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Hanomag was an established name when the company produced its first car. They built their first steam engine in 1836; by 1905 they were producing steam trucks. When the steam locomotive market declined, the company began looking for an alternative product. They turned to a small economy car that was affordable among the middle class. […]

Constructed in 1932, this one-of-a-kind, propeller driven car was discovered in a barn in France in 2000 having been placed there by the original owner in the late 1930s. Little could be seen of it through the rubble. It was completely rebuilt but many of the mechanical components are original, such as the frame, wire

In early 1940, Rudy Stoessel, Paul Erdos, and Burt Chalmers opened a small body shop in Hollywood called Coachcraft, Ltd., and began building custom bodies for movie stars and wealthy locals. In 1945, William “Shem” Hewson raised capital to form the Hewson Pacific Corp., and planned to produce the “Hewson Rocket” and sell it for

The Honda Life Step Van was Japan’s first microvan. Based on the 1971 Honda Life Sedan, the unique-looking vehicle’s primary mission was to serve as a delivery mule for Japan’s rapidly-growing economy. Honda sold the Step Van on traits such as a large rear opening and low floor for ease of loading and unloading and

Honda Motor Co. traces its automobile roots back to 1959. The S800 was introduced to the world at the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show, and would replace the successful S600. Like the S600, it was available as either a coupe or roadster. What made it different was the displacement increase and significant styling changes to both

Benjamin B. Hotchkiss, an American, was asked by Napoleon II to establish an arms factory in France in 1867. Hotchkiss had plants in New England and New York and had been a major supplier of weapons and ammunition during the Civil War. He patented the Hotchkiss revolving cannon in 1872. By the turn of the

IFA is not a brand name of a particular automobile, but rather the state-owned company to which all the automobile factories belonged (such as Audi, DKW, Horch, Wanderer, and Phanomen). The F9 was jointly produced by Horsch (who produced the bodywork) and Audi (who assembled the vehicle) and was based on a pre-war DKW design.

After the first World War, Czech arms manufacturer Franisek Janecek made a business decision to produce motorcycles. He designed the bodies and used Wanderer engines. The trademark “Jawa” was patented in 1929; the name came from the first two letters of Janecek and Wanderer. Motorcycle production was growing, and by the mid 1930s Jawa began

Vincenzo Lancia was the youngest child of a wealthy Turin soup manufacturer. As a young man, he was a chief inspector and test driver for F.I.A.T. as well as a successful racer. In 1906, he formed his own company. Initially, Lancia produced luxury cars but by the 1930s, they saw a need to mass-produce a