The dust has settled at the Detroit auto show and, so far as the industry is concerned, the evolution of the automobile is set to accelerate. "Big changes in the way we live do not come all at once," a prominent dealer told The Detroit Free Press. "We pass from one era into another without knowing that the transition is going on, but once the changes are made we cannot go back any more than we can go back from 'fair, fat and forty' to the slender days of youth."
To be clear – that's a report from the 1917 Detroit auto show. The change this executive was referring to was not from automobiles to self-driving automobiles but from autonomous horses to man-driven machines. Then, as now, journalists preferred the modern. Cars "don't eat every time they stand still," a reporter with the Vancouver Daily World wrote in 1917. "They don't keep you up at night with distemper. They don't balk. They don't have lockjaw. When they step on rusty nails, they keep right on going. They don't die ... For the foregoing reasons, and for many others too numerous to mention, the horse is just about a has-been."
There are parallels between the present-day automotive industry and that of 100 years ago. Just as today, the automobile industry in 1917 had experienced 20 years of radical technological change and growth. There are also stark differences. In 1917, reporters and readers saw the automobile as a saviour of the nation and composed poems extolling its virtues: "The auto is a boon to men," one scribe wrote, noting it allowed city folk to experience the joys of rural life. "It's making old men young again." North Americans were firm in the belief that car-making cities such as Detroit would never falter due to the ascendance of the automobile. Today, the optimism is gone and the automobile is blamed for everything from climate change to obesity.
Herewith is assembled a collection of quotations from newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Detroit Free Press and Ottawa Journal. Some are from 2017. Some are from 1917. Can you tell the past from present?
1. "The driver has everything at his finger tips. His hand falls naturally on the levers, the pedals may be adjusted to suit his individual requirements."
2. "One by one, cities in America are taking up the hue and cry against the automobile thief. It will be a short time before there will be created in America a sentiment so universal that the formation of a national organization to alleviate the evils of the time will be a natural step."
3. "The Detroit auto show is a vast and dizzying array of automotive sights, sounds, steel, glass, and rubber."
4. "Mary had a little Ford; Through mud and slush she'd go, And everywhere that Mary went You bet that Ford would go."
5. "The leaders who control the levers of the industry most important to Michigan, and to all of Flyover Country, must claw for every bit of intellectual control of the auto of the future that they can muster for this region."
6. "Starting out as a luxury, a rich man's toy, the automobile has come to be an actual part of our lives."
7. "These purported benefits contain elements of truth. But the data is nowhere near complete. Even stipulating that all the claimed benefits will one day materialize, the near- and mid-term picture from a public-interest perspective is not the same favourable one that industry sees. Legitimate areas of question and concern remain."
8. "The extraordinary demand for Ford cars which has continued during the last year has seen no slackening during the winter."
9. "It is only a matter of time before a motor highway for motor vehicle use exclusively connects all the great cities of the country. The highway has three tracks, the centre for trucks and the outer two for faster moving passenger vehicles."
10. "It is considered too dangerous to own a car in Canada."
11. "Prior to writing this book, the author communicated with over 3,000 people to ascertain the chances of success of a book on the lines of "Story of the Automobile." Nearly all answered: 'We are looking for just such a book. Where can we get it?' or said that they were interested in some angle. This proves the demand."
12. "It is abundantly evident that, within the next decade, a new fuel must be found for the automobile."
13. "Perhaps, as one wild-eyed prophet said, we will some day have a machine we can lead up to the hydrant and give it a drink of water, drop a few pills into the fuel tank."
14. "The next step will be a combined automobile and air machine."
15. "Designed with a shape-shifting skin, this futuristic vehicle has wings hidden under the body that pop out from a hatch and a fully loaded propulsion system for when the driver is ready to take to the sky."
16. "With electric cars showing more speed than ever before …performing stunts that were considered impossible a few years ago, what, indeed will the car of tomorrow be?"
17. "Tesla has no doubt as to the beneficial effects which would follow the installation."
18. "Four Big Service Cars to Patrol the Streets and Service Autos."
19. "Even if we assume car companies can successfully transition and launch their own electric vehicles, the ability to differentiate one car from another will still be severely limited."
20. "The Ghost is a simple monochromatic design, with an interior that 'celebrates the work of the great classical composers.' Inside, the car features a musical clef-like motif, both in the clock, and laid into the wood and stitched into headrests."
Answers: Quotations 3, 5, 7, 15, 19 and 20 are all from 2017. The rest are from 1917.
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Andrew Clark