Morgan - The Car That Hasn't Changed for 100 Years

Some things never change would be a good way describe Morgan Motor Company. For almost 100 years the Morgan remains a made to order motor car, built on an ash frame to the specifications of the individual owner. The Morgan Motor Company can also claim honors as the worlds oldest privately owned motor car manufacturer. Unless you're a Morgan aficionado, most folks couldn't tell a 1940's Morgan 4/4 from one just off the show room floor. Morgan has retained its distinct styling over the decades and unless you get a look at the engine or the instrument panel, it's hard to tell the old from the new.

On December 26th 1910, Morgan entered the London to Exeter and back Reliability Trial and as a result, won a gold medal and favorable press coverage. This was the first of thousands of awards and races the Morgan was to win. These successes took Morgan's sales to their highest point by the time the World War I broke out in 1914,.
Despite the fact that part of the factory had to be converted to produce shells and other munitions for the war effort, limited production of Morgans were able to continue through out the war. Many three wheeler manufacturers weren't so lucky and closed production for good. There were approximately twenty three manufacturers in 1913 which fell to seven by 1917.
After the war, most auto manufacturers were unable to switch to full production for nearly a year due to the lack of materials. H.F.S.Morgan got his factory back into full production right away using wood and aluminum to build his cars, and had record sales and profits in the two years following.
In 1936 the government announced that it was going to abolish the Road Fund Tax, which did away with the three wheeler's tax advantage. That year Morgan Motor Company introduced their first four wheeled car called the 4/4, for the four cylinders and four wheels. The 4/4 model Morgan is still in production today, looking very similar to the way it looked back then.
But just as Morgan had to change in 1936 to stay alive, they once again accepted change and unveiled the hydrogen-powered LIFECar at the Geneva Motor Show. It still has the traditional Morgan silhouette with a long hood, rounded rear glass and upright tail, but providing the power now is a fuel cell and electric motor system. The concept, according to Morgan, "takes a fresh look at transport, offering as revolutionary an approach to personal freedom as did the brilliant Morgan Three Wheeler introduced by HFS Morgan nearly 100 years ago."

André Citroën

Born in Paris in 1878, André-Gustave was the 5th and last child of Jewish parents,^[1][2][3] diamond merchant Levie Citroen from the Netherlands and Mazra Kleinmann (of Warsaw, Poland). He was a cousin of the British philosopher Sir A. J. Ayer.
The Citroen family moved to Paris from Amsterdam in 1873. Upon arrival, the diaeresis was added to the name, changing Citroen to Citroën (a grandfather had sold lemons, and had changed the consequent name Limoenman "lime man" to Citroen (Dutch for "lemon")). His father committed suicide when André was only six years old.

His grave in Paris

André was a graduate of the École Polytechnique in 1900. During World War I, he was responsible for mass production of armaments. André founded the Citroën automobile company in 1919, leading it to become the fourth-largest automobile manufacturer in the world by the early 1930s.
He died in Paris, France, of stomach cancer in 1935 and was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, the funeral being led by the Chief Rabbi of Paris. In 1992, the Parc André Citroën public garden in Paris was named after him.
In 1998 he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan.

Source : wikipedia

Fiat 500

The Car That Will Always be an Italian Icon

The Fiat 500 could sit 4 people comfortably!

Of the many Italian automakers out there, Fiat has been around for more than a century and is still running strong with 16 cars currently available in their lineup. Fiat came to be back in 1899 and has had many classic and revolutionary cars, but there has been one car that Fiat has made that tops all of them, and that is the Fiat 500 introduced on July 4th, 1957.
The idea of a small, efficient car is a common idea for sure, but when Fiat decided to create their own version of this idea, something magical happened in the process. The new category of the "city car", or a car so very small and made for heavily populated areas, came to be. The Mini Cooper was another example, yes, but that would not happen for another two years, so technically the Fiat 500 was the first small car that maximized interior space.
Its dimensions are 9 feet 9 inches long, 4.3 feet wide and 4.3 feet tall! Its wheelbase is 6 feet and it only weighed 1,100 pounds, which is unprecedented for a car these days in the USA! To give you another example, the newest Honda Accord now weighs in at 3,100 lbs! This may not mean much at first, but when you realize the lighter a car, the more fuel efficient it is, because the less weight is being pushed, thus improving nearly all aspects of the car.