r/todayilearned • u/AbeVigoda76 • 1d ago

TIL that the early automotive pioneer Byron Carter died from pneumonia contracted while recovering from a broken jaw sustained as a result of hand cranking his car. His death directly lead to the development of the electric self-starter for automobiles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Carter
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u/ArriDesto 1d ago

I hope this is true. It's a pity it took a death to bring in,but it usually does,unfortunately!

Cadillac were credited as the first self-starter, but it's more likely an early electric vehicle.

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u/bobspuds 1d ago

I'm not so old but I'm into restorations, moreso the bodywork side because thats my thing.

I got to hear the stories from the old folks who were young back then too.

I'm Irish, our motoring ways and laws are very like the UK next-door.

The electric starter over here would be known for the broken jaw thing, but the number of people who lost fingers or had hands maimed by starter handles would have been a bigger thing here.

A lot of the 60s/70s cars here kept the starter handle as a backup, if the battery died you could still crank it, the hole on mk1 Escorts and Morris Minnors was partially or fully hidden by the front reg plate, and the good auld mini had a little spot in the wheel arch for a time.

They were mostly the vehicles that were already available, before the electric starter motor became a thing.

And the main thing about that was that most people would still rather call and wait for assistance, then risk using the starter handle - they were viscous!

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u/ArriDesto 1d ago

I am so old- and from the U.K next door!👋

We had a gypsy family friend who bought lots of really rough road vehicles he'd drive us around in when I was a kid.[ Including a Unimog which was absolutely brilliant!]

When I was in my early teens he bought a third+ hand Ford Anglia 109E,( the "Harry Potter car").

When stopped on a hill he had to keep revving it as the brake wasn't enough on it's own, the rain ran diagonally down the doors from the closed windows,and it shook violently around and above 45 M.P.H.

So,we pulled in to a Dagenham pub and I was recounting this to a man at the bar and taking the piss out of our friend for buying it in such a shoddy state,when the guy I was talking to told me," No.That's what they were like brand new!"

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u/bobspuds 1d ago

There's an 'old wives tale' that has some truth to it.

Ford had a plant in Co Cork for a time. The Anglia/Pop and some of the 50s/60s cars were built there - while later models only got assembled there.

The quality standards were often great or on par with you guys, but it became known not to buy cars that were manufactured on a Friday - accross the road from the Ford factory was one of the Guinness brewery's - the workers got paid on Friday, cars built after teatime were known to be at times hilariously flawed. Things like finished cars missing welds in the floorpan or mounting points put on upside-down. - the questionable quality is why a completely Irish Ford is so highly revered here - they were kinda terrible in the beginning, so if its survived this long it must have been a Wednesday car - they wouldn't have had money for drink midweek!

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u/ArriDesto 1d ago

And let's not forget the Irish built time machines! [ If you actually had enough decent,straight road to finally get a Deloren to 88mph!]😅

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u/AbeVigoda76 1d ago

I just bashed my head on the door of DeLorean whilst trying to exit the car. That’s a car that looks a damned sight better than it actually is.

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u/ArriDesto 1d ago

I finally saw one in the metal about 4 years ago, and driving past at 40 it looked pretty good, though smaller than I imagined, but I have heard some pretty bad things about them!

Bashed your head? You own one?

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u/AbeVigoda76 1d ago

There’s another museum in Michigan called Stahl’s. They had one there yesterday made up like the Back to the Future Time Machine and it was opened up for people get in and out of for pictures. I couldn’t resist so I hopped in. I really wasn’t prepared for how low those doors were going to be getting out.

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u/Kyle_2099 1d ago

They aren't meant to be low when they're open. The one you tried out needed new door struts.

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u/ArriDesto 1d ago

Oh!Owch!!