Before Benz introduced his motorized wagon, vehicles capable of human transport were mainly steam-powered (Eckermann 2001). Karl Benzproduced industrial machines and static gas engines. The success of the company gave Karl Benz the opportunity to indulge in his old passion for designing horseless carriages. He wanted to create an automobile that would run entirely on its own power. This would not be simply another motorized stagecoach or horse carriage. The Benz car was the first car to use a gas powered internal combustion engine. This new horseless carriage had a powerful allure, but it confused people. Most found it strange, that a carriage could move without a horse.

Using the same technology that was in his beloved bicycle, he introduced the Benz Patent Motorwagen in 1885. It featured wire wheels (unlike the wooden ones on carriages) (Georgano, G. N. 1985 and Seidel 2005) and a four-stroke engine of Benz’ own design. It incorporated a very advanced coil ignition and evaporative cooling system rather than a radiator. Power was transmitted by means of two roller chains to the rear axle (DRP's patent No. 37435, 1886). The invention era can be said to have began with the invention of the Benz car and continued roughly ten years with the introduction of Henry Ford’s first automobile.


Fig.2 - Invention era

As is evident designing technology was the basis of many of the metaphors and it reflects the thinking and how these ideas materialized. The early designs of such vehicles show visual evidence of ‘wagon’ as the metaphor, as they retained much of the appearance of horse-drawn carriages. The horse-drawn carriage was itself a technological innovation, as were the horseless carriage and later automobiles (Wake 2000). The association with the previous technology was both verbal and visual.

Major changes arose periodically, such as the transition from horse-drawn carriages to motor-driven vehicles. The initial description of the latter was naturally metaphorical, as in the term "horseless carriage."

References:
http://www.terencemorleyclassiccars.co.uk/
http://www.allcarcentral.com/ford_pix-1930-1935.html accessed in May 2010.