Pub talk

[Theo_NL]

Pub talk 1890:
"there will not be enough drivers to drive and maintain more than 1 million of those new gasoline driven automobiles"

Pub talk 2090:
"My grandfather told me they were allowed to steer cars themselves. Must have been dangerous and scary"

[philthehill]

If the current rate of pub closures continues there will be no pubs to have pub talks in by the year 2090.
Joking apart - I doubt that there were a million petrol motors on the road in 1890 - in all probability less than 300 world wide.
The Benz Victoria, 4 wheeled @ 3hp and the Velo @ 1 1/2hp were the first mass produced cars in the world. In 1898 production had risen to 434 cars and by the end of 1899 the 2000th Benz car left the works (quoted from Veteran & Vintage cars - Author David Burges Wise - Publisher Hamlyn - ISBN 0600 00283 7.

[MrIan]

Pub talk 1890.
"I've got three times the horse power and better acceleration than I had last week"
"Have you? How?"
"I bought Dobin and Blackie to go with old Ned up front on the cart !!"

[philthehill]

The one thing that stuck in my mind from technical college was that an average horse was estimated to be able to give 33000 ft/lb of work and so the term horse power was born and was used originally to estimate the power of steam engines that could replace x times horses. Horses needed rest - steam engines did not. The selling technique has not changed significantly since those early days.