The modern motor car, powered by a petrol driven engine (an internal combustion engine), was not, therefore, the invention of one single person. It was, in fact, the combined effort of many workers in the same field of engineering and development.

By 1891, R. Panhard and E. Levassor of France had produced a car with the engine at the front, so overcoming the problem of weight distribution. By 1895, E. and A. Michelin of France had developed the first pneumatic, air-containing car tyres. By 1908, Henry Ford of America had developed the idea of the mass-produced car, a vehicle produced cheaply and speedily along a production line. The concept of the production line was later to become the very basis of the modern manufacturing industry.

At the outbreak of war in 1914, the motor car and the internal combustion engine were both sufficiently advanced to play an active role. Both developed at a very swift rate during the four years of war, so that by 1918, the motor driven vehicle and the internal combustion engine had become thoroughly reliable.

To cope with the massive increase in demand for oil by this time, nearly half a million oil wells had been sunk in America. The oil Industry rapidly grew into a huge industry employing many hundreds of thousands of people. Competition became cut-throat, and smaller oil companies were swallowed up in merger by bigger ones. John D. Rockefeller forced many smaller oil companies to merge with his Standard Oil Company. By 1879, he controlled 90% of the oil refining industry.

To avoid paying huge fees to railway companies for the shipment of oil based products, Rockefeller developed and built pipelines running from the oil wells to the refineries. He also built his own tanker fleet, made his own barrels to carry the oil, and even manufactured and sold his own brand of oil lamps.

From these methods, American big business and management techniques developed. These were later copied by the rest of the world. In America, huge corporations were founded and "the American Dream from rags to riches" became a reality.

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