1909 - William A. Besserdich and his brother-in-law, Otto Zachow, were young blacksmiths in Clintonville, Wisconsin, when they built America's first successful four-wheel-drive motor car. Their "Badger Four Wheel Drive Auto Company" was formed on January 9th; later the "Badger" and "Auto" dropped from the title. The firm finally switched from cars to trucks.Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco) was founded. Charles F. Kettering, a genius of the automotive industry, was one of Delco's founders. 1910 - The Fisher Body Company received an order from Cadillac for first quality production of closed bodies - 150 units. Curb- side pumps began to appear about this time, though they were forbidden by law in some communities. Custom-made ambulances made an appearance in the first decade of 1900 and played a major role in World War I.1911 - By this time, the automobile industry had, for the first time, securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The Buick Motor Company, the Olds Motor Works, the Cadillac Automobile Company and the Oakland Motor Car Company had already achieved success and had been combined with other firms by William Crapo Durant into the General Motors Company. Durant, having lost control of the company, moved into building and selling a new auto, designed by and named for Louis Chevrolet, a French race driver. Another manufacturer-promoter, Benjamin Briscoe, had brought some 130 different companies together to form the United States Motor Car Corporation. This ambitious combination ran into financial difficulties and was doomed to receivership in 1912. The first production four-wheel-drive automobile, built by FWD Corporation, rolled out of Clintonville, Wisc. It was first used as a demonstrator, and when the firm shifted entirely to truck manufacturing, it was used for nearly 35 years to haul mail to and from the post office. First four-wheel braking was employed by the Italian company of Isotta-Franchini. Other innovations were an improved electric starter, the dynamo, and a car telephone.1912 - Edward G. Budd, a young Philadelphia engineer, is credited with the concept of the all-steel auto body. In 1912, he convinced the Oakland and Hupmobile people to try his all- steel body frames, and the next year received his first large contract from John and Horace Dodge. Charles F. Kettering introduced his greatest contribution to the automotive industry, the electric self-starter. Henry M. Leland introduced the self-starter in his 1912 Cadillac.1913 - Dr. William M. Burton improved production of anti-knock additives for gasolines, but not the firing of the larger kerosene molecules mixed in with gasoline. Henry Ford`s first moving assembly line revolutionized auto production. The Gulf Oil Company was the first U.S. petroleum firm to distribute free road maps. 1914 - Horace and John Dodge were wealthy manufacturers of components for Olds Motor Works, then for Ford Motor Company, before they introduced their own automobile. The first Dodge was delivered to them on November 14, 1914. Cleveland, Ohio, installed the nation's first traffic lights. At about this time, the International Harvester Auto-Wagon, a high-wheeled, hard-tired pioneer version of the pickup truck, appeared. Most pioneer motorists stored their cars in the winter months, due to clogged roads and operating difficulties. Anti-freeze, winter oils, efficient heaters and other cold weather needs were still to come.1915 - Ernest Holmes Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of the pioneers in the field of auto rescue, although the mechanism of the wrecker was pretty complicated.1916 - Studebaker instituted the "pay-as-you-ride" slogan and sold automobiles on time payments.1917 - From 1910 to 1917, company crews from B. F. Goodrich erected thousands of signs on some 110,000 miles of U.S. roads. These were guide posts - round metal signs on twelve-foot poles, each of which gave the name of the nearest town, the next large city and the ultimate destination of the route.1918 - A German named Lankensperger took out a British patent on a system of steering in which the steering wheels are separately pivoted at the ends of the shaft.1919 - The U.S. Army started its first transcontinental truck convoy. Second in command of the caravan was a Lieutenant Colonel, Dwight D. Eisenhower.1920 - Jonathan Dixon Maxwell's popular automobile succumbed in the mid-20s. It had spring-suspension wheels (unusual for the times). Hydraulic braking was introduced. By this time, mass production methods were well-established, and this led to the availability of a wide range of cheap, reliable and comfortable cars which found a ready market in the affluent '20s.1921 - The U.S. Bureau of Public Roads was created right after WWI. In 1921, a second Federal Highway Act more clearly defined the aid program to develop a gigantic national road system. The Kahn-Wadsworth Bill made possible the distribution of more than 25,000 surplus army trucks and other equipment to the state highway departments for road-building purposes.1923 - Tetraethyl lead was discovered.1924 - Walter P. Chrysler, the head of the Maxwell Motor Corporation, introduced an auto bearing his name. Fred Zeder was one its key designers. The Chrysler was so successful it brought about the death of the Maxwell. A California innkeeper erected the first "Motel" sign outside his establishment.General Motors and Standard Oil Company of New Jersey formed Ethyl Gasoline Corporation to make and sell the new additive, tetraethyl lead.1926 - The first "Burma Shave" jingles were posted in Minnesota.1927 - The first drive-up mail box was installed in Houston, Texas.1929 - The short-lived Ruxton was an unusual front-wheel-drive luxury automobile manufactured by New Era Motors of New York from 1929 to 1931. Although it did not fare well, it marked a new beginning in the automotive age.
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