Hi, Jo here talking about cars, which is outside my usual time period. In a way.
In the pre-automobile age "car" was short for carriage, so you can come across what sound like anachronisms, such as "he travelled by car." But today I'm coming forward to blog about automobiles. The first picture is of a 19th century (just) car that clearly shows the connection to a horse-drawn carriage of the time.
Next weekend I’ll be attending a romance conference in Madrid, so at the moment I’m visiting my sister in Malaga, on the south coast of Spain, and I decided to visit the Automobile Museum. I’d heard that it's interesting, but cars don't interest me much. However, as it's only a fifteen minute walk away, I decided I should.
The cars for the rich were as lovingly crafted as carriages for the rich in Regency times. Some of these old cars are strikingly huge in length. There’s no four-seater like them on the roads today. The pictures here don’t capture that. The one on the left is a Minerva from 1919, and you can see there was still the expectation of a "coachman" -- that is, a chauffeur. It would take up most of most people's living rooms!
This one is a snazzy convertible from the same year, and now with the driver undercover too, and possibly even the owner.
There are also quite a few oddities, including a 1920s electric car which had levers instead of a steering wheel. I’ve no idea how they worked. I suspect the two foot pedals were actually for steering and the levers for forward and backward. Sounds alarming to me.
For steakpunk fans, they have a 1910 steam powered car!
Here it is, with the tank on the running board. (As always, click on the picture to enlarge.)
Alas, my limited internet access here has decided not to upload more pictures, so I'll share some of the travel accoutrements and fashions another time.
I hope you enjoyed this. Next time I'll blog about the Madrid conference.
Cheers,
Jo