12 automotive firsts

Classic first-timers

On a cold morning in winter, there’s nothing better than turning on the heater or feeling the warmth of the heated seat’s embrace when you get into your car.

Or rather than retrieve an overwhelming map from the glovebox, you can now just glance at your built-in sat-nav.

We may use these features daily, but have you ever wondered what car had them first? 

Here we look at 12 automotive firsts, presented in chronological order.

1. 1929 Ford Model A – factory-fitted heater

Introduced as a 1928 model but built in 1927, the Model A was Ford’s second-biggest success after the Model T which had been produced for 18 years.

There was an array of body options available, ranging from coupes to roadsters and commercial trucks.

Ford even binned its old driver controls, fitting the Model A with a conventional clutch, gearshift, throttle and brake.

1929 Ford Model A (cont.)

In-car heating was originally developed in the USA by Margaret A Wilcox in 1838, who was out to combat icy fingers for those who drove rail cars.

She invented a design that used the engine’s heat and fed it back into the cabin, however the heat couldn’t be regulated.

In 1929, the Ford Model A gave those who had deeper pockets the option to spec the first factory-fitted heater directly from a manufacturer.

It used Wilcox’s design but a small door sat inside, covering the pipe running from the engine to the cabin, which allowed occupants to shut off the heat when needed.

2. 1935 Peugeot 401d Eclipse – retractable hardtop

The 401 was only produced from 1934 to 1935, with the Eclipse arriving in ’35.

Peugeot released its mid-sized 401 family car, and gave customers four trims and 11 body styles to choose from.

In 1931, a dentist named Georges Paulin applied to patent his detachable hardtop-roof design, called Eclipse, which would be stowed in the car’s trunk.

The idea came after he witnessed a driver wrestling with a soft-top roof during a rainstorm. 

1935 Peugeot 401d Eclipse (cont.)

In 1933, Paulin approached coachbuilder Marcel Pourtout, who snapped up his idea and hired him as the lead designer for the 401d.

When 1934 arrived, it was time for Paulin to showcase his powered Eclipse roof and, one year later, Peugeot purchased Paulin’s patent.

Only 79 401 Eclipse cars were built making them rather scarce, but Peugeot produced 470 402BL Eclipse Décapotable cars as well.

3. 1940 Packard 180 – electric windows

Packard discontinued its range-topping Packard Twelve in 1939 and in its place came the 180 which shared its underpinnings with its less-plush sibling, the 160.

At the time, the 5.8-liter engine featured in both of them was advertised as the most powerful eight-cylinder powerplant ever offered by an auto maker in the 1940s.

1940 Packard 180 (cont.)

Power-assisted technology was on the rise; we already had powered convertible roofs, while power steering dated back to 1876.

Those who were digging deep for the Packard 180 had the option of powered windows, which meant a hydroelectric system and a few rocker switches were installed.

The rocker switches were later dropped and banned, because people had a habit of leaning out of windows and hitting the switch.

In 2006, US manufacturers had to equip their cars with toggle switches instead.

4. 1958 Chrysler Imperial – cruise control

Launched in 1926, the Imperial was Chrysler’s superlative automobile for much of its timeline, with production ceasing in 1993, making way for the LH platform cars.

In 1955, Chrysler announced that ‘Chrysler’ would be cut from the name and that the Imperial would stand independently to compete with Cadillac and Ford.

All Chrysler badging was removed and didn’t make a reappearance until 1971.

1958 Chrysler Imperial (cont.)

Blind inventor, Ralph Teetor, came up with a speedostat cruise-control system in 1948 when he became irate at his driver constantly speeding up and slowing down as Teetor was trying to talk.

This invention was dubbed ‘auto-pilot’ when installed on the 1958 Imperial and was controlled using a dial on the dashboard to set the speed.

It worked by calculating the ground speed from a speedometer cable and had an electric motor which changed the throttle position.

5. 1962 Oldsmobile F-85 Jetfire – car turbocharger

Cue the large fins, jet-turbine features, bulbous bodywork and naming conventions from the jet age of the 1950s and ’60s.

American buyers, however, were tempted by smaller, more efficient cars from Europe and in a bid to keep custom, Oldsmobile looked at the F-85 Cutlass.

The question that needed answering was simple: how to improve fuel economy without sacrificing the oomph of the ‘big’ V8?

1962 Oldsmobile F-85 Jetfire (cont.)

Oldsmobile contacted Garrett Corporation which at the time made industrial turbochargers.

A smaller-diameter blower was produced, called the T5, and was bolted onto the F-85 then named the Jetfire.

This made it 10 secs faster to 100mph than the quickest four-barrel carburetor naturally aspirated variant.

6. 1966 Jensen FF – four-wheel-drive car

While the first four-wheel-drive car dates to 1903 with the Spyker 60hp, it wasn’t until 1966 that this option was offered in a production car.

The Jensen FF was considered highly innovative, because it not only introduced the automotive world to four-wheel drive but also to ABS.

1966 Jensen FF (cont.)

FF, short for Ferguson Formula, was the name of the four-wheel-drive system developed by Ferguson Research.

In 1961, at the Gold Park meeting at Oulton Park, a non-championship race in that year’s Formula One season, Stirling Moss claimed a now-famous win in a four-wheel-drive Ferguson P99 on a soaked track.

With its success, the system was then used in the 1966 Jensen, making it one of the most expensive but safest performance cars of its era. Its power split was 33% front and 67% rear.

In the late 1970s, Audi was developing its quattro rally monster and purchased a secondhand FF so the drivetrain could be reverse-engineered.

7. 1966 Cadillac Fleetwood – heated seats

The Cadillac Fleetwood was conceived in 1935 and four-door cars that had that name often had longer wheelbases over standard variants.

Heated seats are an extra we often don’t want to go without and while you would expect that this feature would have been the focus of the 1966 Fleetwood, the attention instead went to the exclusive variable-ratio steering.

The heated seats weren’t mentioned until later in the press release.

1966 Cadillac Fleetwood (cont.)

Cadillac offered its heated seats as a $78.95 option (around $726.64 today), and only for the front seats, except for the chauffeur-driven 75 models which had them in the rear instead.

Fiberglass pads were used and were ‘interwoven with a grid of electric conductive carbon yarn’, and would heat both the seats and seat backs from 85 to 105 degrees.

It was automatically turned on when the temperature was below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

8. 1969 Ford Mustang – intermittent wipers

In the 1960s, one of Ford’s most successful cars was the Mustang, a car that would inspire other manufacturers, such as Chevrolet, Pontiac, AMC and Dodge, and create competition for years to come.

The 1970 Mustang featured various cosmetic changes such as a new aggressive grille, side air scoops and an optional shaker hood scoop.

It also grew 4in in length over pre-1969 models.

1969 Ford Mustang (cont.)

American engineer, Robert Kearns, invented the intermittent-wiper system after a mishap with a champagne cork left him blind in one eye and the constant moving of his car’s wipers on rainy nights irritated his vision.

The mechanism was modeled after a human eye, blinking every few seconds.

After patenting the idea, he approached three large companies (GM, Ford and Chrysler) and although each firm rejected his idea, two began to offer it as an option – on the 1969 Ford Mustang, on Mercury cars including the 1969 Park Lane and the 1972 Chrysler New Yorker.

Kearns actioned legal proceedings against Ford and Chrysler and won millions.

9. 1982 Renault Fuego – keyless entry

Marketed as a sport hatchback, the Fuego was built from 1980 to ’86, and was the successor to the Renault 15 and 17.

It shared its floorpan and drivetrain with the Renault 18, and it was the first car to feature not only keyless entry but also steering-wheel controls for the radio.

Optional extras included a leather interior, cruise control, air conditioning, a Webasto electric sunroof and a multi-functional trip computer.

1982 Renault Fuego (cont.)

Ford introduced a keypad system in 1980 called SecuriCode which bypassed the standard key-based locking system, but it earned a reputation for being clumsy.

Engineer Paul Lipschutz came up with an idea based on building-access systems that would use an infrared transmitter in a key fob.

A receiver on the interior mirror would pick up the beam, if you were within five feet of the car, and unlock the doors.

Renault introduced the concept in the Fuego and called it the ‘Le Plip’, paying homage to its inventor, Paul Lipschutz.

10. 1984 Dodge Caravan – cupholders

Dodge gave us five generations of family haulers, beginning in 1984 and ending in 2020.

Base variants could carry five passengers while the SE trim, introduced in 1985, could carry eight. And although Dodge had incorporated side-impact protection, early vans never had airbags or ABS.

In 2017, Chrysler produced a new minivan called the Pacifica, which meant the Caravan could retire after 37 years of production.

In 2021, Chrysler conjured the Caravan name to replace the base trims on the Pacifica range.

1984 Dodge Caravan (cont.)

Today, cars either have too few or too many cupholders, but the demand started in the 1950s when drive-in diners were the hub of American eating.

A newspaper from the same era teased a ‘snack tray for car’ that hung from the dashboard and held the cups in by metal discs.

It wasn’t until 1984, however, that mass-produced cars, the Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Voyager, were equipped with cupholders from the factory.

11. 1986 Buick Riviera – touchscreen

In 1963, GM dipped its toes into the personal luxury car market with the Riviera and eight generations were sold until 1999, with 1,127,261 cars produced in total.

In 1986, Buick dropped the V8 line-up for the seventh-generation cars, which meant buyers had a V6.

Alongside the touchscreen, the Riviera also featured a ride-height system called Dynaride, which used an air compressor to help maintain its ride height.

1986 Buick Riviera (cont.)

Buick slotted its 9in cathode-ray tube touchscreen, named the Graphic Control Center (GCC), into the Riviera’s dashboard, allowing it to control all 91 functions, including climate control, the stereo and the trip computer.

Every time the driver touched the screen a beep would emit.

Drivers then started to complain that the screen was distracting, because they had to take their eyes off the road to inspect the gas mileage or read the radio station.

Buick subsequently dropped it from its options list.

12. 1987 Toyota Crown – first CD-ROM-based navigation

Launched in 1955, the Crown, originally named the Toyopet Crown, was Toyota’s mid-sized luxury car.

During its eighth generation (1987), Toyota offered it as a sedan, a station wagon, a hardtop and even a van, plus buyers had a choice from a vast array of engines.

In 1988, it became the first Toyota equipped with an airbag, while traction control and electronic shock absorbers were also added.

1987 Toyota Crown (cont.) 

In-car navigation dates back to as far as 1930 and it involved using paper maps.

The famous Honda Electric Gyro-Cator navigation then appeared in 1981 and resembled what fighter pilots used during the Cold War.

Moving from paper maps to digital happened in 1985 with the cassette-driven Etak navigator.

Toyota saw an opportunity and offered its 1981 Celica with a Navicom system, then the 1987 Crown was the first with an in-dash CD-ROM-based color mapping system.