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The car is one of the most recognizeable inventions of the modern era. Without cars there would be no suburbs, car trips, endless drop-offs and pick-ups most parents are all to familiar with. Here are some fun facts about cars and their colorful past.

• The first cars did not have steering wheels. Drivers steered with a lever.
• The New York City Police Department used bicycles to pursue speeding motorists in 1898.
• The first speeding ticket was issued in 1902.
• In 1916, 55 percent of the cars in the world were Model T Fords, a record that has never been beaten.
• The first gas gauge appeared in cars in 1922.
• In 1923, 173 new inventions by women for cars had been reported. Among these inventions were a carburetor and an electric engine starter.
• The first car radio was invented in 1929.
• Buick introduced the first electric turn signals in 1938.
• The Peanuts characters were first animated in 1957 for a Ford Fairlaine automobile commercial.
• Most American car horns beep in the key of F.
• The automobile is the most recycled consumer product in the world today.