Autoworld, as its name suggests, is a wonderful world of vintage cars. Since it boasts 2 floors full of automobiles including bikes, motorcycles, racing cars, etc., in this post, I will first show you its sections of horse carriages and early old-timer cars before the 1930s.
It's situated in the south of Brussels' monumental Parc du Cinquantenaire and housed in the high-arched neo-classical Palais Mondial, as you can see from my photos above. The grand building itself has seen some historical events on site. In 1880, it commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Kingdom of Belgium. Exhibitions of motorbikes and cars were hosted here from 1902 to 1936. During the First World War, it was turned into a garage for German troops (oops...).
Since 1986, the Belgian auto expert Ghislain Mahy's large antique car collection has been displayed inside. And today, we can see a permanent exhibition of hundreds of the Western automobiles from the late 19th century to the 1990s. Temporary shows are also hosted, such as the Skoda 125 Years Expo I viewed a few months ago.
On the wall, I saw an old photo of the 1903 auto show housed here, and it's interesting to savor the quintessential poster of that time.
去年疫情以来，外出别国减少，去了很多比利时本地的自然公园和室内展馆，其中包括一些车展。今天就让我来给大家展示一下布鲁塞尔的“汽车世界”。这个两层的大场馆在五十周年纪念公园的南端，从我上面的照片里可以看到那个地标性的U形建筑和凯旋门，为1880年纪念比利时独立50周年而建。除了这个汽车世界，旁边还有军事博物馆和艺术博物馆等，周围有花园和喷泉，是个散步休闲的好去处。
场馆里展出的并非新款豪车和长腿嫩模，也没有长枪短炮和炫目闪光，而多是一些历经风霜的经典车种，静静地卧在地上，古老的躯体上刻着岁月沧桑的痕迹…… 好了，煽情描写结束，还是回到纪实说明~。这里的展品从马车、自行车，到1885年本茨发明汽油机动三轮车后的早期老车，再到20世纪初首创流水线生产的福特汽车, 最后到当代具有里程碑意义的各种汽车，看得我目不暇接，同时也受益匪浅。
说到汽车，我的了解仅限于基本操作，虽然这边常需要开车，我也只是从地点A移动到地点B，最好还是直线距离，否则即便有导航，也会不时迷失在某个陌生的路口XD。对车懂得可能还不如十岁的小男孩多，但我对这些五颜六色的老爷车还是很感兴趣的。一边仔细欣赏这些人类智慧的结晶，一边止不住惊叹。叹的不仅是技术的不断进步，还有精湛的工艺，相比现在更加便宜实用却千篇一律的多数汽车，很多老车更像是独一无二的艺术品。直到百年后的今天，在这边的马路上，也常常可以看到改装的精致老爷车，坐在里面的通常是一对老夫妇，在晴好的天气里，敞着顶篷飞驰而过，很是拉风。
First, let's see some European horse-drawn carriages and tools mostly from the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. They were used by royals or nobilities for outings and sports. The first Dress Coach has been used on the wedding of Emperor Napoleon III and Eugénie de Montijo in 1853:
Before coming to Autoworld, I didn’t know much about classic cars or the early car history, so it was a rewarding experience for me to learn so much more when looking at these colorful vintage vehicles up close.
Some believe the Frenchman Nicolas Joseph Cugnot invented the first automobile in 1769, since it's the first road vehicle self-powered by steam engine. While towards the end of the 19th century, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler built gas-fueled vehicles that worked like the modern cars we use today.
Benz's first automobile in 1885 was a three-wheeler and he added another wheel 6 years later. He first integrated an internal combustion engine with a chassis, and his company became the world's largest automobiles manufacturer by 1900. Daimler designed the world's first four-wheeled automobile in 1886, and he is also considered the first one to have invented a practical internal-combustion engine.
In fact, 10 years after Daimler, Henry Ford made his first "Quadricycle", but he is better known for the first conveyor belt-based assembly line installed in his car plant. His famous Model T was assembled in only 1.5 hours and brought inexpensive cars to the public.
Besides, I learnt that in as early as 1860, a Belgian engineer Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir already patented an electric spark-ignition internal combustion engine fueled by coal gas. Later in 1863, he attached an improved engine to a three-wheeled wagon and did a historic road trip of 80 kilometres.
It's the first time I saw cars from Minerva，a prominent manufacturer founded in Antwerp in 1897. Minerva is the Etruscan goddess of wisdom, art, war, commerce and justice, the counterpart to Greek Athena. It was a luxury automobile brand in Belgium and was active from 1902 but became defunct in 1956. The car below is Minerva Type KK from 1914:
Walking around these old timers, I was very much impressed by the sublime craftsmanship as well as the marvelous engineering in a time with so limited resources.
Unlike the mass-produced cars nowadays, most old timers look more like unique works of art to me. Even today, a hundred years later, on the roads here, you still often see modified vintage cars running. On a sunny day, some old couples swoosh by sitting in their charming old timers. Always a fun sight to see. =）
图文 by Donica
