Question of the Day: What’s the Most Influential Car Ever?
Yesterday’s question about the most influential automotive figure stirred up a little action in the ‘comments’ section, so we thought we’d up the ante a bit. Give us your pick for the most influential car of all time, in comments.
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Comments
Mike
This one's a toss-up. Ford Model T, VW Beetle, or Mercedes S-Class.
Cicero
Porsche 911
Iain
Original Mini
don63011
Model T, no doubt.
Steve
I'm with Mike on this one 100% of the way.
Zelman
Model T, for industrial innovation; original VW Beetle, for economic innovation; and even though I don't like most hybrid models, the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius for the whole 'green' vehicle movement.
Porsche's 911 is a monumental triumph in the sports car arena, but that's not really a big influence on all automotive fronts like the others.
uragan
BMW 2002, original Jeep, Land Rover and VW Beetle.
Mena
I'm with Mike also. I wouldn't include the hybrids because I believe they are just the latest fad. When the next in car comes along those will get dumped.
Lordrandall
Model T and VW Bug for bringing cars to the people.
X3 SoB
5th place: The VW beetle, an inovative design that eclipsed the production numbers of the Model T. 4th place: The Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, the epitome of reliability for its time. 3rd place: The 1896 Duryea, the first production automobile, also the first recorded auto accident. 2nd place: The first large scale production car was the Oldsmobile Curved-Dash, a very influential vehicle. 1st place: The original Henry Leland Cadillac featuring interchangable parts was probably the most influential auto of all time, it caused Ford to standardize the parts in the Model T and create the assembly line. Guess which car I rank Sixth!
Sean
The Model T.
X3 SoB
Right!
Steve
That's easy,
The 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo!
X3 SoB
In seventh place I'd have to put the Chevrolet V-8, it forced Ford to develop the Model A.
DieRobotDie
The original Mini, as it inspired so many manufacturers to follow the E/W front-wheel-drive format that has become the most common form now.
Andy II
agree with Zelman... but what is with these recent question of the days... the answers are too obvious!
Pedro
Without a doubt the Model T and Beetle (and I'll nominate the Austin 7 here too) were enormously influential cars, but their sphere of influence was limited to "people's cars" that adopted the principle. However, if we consider influence that spans over decades as the criterion, I'd have to agree with an earlier nod for the S Class. No car has had as much of an impact—consistently—on what we now consider commonplace.
FPF422
The Mercedes build for Jellinek which prefigures for the first time the architecture of today's cars...
other than that, of course Ford Model T, Fiat Topolino/500, Citroën 2 CV, VW Bug and the Mini
to that we could add the Austin 7, Citroën ID/DS, Mercedes Benz 300SL and Mercedes Benz S-class
Trinks
A lot of the cars being mentioned by everyone have all been hugely influential. I honestly wouldn't know which one was more influential than all the rest. I would like to add in the VW Rabbit and Honda Civic for starting the hot hatch and tuner movements respectively.
rip
While I'd love to mention some car like a Ferrari or Mercedes... these are far more important.
The Cord and Cadillac (I don't know which one specifically, but its the very early ones that gave Cadillac the title "standard of the world").
Cord because it introduced things like aerodynamics and front wheel drive.
Cadillac because it was the first car that used interchangeable parts. As in, you could use the parts from one Cadillac on another. Prior to this, cars were essentially one-offs, with every part individually custom made for that single car.
As for Porsche, are you kidding? While it's a great car, name one single influential thing about it in the car industry. How many rear engine models are around? How many air-cooled cars? How many cars use boxer engines?
But I will give a shout out to the BMW 2002. That car essentially created an entire class of modern car that virtually EVERY manufacturer competes in. The modern sports sedan (even though the 2002 was a coupe ;)). Everyone is still chasing BMW and the current iteration, the 3-series.
Dane
The original Mini.... Set the blueprint to todays standard or efficiency..
Bald-win
Model T, if your talking world wide influence (with the VW Beetle a close second).
The car which influenced ME the most would be the Lotus Europa, the car which started my entire love affair with automobilia.
Jeff
I'll go with the Beetle. The car that the "everyman" could afford, and if it weren't for that, how many of us would be driving cars right now?
X3 SoB
As far as modern influences, I agree with rip, the BMW 2002 rocks. He agrees with me about the Cadillac, and I think he has a point about Cord. The Mini is a good choice too. So, to complete my top ten, 8th: Cord, 9th: BMW 2002, 10th: Mini.
1: Cadillac
2: Oldsmobile Curved-Dash
3: Duryea
4: Rolls Royce Silver Ghost
5: VW beetle
6: Ford Model T
7: Chevrolet V-8
8: Cord
9: BMW 2002
10: Mini
mbslrm
Ford Model T, VW/Porsche Beetle, Land Rover Discovery, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and maybe the Porsche 911.
John
The automobile which exerted the most influence on its country, its mass of owners and the entire economy of a continent was the humble Citroen 2CV...without a doubt.
Patrick from Astoria
Twenty-five submissions and no one has mentioned the Genesis, the Alpha, the 1886 Benz Patentwagen? C'mon, folks. Props to the dude who got it all going.
Paul In Jersey
1965 Lancia Flamina Sport by Zagato!
Chris
jeep cherokee
Chris
what I mean is for the suv market it started it.
Ducati Minor
The Flivver is obvious, but the Beetle set the stage for the Porsche 356, VW itself, postwar populist motorcars (like the Fiat 500 and Austin Mini), and America's repeated efforts to have a full-on economy car...with the only "success" being the Ford Falcon.
Funny how a Ford inspired a Volkswagen and then vice-versa.
Larry
The 1948 Hudson -- step down design, bulletproof high (for its day) performance, handling head and shoulders above contemporaries, backup braking system (not new in '48.)
The design brought all other automakers to the longer, lower, better handling paradigm.
JIM
JAGUAR E TYPE SERIES 1
Jonathan Fung
How could it be anything other than the Model T?
Yes, there are many other important cars there, but the Model T is THE most influential one.
Pedro
I like the perspective of which had the biggest influence on me. That would be a family friend's Maserati Mistral. So big an influence that I now own it and will invest far more than its dollar value to restore.
SAAB95JD
Model T. Nothing else comes close.
southern
Well, my 1957 Ford Convertible did for me (With Mary Lou Crawford) what my 1948 Chrysler couldn't do. So I would say it had a big influence on Mary lou and that's good enough for me.
Scott
The Mini, had the most influence on modern car design.
JD
The very first post names the big 3, and in chronological order, no less! Well done, Mike! Also give props to the Mini, but Porsches and Rolls Royces? The most influential cars ever? No. Come on, folks!
Newold
The Ford Model T put America on wheels and was influential abroad too, and it gets my vote.
Alex Issigonis' Morris Minor and Austin Mini, Chevrolet's Corvair and the Fiat X19, were four of the most interesting of my 30-odd cars so far. I bought my first Citroen in 1959 (DS19) and, in 1968, I purchased a Citroen DS21 Pallas which looked exactly like the one in your picture. Wish I still had it today.
Adam
The BMW 2002 brought sport sedans into the conscious of Americans who were used to large RWD highway cruisers. It established that a small, low-powered but excellent handling sedan could be fun to drive and inexpensive to operate.
The Audi 5000 influenced the new, sleeker style of the late 80's and 90's, which was followed by the Ford Taurus, E34 5-series, etc. Despite the acceleration issue, and the fact that Audi would probably rather there was never a 5000, it's still an influential car.
The W126 S-class set the standard for luxury cars essentially until the present, including influencing the start of Lexus with the LS400. It's still one of the most elegant shapes of all time.
paul
In no particular order (you can make a case for either of these three):
Model T
Volkswagen Beetle
Honda Accord (can't believe no one mentioned this one- this care CEMENTED the Japanese car movement. The entire Japanese auto industry has had WAY more influence than any one car, and this car sealed the deal).
Joshua
I think all of these where very important cars, but the MOST influential car ever is the Cadillac Type 53 of 1916. it was the first car to introduce what we know as the layout for car controls. That being the steering wheel with a levers for the gearshift and parking breaks to the side and three pedals: right for the gas, middle for the clutch and left for the break.
Even the Model T didn't set this standard forth. Before this, there was no standard layout to the controls. some with the throttle on the wheel, or gearshift where the breaks should be and so forth.
The Austin 7 copied this idea and popularized it, but it was the Caddy gave us our cars today.
Joshua
Also, it was the first with a key for the ignition, no more cranks at the front of the car and what not.
Cicero
With Jaguar, Audi, Maserati, Aston Martin and other companies trying to topple them, that must mean Porsche must be doing something right and influencing others
FPF422
The absolute winner, IMO, is the Mercedes build for Jellinek, which was the first car with the the architecture we know today... (Chassis, Engine, Gearbox)
other important cars are the Ford Model T, Cadillac 53, Austin 7, Fiat Topolino/500, Volkswagen Beetle, Citroën 2 cv and ID/DS, Mercedes Benz 300 SL and S-class for other reasons...
but as usual, without Mercedes, the cars of today would maybe look quite different.
Brett
I can't believe nobody mentioned the Jeep! I singlehandedly won WW2, then went on to spawn all those big lumbering gashogs clogging our highways.
Brett
I can’t believe nobody mentioned the Jeep! It singlehandedly won WW2, then went on to spawn all those big lumbering gashogs clogging our highways. If that isn't influential I don't know what is.
Michael R
1st generation VW Golf/Rabbit. The first successful FWD hatchback.
Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro.
Don't mess with my car knowledge.
BobBarker
That Citroen DL (pictured) is certainly on my list! Also the Tucker, the Mustang and the Corvette.
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