The production automobile made the most progress in the 1950s ... (Question of the week)
It is well known that the car was invented in the 19th century, but in the 20th century it evolved into the vehicle we know today. But when do you think the most progress was made in the production car? We wanted to find out from our readers in the last "Question of the Week" and offered the opportunity to choose one of the decades between 1910 and the modern era.
And the result was surprisingly evenly distributed, with four eras making it over the ten percent hurdle, but no single decade achieved more than 21 percent of the 239 answers submitted.
However, it was the fifties and sixties that came out on top. In the fifties, which reached 21 percent, the pontoon body found its way into widespread series production, as did fuel injection and the V6 cylinder engine.
In the 1960s (16 percent), the first production turbo was available to buy in an off-the-shelf car, many operating simplifications were invented and many other things.
Surprisingly, third place went to the 1930s with 15 percent. In fact, we have precisely that era to thank for the first series-produced aerodynamic vehicles (Chrysler Airflow, Fiat 1500, Peugeot 402), as well as many other achievements that we would not want to drive without today.
At 14 percent, the modern era, which brings us Tesla and co, the semi-autonomous car and other achievements, only comes in fourth place. Yet we actually assume that progress is happening faster and faster. However, depending on how you look at it, this is not necessarily the case with cars. In fact, we still drive on four wheels, steer with a steering wheel and use the power of a piston engine as we did in the early days.
The seventies (7 percent), the eighties (7 percent), the tens (5 percent) and the twenties (4 percent) each only achieved single-digit percentages, although interesting innovations also made their way into series production in those years, such as the navigation system or the anti-lock braking system, although the latter actually appeared in the Jensen FF as early as the sixties.
It is certainly difficult to evaluate the various achievements against each other, but the Zwischengas readers have at least tried and this is what the graphical evaluation looks like:
Of course, this rather simplified hit parade of the "best" car decades in terms of series progress is sure to trigger new discussions again. But that's exactly what it's supposed to do, so just leave a comment below, because we'd love to hear your personal opinion.
There is already a new "Question of the Week", this time about whether automobile museums are doing enough for their visitors or whether they are missing essential exhibition elements.
And, of course, you can always read the results of the previous questions of the week in the dedicated topic channel.
