an off-shoot of the British Aeroplane Company/ British Aircraft Corporation (BAC).  Their first model was the 400, or 2 Litre, as it was more commonly known.  The 400, the 401, the 402, and the 403 were all designed by BMW.  Essentially, the 401 was just a slightly upgraded version of the 400, and so was the 402 of the 401, and so on.  In fact, that is what Bristol did all it's life, almost, except for the Fighter.  Because all those cars?  They all rode on the same chassis.  Bristol used that same chassis design and size, without change, until around 2011, for all of their models.
          Well anyway, after the 403, there was the 404, 405, and 406, which were designed by Bristol themselves, but later slightly 'remodeled' (in the form of the 407) to fit a Chrysler V8, which they did later use in their production cars.  In 1963, the 408 was introduced, with better suspension and huge styling changes.  The 408 was followed by the 409, 410, and 411, the latter being the most popular of the three.  The most iconic feature of any Bristol car is the spare tire compartment on the left side of their cars.
          The Bristol 412 was introduced in 1975, marking a change in Bristol styling from then on, leaving the old styling behind until 2016.  Variations on the 412 include the Beaufighter and Beaufort.  The 'standard' 412 was styled by Zagato.
           OK, now let's take a look at some of the more obscure Bristol cars.  The first is the 407 Zagato, which was just what it sounded like; A 407 with bodywork designed by Zagato.  Then there was the 450, a Le Mans entry attempt in 1955, but after the driveshaft shattered during testing, and after the great 1955 Le Mans disaster, Bristol withdrew, never to race in Le Mans again.  The last and most strikingly designed specialty Bristol car is the Arnolt-Bristol Bolide, made by the famed S.H. Arnolt, but designed by Bristol, and using a Bristol engine.
           The Blenheim was Bristol's last luxury model, lasting until 2011.  It was a relatively common-looking car for it's day, but still very recognizable.  It was also designed in-house by Bristol.
          The last, and possibly best, Bristol production model to date was the Fighter.  It used a Dodge Viper-sourced V10 engine, and it had gullwing doors.  It had a top speed of about 210mph, making it one the fastest and affordable supercars of it's time.
           In 2016, Bristol unveiled the Bullet concept prototype, which was supposed to enter production in 2018, but never did.  Had it done so, it might have revived an almost dead brand, but it didn't, and as far as I know, it is either dead or dormant, which is very sad.  Thetruthaboutcars.com described it aptly as 'A living dinosaur' brand.  Possibly it will be revived soon though, as nowadays it seems that more and more iconic brand names that have been dead are being brought back to life.  I hope to see the same done with Bristol in the near future.

Bristol 2 Litre

Bristol 401

Bristol 405

Bristol 407 Zagato

Bristol 410

Bristol 412 Zagato

Bristol 450 LM

Arnolt-Bristol Bolide

Bristol 603

Bristol Blenheim

Bristol Fighter

Bristol Bullet Concept