It is impossible to learn the history of automotives without looking at pioneers such as Karl Benz who first introduced the first modern vehicle and which later paved the way for the modern automobile as we know it.
Karl Benz\’s production later morphed into the legendary Mercedes Benz, a car that has come to symbolise class and aristocracy. Although Benz made great strides in car production, other innovators from the United States, Russia, Japan and Germany contributed to the automotive revolution.
Technological breakthroughs have totally transformed the way cars look, feel and work today. Country cars or antique cars, is a term given to cars that are at least 25 years old or more.
Although car models are being released each year and with each model more technology is being pumped into them, country cars are still in popular because they are still attractive, sleek and hand-made. But how do country cars fare when pitted against their newer contemporaries?
Looks
There have been very few \”new\” motor vehicle manufacturing companies in the last half a century. Cars are predominantly made by the same major car manufacturers of yesteryears namely FORD, Chrystler, General Motors and others such as Toyota, Nissan, Fiat, Honda and Rover.
While the outward appearance has radically morphed, country cars are still very sleek and attractive and continue to draw droves o loyal . Take the Beetle made by Volkswagen for instance; it has weathered the storms of time and continued to be one of the best-selling cars in history despite the fact that is had maintained its \”bug-like\” appearance since its inception.
Safety concerns
We cannot discuss the difference between vintage cars and modern cars without addressing the issue of safety. How a vehicle fare during a crash-test has been the topic of many government-sponsored research for the last 30 years or more. It is now mandatory that extensive crash tests be conducted before a model is released into the market.
But today\’s motor vehicles are designed to be much safer than their predecessors. This is because of technological advancements introduced into the vehicle assembly process. Cars now spot on-board computers which monitor everything in the car from oxygen sensors, to tire traction to speed to closeness with an approaching vehicle.
They also come with anti-lock brakes which were not in existence only 30 years ago. Anti-lock brakes are extremely important because they protect the vehicle from spinning out of control when emergency brakes are applied.
Engine performance
There are cars that have traditionally been made with very versatile engines. Cars such as Mercedes Benz, BMW, Dodge, Hondas etc country cars continue to outperform their peers in key and since they were made by hand, they are still very durable.
But modern cars continue to perform better because of computer chips embedded in the engine configuration and which monitor such aspects of performance as fuel/oxygen mix, traction, torque, water pumps, air supply and the like thereby releasing more power precisely when the car needs it.