I don't really want to start this traditionally because of the topic. It is not a very common topic talked about. That being said it is about the evolution of the Car, specifically the safety and how the looks have been changed over time to apply more safety rules over the decades. See, when we see cars nowadays they are very different from the one 100 years ago. The car has most definitely changed for the better but, there is always a person’s opinion when they talk about a topic that has a variety like the car. Personally I like the look of the cars from the 50’s era. They were absolute behemoths but designers had great ideas back then and made them unique. But I'm here to give an informative essay about this somewhat interesting topic.

 I’m going to start this journey at the very beginning which would be the early 19th century. Most cars back then were very small and had no roofs to cover them from the elements. Traditionally that would be a massive safety hazard but cars were very slow back then. The best selling car back then( Ford Model T) had a top speed of 45 miles per hour! That isn’t even highway speeds in today's age so cars like that didn’t need much safety precautions other than a shell to sit in. The next decade though the 1930’s had started to really customize the way people saw the car. Companies called coaches would create your every desire if you had the money. If you were to look up pictures of cars from back then you would see how insane those cars looked.

Now this age of cars were very versatile because it was the 1940’s so the WWll was raging and the economy didn’t have funds to really express themselves in the world. Cars from this age were very simple looking and were really built for the army, that is how  the car company Jeep became so famous back then, they could get through anything you threw at it. So per usual it became very popular during war times. Cars did develop and started coming standard with roofs during this age. They were all made of steel so they rusted and didn't last for very long but they were very sturdy if they were to get into a wreck.

I am a little bit partial to this age of cars, personally the 50’s was my favorite era of cars ever. They were just humongous cool looking very unique cars. Since they were so big they did not have seatbelts as a standard option but since they were so massive they were heavy. That led to very slow cars so there wasn’t really a reason to have all the safety in cars that they do now. 60’s were very similar to the 50’s for cars except for the fact that sports cars were introduced during this age. That really changed safety in cars you had to have some type of safety for the new age of small cars that were faster than anything else so if they didn’t add seat belts and other accessories like that a lot of people would have died.

The 70’s was a very interesting era for the most common mode of transportation. In the 70’s the oil crisis hit in america. That meant that everyone had to downgrade their cars so they would pass the emission regulations. So a lot of cars had smaller engines and smaller bodies too. That meant that the car companies had to really get safety and appeal into their vehicles or else they weren’t going to sell. What the first started doing was adding steel bars behind bumpers; they used a compound of materials so they could have stronger materials that would last a lot longer than any other cars made before them. These cars were still very slow even though they were lighter than any other cars from back then. Most cars had very small engines for their cars so they would decrease their demand for oil. For example the Ford mustang which was the sports car of that era had less than 100 horsepower. Now in today's age the Mustang GT has more than 400 horsepower and it's almost half as light as the Mustang from back then. Furthermore my point is cars were very slow and they started to evolve to have more safety in them.

The 80’s are arguably the most productive age for car manufacturers. Really unique cars were being pushed out and advancements in technology were being made. For example the Mustang got a different type of body it was called the unibody it was way lighter than its predecessors but they still were very strong and safe. Seat Belts came as standard for almost all cars. My favorite part of the 80’s was the fact that the car manufacturers started making different quality models of their cars. I think that the designers had a very good time designing the cars of this age and they really made a comeback from the 70’s during this time.

The 90’s and early 2000’s were very boring for cars. The car designers couldn't put the wow factor into their cars because of how strict the FDA got in the 90’s so cars were made up of fiberglass and plastic mostly and they didn’t really have that good of performance either. The 2010’s started to get into their old ways by choosing luxury over performance. A Lot of people like that idea and it has worked great for the economy since they started making them.

So today we have learned that the car has changed drastically over the years they were the best invention the world had seen in the 1900’s and to this day it still amazes me what car manufacturers do to add that wow factor to their cars but still keep them suitable for the road and the economy. I’m glad that you have joined me on this trip through history and I hope that you will have an interest in cars like me one day.