If you didn’t grow up during the Great Depression, you could be forgiven for assuming that hand-cranked car engines were an invention of silent comedians. What better way to show that someone’s vehicle is really old-fashioned than to suggest it predates the ignition switch, right? Next thing you’ll be telling us that Fred Flintstone’s car was based on real fossil evidence. But no, hand cranks were a very real thing. The first electric ignition system was developed in the 1910s, and modern key ignition is a surprisingly new feature, having come about in the late 1940s.
Â
