I'm ANOTHER one of those engine-inventors. My status was considerably higher than Herr Wankel's, and yet my failure was far greater than his. In the same way he predicted that his engine would replace the conventional piston engine, I predicted (rather loudly, unfortunately for me) that my engine would replace the conventional water-cooled engine. The company I worked for only built about 500 of these engines before we all realized that this was going to be a disaster. Given my past record, everyone was quite surprised I didn't see this coming.
Could this have been one of Henry Ford's experimental engines? Don't have time to research these now, but as I recall Ford Motor Co. built some unusual experimental engines while Henry I was still president (I believe it was in that time period). Will do some research later if someone doesn't come up with the answer in the meantime.
Gee, these were all good, imaginative guesses, and all incorrect :P
I examined them carefully to see if we could in fact have two answers to my puzzle but upon reflection I don't think so. Ford's experimental engines never were released to market; The Chrysler turbine was perhaps a marketing disaster but it worked pretty darn well for what it was, and the Crosley.....well, that was kind of a disaster but really wasn't invented, nor hyped, by such a famous person as I have in mind.
So keep going.....
Hint: MAJOR figure in automotive history and MAJOR make of automobile.
If you still don't get it, next hint will be the time period.
Oops! Missed your answer...or maybe it wasn't up yet.
Anyway, YES, you're right lemko---Charles Kettering's Chevy Cooper-Cooled engine. A disaster for Chevy in 1923, because they had been gaining on Ford and this was a black mark on the GM reputation.
I'll guess Joseph J. Cole who died in 1925 along with the last cars produced by the Cole Motor Car Company - "Designed and built especially for those who appreciate the finer motor car." They made several different models in 1925 but I don't know if all of them were equipped with self adjusting brakes. He was in the process of shutting down the company when he became ill and died.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
I assumed a bit of irony or bad timing with my answer. Someone who developed a gadget or better mouse trap a bit too late to reap recognition or take it to another level. "It's a death row pardon two minutes too late." I may be on the wrong track by looking for that...
J.J. Cole was a pioneer car maker in Indiana but also had a real passion for aviation. That and competition from other upscale marques was a big factor in closing down his car company. Dead at age 56 he's now remembered more as an innovative car guy rather than a Howard Hughes man searching for "The Next Big Thing" in life.
Somehow early 20th century America fostered a number of bigger than life pioneers who changed the world. Repeatedly. The timing of his death with the end of Cole auto production left J.J. Cole as an odd footnote in early American industrial history. By all accounts he was more than that, but "self adjusting brakes" is where it lands with an asterisk! For example in the pic below the aging J.J. Cole is shaking hands with a pilot of a plane bearing the Cole emblem. But what plane? What event? What year? Don't know. It's easier to find sheet music for a song written about the Cole 30 Flyer cars from 1910!
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
In 1963, Fords and GM cars had self adjusters. I'm not sure about Chrysler products.
A lot of brake wear problems were blamed on the self adjusters and they made conversion kits to convert them back to manual adjusters.
I remember Fords, especially Thunderbirds and the wagons would just eat through linings depending on driving conditions. It wasn't until 1965 when disc brakes were introduced on these that the problems went away.
I was a 28 year veteran of the Studebaker Corporation in the late 1940s, and like many other ambitious men, I wanted to start my own car company, which I did in any creative fashion I could muster. However, unlike Tucker, Playboy and Davis, who fell victim to shady stock deals and the wrath of the SEC, I passed muster and got the green light to set up franchises and build a small light car for those millions of U.S. veterans hankering for a new automobile in an era of new-car scarcity.
I built a few dozen cars, secured a factory and started warming up all my many contacts in the automobile industry. Then, one day, I decided to die suddenly of a heart attack at age 56. The entire company collapsed without my guidance, since my staff and board or directors were all hapless rookies compared to me.
Out of all the men who ventured into the small car field in the 1940s, and failed, I was the one who had the skill and business acumen to actually pull it off.
Ugh. I performed dismally; 25 of 48 for a whopping 52%.
Given my familiarity with 1950's automobiles, though, that's not too bad. Interestingly, I managed to pinpoint every Ford in the lineup, and even managed to ace questions 8, 10, and 12.
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
I always understood cruise control was invented by Ralph Teetor, a blind man, back in 1945. And that the first car was the 1958 Chrysler Imperial as tjc78 mentioned above. Is this not so?
You're right that the cruise control appeared first in the58 Imperial, but it was invented in 1945 by Ralph Teetor, a truly amazing guy. He was a mechanical engineer , holder of many patents, president of Perfect Circle, and BLIND from the age of 5.
Comments
Who Am I and What Was My Engine?
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I examined them carefully to see if we could in fact have two answers to my puzzle but upon reflection I don't think so. Ford's experimental engines never were released to market; The Chrysler turbine was perhaps a marketing disaster but it worked pretty darn well for what it was, and the Crosley.....well, that was kind of a disaster but really wasn't invented, nor hyped, by such a famous person as I have in mind.
So keep going.....
Hint: MAJOR figure in automotive history and MAJOR make of automobile.
If you still don't get it, next hint will be the time period.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Okay, another couple hints.
This happened in America in the 1920s
The inventor was a real self-starter.
Anyway, YES, you're right lemko---Charles Kettering's Chevy Cooper-Cooled engine. A disaster for Chevy in 1923, because they had been gaining on Ford and this was a black mark on the GM reputation.
During those three years, while I pretty much looked the same, I used a different automatic transmission during every one of those three years.
Who am I?
J.J. Cole was a pioneer car maker in Indiana but also had a real passion for aviation. That and competition from other upscale marques was a big factor in closing down his car company. Dead at age 56 he's now remembered more as an innovative car guy rather than a Howard Hughes man searching for "The Next Big Thing" in life.
Somehow early 20th century America fostered a number of bigger than life pioneers who changed the world. Repeatedly. The timing of his death with the end of Cole auto production left J.J. Cole as an odd footnote in early American industrial history. By all accounts he was more than that, but "self adjusting brakes" is where it lands with an asterisk! For example in the pic below the aging J.J. Cole is shaking hands with a pilot of a plane bearing the Cole emblem. But what plane? What event? What year? Don't know. It's easier to find sheet music for a song written about the Cole 30 Flyer cars from 1910!
A lot of brake wear problems were blamed on the self adjusters and they made conversion kits to convert them back to manual adjusters.
I remember Fords, especially Thunderbirds and the wagons would just eat through linings depending on driving conditions. It wasn't until 1965 when disc brakes were introduced on these that the problems went away.
I built a few dozen cars, secured a factory and started warming up all my many contacts in the automobile industry. Then, one day, I decided to die suddenly of a heart attack at age 56. The entire company collapsed without my guidance, since my staff and board or directors were all hapless rookies compared to me.
Out of all the men who ventured into the small car field in the 1940s, and failed, I was the one who had the skill and business acumen to actually pull it off.
WHO AM I?
I was the first US car to have it and what a unique option it was!
Who am I?
How about you?
http://www.americantorque.com/game2/8/0/
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
When did the Imperials offer cruise control as an option?
Given my familiarity with 1950's automobiles, though, that's not too bad. Interestingly, I managed to pinpoint every Ford in the lineup, and even managed to ace questions 8, 10, and 12.
1958... I dug this up. 58 Imperial
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
34 out of 48..
'50s Pontiacs just kill me... I can't pick em out..
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2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
:P
Give up on the cruise control question?
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
The only one that gave me any pause, was the hood ornament for the '56 Lincoln.
I was born in 1958.
1957 Cadillac Eldorados were available with cruise control.
I think it was 1959 when the other Caddys got cruise as an option. I've seen a couple of 59's with CC but at close to 100.00 it wasn't much in demand.
Besides, a lot of people were afraid of it hanging up and not shutting off.
I kinda guessed at the Lincoln hood ornament but picked it as a process of elimination.
I got 54% in that quiz, better than I expected to do.
I think the thing is my dad was not really a car guy, so I only got in to cars in the mid 1980s.