Современное автомобилестроение. Сахарова Н.С. - 85 стр.

   Exercise 1. Read, translate and render the text

   Exercise 2. Answer the question:
  - Why is Lenoir engine is considered to be a new kind of engine?


   17.2 Text 2
      The pioneer motorist

    The first British petrol-engined car is still a subject of debate but both John Knight
and Fredrick Lanchester built cars in 1895. Herbert Austin, working with Wolseley at
the time but later to become famous for his own marque, built the first Wolseley four
wheel car in 1899. Another pioneer, F.R. Simms, purchased in Germany the rights to
build Daimler cars in Britain and formed the Daimler Motor Syndicate in 1893.
    The most famous partnership in motoring – Rolls Royce – began in 1904. Rolls &
Royce were men of completely different character and came from different
backgrounds. Rolls was well educated and came from a wealthy home. He became a
successful racing driver but his real passion was flying and he became the first man to
fly the Channel both ways. Rolls sold cars in Mayfair, London and in his search to
find a good English car to sell, he went to Manchester to meet Fredrick Henry Royce.
Royce came from poor home, had little education and started work at the age of
twelve. After an engineering apprenticeship, Royce went on to start a small business
making electrical equipment before building his first car in 1904. The partnership
agreed that Rolls would sell all the cars made by Royce. In 1906 the famous 40/50
Silver Ghost appeared. The Silver Ghost set new standards of reliability, refinement
and silence. To publicise the car’s qualities, a drive from London to Edinburgh was
made in top gear alone. The Silver Ghost stayed in production for nineteen years and
7,870 were built.
    Another milestone in motoring appeared in 1908; the Ford Model T. Rarely in the
history of motoring has an individual make of car had such a revolutionary impact,
for the Model T could claim to have put the world on wheels. Henry Ford built his
first car in 1896; seven years later the Ford Motor Company was founded. Ford’s aim
was to produce a light, simple, rugged car to a standard design which would be made
in vast numbers at a low price to become the universal family car. In 1908 10,000
Model T’s were made, 500,000 in 1916 and the magic million was achieved in 1922.
The price of the car fell from $850 in 1908 to $290 in 1925. Ford was capable of
producing the Model T in vast numbers at a low price by installing a moving
assembly line as part of a huge manufacturing complex. Technically the car was very
basic and equipment on the early models amounted to nothing more than a horn. The
splash-‘n-spit lubrication and gravity-feed fuel system meant that steep hills were
best tackled in reverse. Despite the Model T’s peculiarities, Ford’s success was due to
the correct assumption of the time, that people wanted reliable and basic
transportation and not necessarily smart styling and complex mechanical equipment.
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