Edwardian Cars – A Background

The Veteran and Vintage Sports Car Clubs, founded in the 1930s, inspired the first attempts to preserve examples of early cars. The early century was a period of steady development. Many advances we enjoy today were invented at that time, but practical use was limited by lack of suitable materiel or production methods, or appreciation of their significance. By 1914 electronic actuation of gear-change had been tested but the accumulators were inadequate. In 1910 4-wheel braking was introduced but caused locking-up so was largely abandoned.
Gear-changing was tricky before the preselector gearbox and synchromesh. Expanding clutches on the De Dion and epicyclic gearing were a success. Automatic transmission arrived early but was not followed up. Lanchester put a disc brake on its transmission, but bad roads caused excessive wear. Rear-mounted engines were common: designers worked hard just to make cars go.
When reliability was achieved they turned to improving braking, control and easier maintenance. Appearance became an issue: cars developed characteristic shapes. Early cars were severe; inelegant but practical, some even handsome. Closed bodies were rare. People were used to open vehicles and weight hindered performance.