The first (for which there is written evidence) self-powered vehicle was manufactured by a certain M Brezin in 1769. However, the first real interest in automobile building didn’t happen for over a hundred more years.

Early in the piece, William Steinway (yes – pianos), worked with Karl Daimler building engines for boats and several kinds of vehicles. Steinway in fact owned the company named after Daimler, and went into full production in 1891.

Of interest – Daimler and Benz never actually met…

It was the Duyrea brothers who actually developed the first gasoline automobile in the US in 1893. They modified an old horse buggy and drove it around for about 3 months. Maybe it didn’t run very well, because it didn’t run again, and some 25 years later ended up in a museum.

Henry Ford got in the game in 1893 but didn’t complete his first car for another three years. He went on to form the Detroit Motor Company in 1899, but never sold a production car, and closed the company in 1901.

The 20s and 30s saw ride on cars and real automobiles become more popular, although toy car production stopped in the 40’s, with all steel needed for the war effort.

The popularity of ride on cars jumped again in the more prosperous 50s and 60s. They were cheaper and available of most major stores. They still copied real automobiles, and had a huge range of colors, designs and variations – soft-tops, great paintwork, white walled tired – the whole bit.

In the more prosperous 50s and 60s, following the war, ride on cars once again became very popular and affordable, and could be found in many major stores. Once more, ride on car designs mirrored the designs of real cars, with all kinds of colors and variations, and details like whitewall tires, ragtops and classy paint jobs.

Around these times, the cars were still made largely of metal, but the 60s, with plastics fast dominating manufacturing, really marked the end for these more traditional ride on cars. In the 70’s the plastic ride on car was introduced and the traditional steel pedal cars pretty much faded away.

What also happened with the advent of plastics was that, unfortunately, the new designs weren’t replicas of the original automobiles any more. Shame.

So, what next?

There are still some outfits manufacturing old fashioned ride on cars but they can be very pricey. But there’s loads more choice these days, with ride on jeeps, trains, plains, fire engines, as well as the standard ride on cars.

So, with ride on cars cheaper than they’ve ever been, why don’t you just go ahead and treat your kids to one today?