JanKé

Alfa Romeo's motto is "The mechanics of emotion". All Alfa enthusiasts will agree, because this sporty Italian car brand, founded in 1910, not only produced sporty family cars, coupés and convertibles, but also legendary sports cars. Alfa Romeo has participated successfully in many major racing tournaments such as the Auto GP and Formula 1.

The English car brand Aston Martin has become immensely famous because the main character in the James Bond films uses it on a regular basis. But few people know that the name of the exclusive Aston Martin brand, founded in 1913, was created by Lionel Martin's victory on the "Aston Clinton Hillclimb" near the town of Aston Clinton. The first registered car was built in 1915 at the Abingdon Road workshop in Kensington.

BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke. BMW's first real own cars were produced from 1933 onwards. These were more advanced six-cylinder sports cars and sedans. Especially the 327 sedan and 328 roadster, fast two-litre cars, were very advanced for their time. Thanks to these models among others, BMW got a name as a builder of sports cars. The logo consists of a black ring with the capital letters BMW. Inside is a blue-white chequered field, a reference to the coat of arms of Bavaria. After BMW started to manufacture aircraft engines, the story arose that the logo is a reference to a propeller. BMW itself also maintained this story. It was only in 2005 that the true origin of the logo became known again. The colours of the logo refer to the colours of the southern German state of Bavaria.

The car brand Bugatti was founded in 1909 by the Italian Ettore Bugatti when he started as an independent car builder in the German town of Molsheim near Strasbourg. The car make is one of the most exclusive cars in the world. Bugattis are sought after by collectors who are worth several millions and Bugattis are also on display in museums.

Buick is a brand for American luxury cars founded in 1903 by David Dunbar Buick and currently owned by General Motors. Buick has a whole history and made various products. During the First World War they made aircraft engines and ambulances, among other things. Also during the Second World War Buick changed its production to aircraft engines and M18 Hellcat Tanks. Buick's economic boom started in the 1950s.

Cadillac is a brand of American luxury cars that was founded in 1902 by Henry Leland and is currently owned by General Motors. Cadillac owes its name to the founder of the American city Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. Cadillac was a forerunner of technological progress and made V8 engines that became a standard for the American car industry.

Chevrolet, also known as Chevy, owes its name to the famous racing pilot and designer Louis Chevrolet who helped William Durant re-establish the reputation of General Motors. The distinctive logo resembling a bowtie would have been based on a wallpaper that Durant had seen in a French hotel. Chevrolet is the best selling brand of the General Motors group and has made very famous models including the Chevrolet Chevette, the Corvette and pickups.

The French car brand Citroen was founded in 1919 by Andre Citroen, who acquired a patent in 1900 to produce gears in V-shaped gears. The peculiarity of the gears can be found as the double twill in the Citroen logo. Citroen brought a lot of innovation to the car industry with the Traction Avant, the CV2 and the DS as the main models.

Cord was an American car brand from 1929 to 1932 and from 1936 to 1937, made by the Auburn Automobile Company. The first car was the Cord L-29, one of the first cars with front-wheel drive. Two months after its introduction, the New York Stock Exchange collapsed and as a result, the L-29 never sold much. Production ceased in early 1932. At the end of 1936 Cord came with a new car, the Cord 810. The 810 hit the public immediately, but because people were still in the depression, the sales figures were disappointing. In 1937 some changes were made to the car. It was sold as the Cord 812. Sales still went bad and on August 7, 1937 production was completely stopped.

Delage, also called SAFAD (Société Anonyme Française des Automobiles Delage) was a French car brand. Delage was founded in 1905 by Louis Delage in Levallois-Perret, near Paris. Delage, a young ambitious technician, had previously been employed by Peugeot. In the beginning Delage assembled chassis and powertrains from other manufacturers on a self-designed bodywork, which was also bought from others. After moving to larger premises, the '500 km Dieppe Grand Prix' was won in 1908, and from 1909 Delage made its own engines and advanced bodies. In 1910 the Seine broke its banks, so it was moved again, this time to Verdun Boulevard in Courbevoie in 1912. Until 1927 Delage was very successful in car racing. During the war the factory was used for the war industry. Delage had a very hard time during the crisis period of the thirties and the company voluntarily dissolved itself in 1935. The factory in Courbevoi was closed and all inventory sold. Delahaye, a competing French car brand, obtained a licence to build cars under the name Delage and did so until the brand disappeared from the scene in 1953.

The Tomaso was an Italian car brand. De Tomaso was founded by the Argentinian Alejandro de Tomaso (Buenos Aires, 10 July 1928 - 21 May 2003). The Argentine flag is part of De Tomaso's logo. The symbol in the logo is the branding used on the ranch

Ferrari is an Italian car brand based in Maranello, Italy. The company was founded in 1929 as a racing team (Scuderia Ferrari) by Enzo Ferrari. It was not until 1947 that the company switched to the production of legal street cars under the name Ferrari S.p.A. Since its inception, the company has been mentioned in the same breath as Formula 1, in which many successes have already been achieved. Enzo Ferrari started in 1923 as a (test) driver at Alfa Romeo, where he soon became responsible for the entire team. In 1929 he founded the Scuderia Ferrari, which functioned as the racing stable of Alfa Romeo. Until 1938 he achieved many victories with the Alfa Romeo cars. In 1939, however, the roads of Alfa Romeo and Ferrari separated. Enzo left Alfa Romeo and they agreed that the name "Ferrari" would no longer be associated with racing or racing cars for 4 years. Enzo therefore founded Auto Avio Costruzioni, which resulted in Auto Avio tipo 815. In 1943 the factory moved from Modena to Maranello, where it can still be found today. In 1945 they finally started designing what was to become the first real Ferrari car, and on March 2, 1947 it was ready: the Ferrari 125 S.

Fiat is an Italian car brand. The Società Anonima Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino was founded in Turin in 1899 on the initiative of Giovanni Agnelli. He became general manager of the company in 1902. In 1900 the first 24 cars were produced at the Corso Dante factory, including the 3/12HP. The FIAT logo was designed by Biscaretti in 1904. From an early age FIAT was successfully active in car racing. In 1902 Vincenzo Lancia won the Sassi Superga with a 24HP. Agnelli himself was also active as a driver, he drove the second tour of Italy. In 1907 Felice Nazzaro won the Grand Prix de France in a 130HP, with an average speed of 113,612 km/hour.

Ford is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. By 2019, the company had 190,000 employees and 55 factories and eight research and development sites. The cars are sold worldwide under the Ford and Lincoln brands. The company has its own financing department for customers who want to purchase cars with a loan. Ford has more than 10,900 dealers for sales, 10,000 of whom sell Ford vehicles only and the remaining 1,000 sell Ford and Lincoln cars or Lincoln passenger cars only.

Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (Russian: Горьковский автомобильный завод; [Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod]; "Gorki Automobile Factory") or GAZ (ГАЗ) is a Russian car factory in Nizhny Novgorod and part of the group GAZ. The plant started in 1929 as NNAZ, a joint venture between Ford and the Soviet Union. The name changed when the city name of Nizhny Novgorod was named after Maksim Gorki. From 1935 to 1956 the addition imeni Molotova was added (literally "named after Molotov"). Nowadays, minibuses, trucks, buses and construction machinery are made by GAZ and since 2012 also passenger cars are made on behalf of Volkswagen AG.

Gordini is a French sports car manufacturer. The company was founded by Amédée Gordini who was nicknamed "Le Sorcier" (The Sorcerer). Amédée's son, Aldo Gordini, worked as a mechanic for the company and was also a driver for the Gordini team. Gordini participated in Formula 1 from 1950 to 1956. From 1962 to 1969 Gordini worked together with Renault and participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the name Renault-Gordini. Renault used the name Gordini for sporty versions of the Renault Dauphine, Renault 5, Renault 8 and Renault 12. In November 2009 Renault announced that the name Gordini would be used for an exlusive and sporty line of cars, just like Fiat uses the name Abarth.

Hispano Suiza was a Spanish-French manufacturer of cars, airplanes and aircraft engines. The brand was revived in 2019. Emilio de la Cuadra set up a factory for electric cars in Barcelona, which he sold under the name La Cuadra. In Paris he met the talented Swiss designer Marc Birkigt, whom he hired to work for his company in Spain. Around 1902 the factory changed hands and its name was changed to Fábrica Hispano-Suiza de Automóviles (Spanish-Swiss car factory), but the company went bankrupt in December 1903. In 1904 it was restarted under the name Fábrica La Hispano-Suiza de Automóviles, under the same management. Four new cars were introduced that year[source?]. In 1911 part of the production was transferred to France. The company continued to build cars until 1938. In 1946 the automotive department of Hispano-Suiza was sold to Enasa, which used the factory to manufacture Pegaso sports cars. In 2000 the name Hispano-Suiza was revived by the Mazel group for cars and since then four prototypes have appeared, the HS21GTS, the K8, the HS21 and the Granturismo V10 Supercharged. The cars never came into production and the Mazel group is in financial difficulties.

The Hudson Motor Car Company built Hudson and a number of other makes of automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, from 1909 to 1957. The name "Hudson" comes from Mr. J.L. Hudson, department store entrepreneur and founder of Hudson's department store, who had a necessary capital.

Jaguar Cars is an English car manufacturer dedicated to the production of luxury cars. Ford Motor Company acquired Jaguar in 1990 and - together with Volvo, Land Rover and Aston Martin - transferred the brand to the Premier Automotive Group. From 2008, the brand, together with Land Rover, became part of the Indian car manufacturer Tata. In 1922 William Lyons founded the Swallow Sidecar Company in Blackpool, England. This company was mainly engaged in the production of sidecar combinations for motorcycles. Until the Second World War the brand was called SS, an abbreviation of Swallow Sidecar. After the war the name was changed to Jaguar. Five years later, the switch was made to bodybuilding, because a large order was won with the construction of an aluminium body on the existing chassis of the Austin Seven. This all took such a flight that William Lyons decided to locate his company more centrally, and in 1928 SS moved to the English town of Coventry. During the Second World War Coventry was under heavy fire, and it would take until 1948 before a new vehicle was introduced. This Jaguar Mk V was to play an important role in rebuilding the brand.

The brand Maserati was founded in 1914 in Bologna by the six Maserati brothers: Carlo, Bindo, Alfieri, Mario, Ettore and Ernesto. It initially made spark plugs and ignition coils. In 1926 the first self-built racing car (Tipo 26) was presented in the Targa Florio, driven by Alfieri Maserati, who promptly won. He continued to win numerous races after that. From that moment until the fifties, people have been building racing cars in which the 250 F and the "Birdcage" were the most famous types that were extremely successful. At the end of the fifties it was realised that the factory could not live from racing and it was decided to build street cars as well. The first type to be produced in quite a large series (almost 2000 units) was the 3500 GTS from 1957. During the sixties and seventies the brand built up a reputation as a producer of exclusive GT's with resounding names like the Mexico, Ghibli, Indy, Bora, Merak, Khamsin, Kyalami and Quattroporte, all fast travel cars that were manufactured in small numbers. In 1968 Citroën took over Maserati, which led to the cars in which Citroën's hydraulic technology could be found. In the mid-1970s the factory was on the brink of collapse when Citroën wanted to pull the plug on the loss-making business. De Tomaso took over the business in 1975 for a symbolic sum. He decided that the only way to survive was to develop a car that was accessible to a wider public. Thus, in 1982, the Biturbo was presented, which struck like a bomb.

Mercedes-Benz, often abbreviated to Mercedes, is a car brand from Germany, created in 1926 as a result of the merger between Gottlieb Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and the Benz & Cie. company of Carl Benz. For decades, the brand was part of Daimler-Benz, which, following a failed merger with Chrysler, has been going through life as Daimler AG since 2007. Under the Mercedes-Benz brand, passenger cars and vans, vans, buses, trucks (such as the Mercedes-Benz Unimog) and aeroplanes are produced. Mercedes-Benz also owns Maybach and Smart, among others. It has also been a major shareholder in the 2010 season's new Formula 1 team Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team since it acquired a 75.1% stake (of which 25.1% owned by Mercedes-Benz) in the Brawn GP team on 16 November 2009 in partnership with Aabar Investments.[1] Mercedes-Benz will supply F1 engines to Williams F1, Force India F1 team and their own team Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team in 2018.

Packard was a brand of luxury cars from the United States that existed from 1899 to 1958. The Packard Motors Company was based in Detroit (Michigan, USA) and merged with Studebaker in 1954 to become Studebaker-Packard. Packard used a very famous slogan: Ask The Man Who Owns One, or Ask the one who owns one. Today, Packards are much sought after by collectors. In 1898, engineer James Packard bought a Winton. It was one of the first cars built and sold in the US. Alexander Winton, who had built it, generally made good cars, but it broke down on the first drive. James Packard couldn't laugh about it and went back to Alexander Winton with whom he ended up in a big argument. In the end Winton Packard challenged to build a better car himself. Packard went straight to work

Plymouth was an American car brand founded in 1928 by Chrysler. Plymouth was conceived as a cheap model of Chrysler but later became a private brand. Also in 1928 Chrysler founded the make DeSoto for the middle class and Dodge was taken over which was placed just above DeSoto. Chrysler' was the luxury brand. This was Chrysler's official explanation of the name Plymouth: As a product of Chrysler's technique and craftsmanship, Plymouth was so named because of the durability and strength, the roughness and the limitlessness that typified the first American settlers. Those settlers had founded the Plymouth Colony after they came to America from England with the Mayflower. Walter Chrysler wanted a popular name that people would recognize immediately. One of the executives, Joe Frazer, had suggested the name Plymouth. The first emblem of the brand also showed the Mayflower.

Pontiac was an American car brand that sold cars in the United States, Canada and Mexico between 1926 and 2010. The brand was owned by General Motors and was positioned within that group in the middle class. Pontiac mainly built sporty, performance-oriented cars. On 27 April 2009, GM decided to discontinue the Pontiac brand due to the major problems it was facing. On November 25th of that same year the last Pontiac rolled off the tyre. On 31 October 2010, GM's parent company no longer renewed its contracts with dealers and the brand was definitively discontinued.

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (often abbreviated to Porsche AG) is a German manufacturer of sports cars, founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, also the designer of the first Volkswagen. The company is based in Zuffenhausen, close to Stuttgart. Today, the company is owned by Volkswagen, which in turn is largely owned by Porsche SE. For the first Porsche, the 1938 Porsche 64, many parts of the KdF-Wagen were used. The second, the Porsche 356 (registered in Austria on 8 June 1948),[1] was initially built in Gmünd, Austria, where the company had fled during the war. After the production of 49 cars the company moved back to Zuffenhausen. Many people consider the 356 to be the first real Porsche, simply because it was the first model sold by the young company. Ferdinand Porsche worked with his son Ferry on the design of the 356, but died shortly after the first prototype was built. Like the 64, the 356 used many parts of the Beetle, including the suspension, gearbox and internal combustion engine. During production the model evolved and many VW parts were replaced by Porsche parts. The last models were fitted with engine blocks completely designed by Porsche. The bodywork was designed by Erwin Komenda, who also designed the Beetle. In 1963, after successes in motorsport, the company launched the Porsche 901. This was again an air-cooled car with the engine in the back. This time the engine was a 6-cylinder boxer engine. This car, the Porsche 911, which is still in production, is the best known model of Porsche. The car is very successful on the track, at rallies and also in sales. A cheaper alternative with the same bodywork, but with the 4-cylinder boxer engine of the 356, was sold as the Porsche 912.

Renault S.A. is a French manufacturer of passenger cars, commercial vehicles, trucks, tractors and aircraft engines. The group was founded by Louis Renault and for a large part of its existence has been a state-owned company, under the name Régie Nationale des Usines Renault. The nickname of the French brand is therefore 'La Régie'. Another nickname is 'Le Losange', referring to the logo. Alpine is a French manufacturer of racing and sports cars with a Renault heckmotor placed behind the rear axle. The correct pronunciation of the brand comes close to "al-pien". Jean Rédélé, the founder of Alpine, was originally a garage owner in Dieppe. He built a car based on Renault parts, which was presented in 1955. In 1970 Renault took a majority stake in the make, only to take it over later. In 1994 it was decided to stop Alpine production.

Rolls-Royce is a British manufacturer of cars and aircraft engines. The company was founded in 1906 and went bankrupt in 1971 as a result of sky-high development costs for the RB211 turbo fan. This led to the nationalisation of the company and in 1973 the automobile division was hived off as Rolls-Royce Motors. Rolls-Royce Limited itself was privatised again in 1987 under the name Rolls-Royce plc. Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury cars and sports cars. Bentley has been part of the Volkswagen Group since 1998.

Carroll Hall Shelby (Leesburg (Texas), 11 January 1923 - Dallas (Texas), 10 May 2012) was an American driver and designer/builder of cars. After finishing high school, Shelby joined the U.S. Air Force. During the Second World War he was active as a flight instructor and test pilot. Shelby has had a great influence on motor racing and design during the last fifty years. He started as an amateur driver, but quickly became a driver for Aston Martin and Maserati teams in the 1950s and 1960s. After his career as a racing driver, he started a racing school and also the Shelby-American company. In this company, he designed and built the famous AC Cobra cars, with the chassis of AC cars and engines from Ford. Through Lee Iacocca (of the Chrysler Corporation) he started working with Ford. He helped to design some sports cars that were known as classic, such as: the Ford GT40, the Shelby GT350 and the Shelby GT500 and of course the Shelby Cobra. He left Ford and started working (again at the request of Lee Iacocca) for the other two of the three major American car companies: Dodge, Oldsmobile. Here he worked, among other things, on the Dodge Viper.

Volkswagen, often abbreviated as VW, is Volkswagen AG's most important car brand. Volkswagen has two models in the top five most sold cars in the world ever, namely the Volkswagen Beetle and the Volkswagen Golf (state of affairs 2015). The Austrian professor and car engineer Ferdinand Porsche and the Jewish engineer Josef Ganz were at the cradle of Volkswagen. In 1922 Porsche had in vain proposed plans for a cheap car. Even his then employer Austro-Daimler was not interested. Nor did Mercedes-Benz see anything in Porsche's dream of a cheap car. Porsche tried it at, among others, NSU and Zündapp, where a number of prototypes were realised. He started for himself, and in 1934 he was commissioned by Adolf Hitler to design a "Kraft durch Freude" car, a car for the people. The schedule of requirements for this car was substantial. The KdF-car had to be able to reach a top speed of 100 km/h; had to be able to carry two adults and a child, or three soldiers and a machine gun; had to have an air-cooled engine so that it could stand outside in winter; could consume a maximum of between 6 and 7 litres of petrol per 100 kilometres; and could not cost more than 900 Reichsmark. Porsche had already completed the design for such a car. In 1932 he had designed a four-seater car that was strongly inspired by designs by Béla Barényi and a prototype by Tatra designer Hans Ledwinka, with an air-cooled four-cylinder engine in the rear. At that time there were three prototypes built by Zündapp. NSU was also interested in the model, but when this company was taken over by Fiat, this was the end of the NSU-Volksauto. Hitler's offer came just in time. On 12 October 1936 Porsche presented three driving prototypes, which already had the characteristic shape of the later Volkswagen Beetle. Each car covered a distance of 50,000 km in seventy days, without the need for major repairs.

Zavod imeni Lichatsjova (Russisch: Завод имени Лихачёва; "Lichatsjov-fabriek") of ZiL (ЗиЛ) was de oudste Russische fabrikant van vrachtwagens, bussen, militaire voertuigen en limousines. De onderneming was tot de opheffing in 2013 gevestigd in Moskou en was op het laatst voor 90% in eigendom van de Russische staat. Opgericht in 1916 als AMO (voluit: Avtomobilnoje Moskovskoje Obsjtsjestvo; Russisch: Автомобильное Московское Общество; "Automobielmaatschappij van Moskou"), heette de fabriek van 1931 tot 1956 Zavod imeni Stalina (Russisch: Завод имени Сталина, "Stalinfabriek") of ZIS (ЗИС).