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Cars: fun facts and quiz
The essentials in 7 ideas, with fun facts, an illustrated story and a quiz to see how much you know.
The essentials
The First Cars
Karl Benz built the first practical petrol car in 1885–86. In 1888, Bertha Benz proved it worked by driving it about 100 km.
Key fact
Bertha Benz’s trip was the first long-distance car journey.
The Model T
Henry Ford’s Model T, from 1908, was built on a moving assembly line from 1913. Cars became cheap enough for ordinary families.
Key fact
About 15 million Model Ts were built.
How Engines Work
A petrol engine burns fuel inside cylinders. Tiny explosions push pistons, which turn a crankshaft and, through the gears, the wheels.
Key fact
A four-stroke engine goes: suck, squeeze, bang, blow.
Car Safety
Seatbelts, airbags and crumple zones save many lives. Volvo introduced the three-point seatbelt in 1959 and let other carmakers use it for free.
Key fact
Crumple zones absorb crash energy so people don’t.
Electric Cars
Electric cars run on batteries and electric motors, with no exhaust from the car itself. They’re surprisingly old: electric cars were common around 1900.
Key fact
Electric motors deliver full power instantly.
Self-Driving Cars
Self-driving cars use cameras, radar and software to steer and brake. Robotaxis now carry passengers in some cities, but most cars still need a driver.
Key fact
Driving automation is ranked in levels, from 0 to 5.
Traffic & Roads
The first electric traffic light went up in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914. Today there are well over a billion vehicles on the world’s roads.
Key fact
About a third of people live in countries that drive on the left.
Fun facts
On her 1888 drive, Bertha Benz cleared a blocked fuel line with a hatpin and bought fuel at a pharmacy.
Henry Ford said customers could have a Model T in any colour “so long as it is black”.
Diesel engines have no spark plugs: squeezing the air makes it hot enough to set the fuel alight.
The first speeding fine, in England in 1896, was for driving at 8 mph where the limit was 2 mph.
The first car to break 100 km/h, in 1899, was electric. It was called La Jamais Contente, “the never satisfied”.
In a 2004 desert race for driverless cars, none finished: the best managed about 12 km.
Samoa switched from driving on the right to the left in 2009.
Story: The Day Sweden Switched Sides
The Day Sweden Switched Sides
Sweden, 3 September 1967, 4:50 am. Every car in the country stops. Then, carefully, drivers move across to the other side of the road.
Swedes had driven on the left for centuries, though their neighbours drove on the right. Voters had rejected a switch, but parliament did it anyway.
They called it Dagen H, for högertrafik, “right-hand traffic”. Accidents actually fell for a while, as nervous drivers took extra care.
True or false?
Tap your answer to see if you got it, and why.
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Question 1 of 10
Karl Benz built an early petrol car in the 1880s.
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True. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen, of 1886.
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Question 2 of 10
Ford used a moving assembly line to build the Model T.
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True. It cut building time dramatically.
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Question 3 of 10
Petrol engines burn fuel to push pistons.
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True. Up and down, many times a second.
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Question 4 of 10
Volvo shared its seatbelt design freely.
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True. It judged it too important to keep to itself.
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Question 5 of 10
Electric cars were already on the road around 1900.
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True. Before petrol cars took over.
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Question 6 of 10
Some cities have driverless taxi services.
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True. Robotaxis operate in a few cities.
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Question 7 of 10
Sweden switched to driving on the right in 1967.
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True. On a day called Dagen H.
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Question 8 of 10
The first cars appeared in the 1950s.
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False. In the 1880s.
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Question 9 of 10
The Model T was a luxury car for the very rich.
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False. It was built to be affordable.
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Question 10 of 10
Petrol engines run on electricity alone.
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False. They burn petrol.
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Sources
- Mercedes-Benz Group — Bertha Benz and the first long-distance drive
- The Henry Ford Museum — The Model T and the assembly line
- Volvo Cars — The three-point seatbelt (1959)
- SAE International — Levels of driving automation (J3016)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — automobile, Dagen H
- Euro NCAP — History
- VTI Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute — Female crash test dummy (2022)
