Back when I was learning to drive in 1994, my dad bought this old clunker chevy pickup truck with three on the tree so I could learn to drive a manual transmission. After about 30 minutes, having killed the engine at every stop sign and in a major intersection, I was at my wit’s end and asked to be excused. My dad jumped behind the wheel to drive home and admitted that this was the most difficult manual transmission he’d ever driven.
The first cars manufactured lacked not only many of the creature comforts on which we depend for Fahrvergnuegung, but they also lacked many of the mechanical advantages that make driving easy enough that some people insist on text messaging, eating, and yes, even putting on their makeup while they drive. As recently as 1995, Saturn made a base model so void of accessory features that it lacks power steering, power windows, power locks, etc. I know; I own one. Car manufacturers have consistently made improvements in order to get more people behind the wheel, but that wasn’t always the case.
Vehicle transmissions went through much iteration before they arrived where we are now in the 1990s. Henry Ford invented the basic Planetary transmission in 1908, which eventually gave way to a more complicated version of Manual transmission, which is basically the same one still used today. The first manual-automatic hybrid was the Fluid drive which emerged around 1930, followed by another fluid iteration called the Hydra-matic in 1940. Following the war, manufacturers recognized the need to make it easier for women to drive vehicles, seeing as how many of them took over men’s jobs in industry, so the first of the modern automatic transmission types or Dynaflow came out in 1948. Eventually, metallurgy and engineering allowed for smoother starts and stops in the Torque conversion transmission built in 1960. With the advent of computers, transmission technology took its final and most revolutionary leap with the introduction of the Solenoid in 1980, which ablated the need for fluid systems to drive gears and made it possible via electronic control for anyone to enjoy a smooth and comfortable acceleration.
The design of car components also made it possible for more people, including primarily women and eventually teenagers, to drive. As cars became lighter in favor of more fuel economy, coupled with the addition of power steering, it became easier to manage a car into tight spaces, around corners, and at high speed. Consequently more people felt comfortable driving and verily desired the privilege thereof.
Finally, cost measures played a pivotal role in driving. In Europe, I once drove a high-ranking official’s family home in his Mercedes because I, as an American, had a license. To obtain a license in Austria, which is for life, costs between $5000 and $6000, thereby precluding the average person from obtaining permission to drive. Hyundai introduced a line of very very cheap (but also comparably unsafe) vehicles into the American auto market, allowing consumers to buy a new car for the price of a used one. Consequently, people started owning more and more cars who might otherwise elect not to.
Women were kept from driving, not by misogyny as women’s rights advocates claim, but by physics and economics. As soon as it became feasible for a woman to manipulate the gears, turn the drive shaft, and afford a car, they did so, and in great numbers. Even then, just because one is male doesn’t automatically mean one can operate a car. It takes time to learn how to drive correctly, time and patience and practice. Sadly, too many people view driving as a right and not as rightly befits it- a privilege.
One of my favorite parts of IQ (Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan and Walter Mathau) is where the scientists are all driving around in the Studebaker and the driver swerves out of control. As he berates the other driver for reckless behavior, he says, “They should make you have to take a test before they let you drive”. One of the other scientists asks, “Didn’t you have to take a test to get a license?” The ignorance of the general public really appalls me. They believe whatever they’re told. Perhaps they’ll listen now.
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