The birth of the automobile was made possible by the development of the internal combustion engines. Then, engineers had to face new practical problems, such as the steering and the braking systems for the vehicles.

In this phase, the construction of a supporting frame for the body and the mechanical components was considered of secondary relevance: there was no need for severe requirements in terms of weight and stiffness, due to the limited powers of the engines.

While the engineers had no previous experience with brakes, transmissions and steering systems, for the body and the chassis they could use the know-how developed for the horse coaches.

At the end of the 19th Century, the first automobiles had coaches structures adapted for the internal combustion propulsion. Even the body terminology (phaeton, tonneau, landaulet, wagonette) was taken from the coaches world.

Coupé Phaeton Source: "Types of Body" - The book Schustala - Koprivnice Coaches

The structures were made of a wooden frame with wooden body panels mounted on it.

The limited powers and maximum speeds enabled these structures to easily stand the static and dynamic stresses.

About in 1900 with the introduction of steel and aluminum sheets and the development of drop-hammering and power-hammering manufacturing processes there was a revolution in the concept of the body structure: the wooden panels, straight or bent into very simple curves by means of steam pre-treatment, were replaced by metal sheet panels.

This enabled the designers to create shapes with more freedom.

The body panels were mainly made in steel, but for the more luxurious cars they were built with aluminum sheets.

These body panels were mounted on conventional wooden frames, reinforced at the more stressed nodes with steel components.

This type of structure (metal sheet body on a wooden frame) was the most common for about ten years, until 1910.

Ford Model T Advertisement Top view of the chassis Side view of the chassis