Paragraph on “When did motor cars take over from horses?” complete paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 11 and Class 12

When did motor cars take over from horses?

Two hundred years ago it took two days to go from London to Manchester in a horse-drawn coach. Now it takes three hours in a modern car, over good roads. However, when `horseless carriages’, as cars were called, first appeared many people laughed at them. They said they were too dangerous and would not work.

The first motor car on sale to the public was a three-wheeler made by Carl Benz of Ger-many. It was shown in 1887 at the Paris Exhibition. Another German, Gottlieb Daimler, produced a car more like the modern automobile. The Panhard Levassor, which is illustrated, was developed from his design. These cars were still very like horse-carriages, with big rear wheels, iron tyres and few controls. By 1900 they had equal-sized wheels, accelerators and rubber, air-filled, tyres. Although it was rare to go a hundred kilometres without a puncture, these ‘pneumatic’ tyres were a great improvement.

Early cars were so expensive that only the rich could afford them. In the USA Henry Ford, in 1908, started to make the Model T Ford using a new idea — mass production. Before this workmen had built cars one at a time. Ford organised a factory to make a continuous stream of cars, all exactly the same. He used a conveyor belt to carry the vehicles from one part of the factory to the next. This was so successful that he sold over fifteen million of these ‘Tin Lizzies’. The price actually dropped from $850 in 1908 to $360 in 1916.