Automobile History Quotes

Once a rider [of an early automobile] is accustomed to the piston beat and the rattle of gears, he minds them no more than the pounding of horses hoofs in ordinary driving.

The ordinary horseless carriage is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle.

I would like to invest more of my brain space in understanding the history of my city, because whenever I learn about the history of Detroit, it's always so fascinating, from a little kind of beaver-trading post to the place where automobiles were manufactured.

The car was invented as a convenient place to sit out traffic jams

I don't like new cars; I'm into vintage cars - there's a Jaguar E-Type in the 'Goldie' video.

There is no doubt about precisely when folks began racing each other in automobiles. It was the day they built the second automobile.

You ingest the automobile in the very air of Detroit. Or at least you did in the 1940s and 1950s.

Automobiles have always been part of my life, and I'm sure they always will be. What is it about them that moves me? The sound of a great engine, the unity and uniqueness of an automobile's engineering and coachwork, the history of the company and the car, and, of course, the sheer beauty of the thing.

I collect vintage cars, so you always find them in my books.

The last time I actually drove a car myself was 1996.

I enjoy racing historic motorcars from the '50s and '60s. The seed of my interest was planted when I was about 12 years old and took over my mother's Morris Minor. I drove it around my father's farm. But my favorite car is still a McLaren F1, which I have had for 10 years.

My first car was a second-hand Padmini Standard that I bought for '25,000 in 1985. It was a lot of money for me. The Padmini Standard was one of those small cars which was very popular during that time. However, I never drove the car and still don't drive one.

I love mechanical things, older cars especially.

I owned a 1972 Plymouth Valiant that we bought for $125. It was infested with cockroaches and geckos - it was its own little ecosystem.

I will build a car for the great multitude.

When I was born, the speed limit was two miles an hour. They'd only just repealed the law where a man had to walk in front of every motor car waving a flag.

When the car was introduced in 1908, people could experience a brand new way to travel that was more efficient than a horse and buggy. Can you believe that cities tried to outlaw cars in the United States? Can you imagine driving a car for a year then having to go back to a horse and buggy?

I felt like a car that had only been operated by one driver… a car its new prospective buyer was determined to take to the Daytona 500.

I love French auto design of the early '50s, '60s, early '70s of Citorens, Renaults, and Peugeots. They're so unique.

The Ford Falcon holds the proud title of Slowest Car Ever Built. In certain areas of the country you can go to a stoplight and find Falcon drivers who pressed down on their accelerators in 1963 and are still waiting for their cars to move.

There is such a history and such a mystique around the name of Ferrari and the success that it has had. The whole imagery and legend of the red cars and what they mean to the world of automobiles and racing itself. It is hard to imagine F1 without them.