Imagine a world without cars and automobiles. You would have to travel by bicycles or the railways or on animals.

Most cars made today have a petrol burning engine, mounted in the front and a front-wheel drive. The typical engine is an internal-combustion engine, which works by burning a mixture of petrol and air inside closed cylinders. When the car’s ignition key is turned, electricity from the battery causes pistons to move up and down inside the engine’s cylinders. As the pistons move down, intake valves above the cylinders open, and fuel and air are sucked into the cylinders. The pistons then move back up the cylinders, compressing the fuel-air mixture. Electric sparks from the ignition system’s spark plugs ignite the mixture, and the engine starts to run as the pistons move rapidly. Expansion of the burning gases forces the pistons down, and these downstrokes provide the power that moves the car. The piston’s downstrokes turn the crankshaft. Power travels from the crankshaft to the transmission and, finally, to the front wheels. Burned gases escape as the exhaust valves above the cylinders open and the pistons move up, forcing the waste products out through the silencer and exhaust pipe.

NOTE: 1896 was the year of the car! The first motorist was fined for dpeeding, the first car-hire firm began operating, the first motor show, the first car theft, the first race track event, the first motor magazine and the first parking offence took place in this year.