Est. 1886 — Present day
Auto
Archive
The complete history of the automobile, catalogued.
Ferrari 250 GTO — 1962✦ Porsche 911 — 1963✦ Ford GT40 — 1966✦ Lamborghini Miura — 1966✦ BMW 2002 — 1968✦ De Tomaso Pantera — 1971✦ McLaren F1 — 1992✦ Bugatti Veyron — 2005✦ Ferrari 250 GTO — 1962✦ Porsche 911 — 1963✦ Ford GT40 — 1966✦ Lamborghini Miura — 1966✦ BMW 2002 — 1968✦ De Tomaso Pantera — 1971✦ McLaren F1 — 1992✦ Bugatti Veyron — 2005✦
0cars
In the archive
0years
Of automotive history
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Manufacturers covered
0hp
Most powerful on record
62
Classic — Featured car
Ferrari
250 GTO
1962 – 1964
Engine
3.0L V12
Power
302 hp
Top speed
280 km/h
Produced
39 units
73
Classic — Featured car
Porsche
911 RS
1973
Engine
2.7L Flat-6
Power
210 hp
Weight
900 kg
0–100
5.8 s
Browse
by era
From horseless carriages to electric hypercars — explore the complete evolution of the automobile across five distinct eras of design and engineering.
Pre-war 1886–1939
Vintage 1940–1959
Classic 1960–1979
Modern 1980–2009
Contemporary 2010+
Top speed record
490 km/h
SSC Tuatara — 2021
Latest addition
Bugatti
Tourbillon
Added March 2025

  • BMW

  • Land Rover

  • Lexus

  • Ford

  • Dodge

  • Honda

1 6

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Why Auto Archive The case for using us
Built for
people who
care about
cars
Most automotive databases were built for dealers or insurers. We built ours for enthusiasts, historians, and anyone who has ever stood in front of a car and wanted to understand it fully — where it came from, what makes it significant, and why it matters.
01
The most complete
archive online
Over 3,800 vehicles catalogued across 138 years of automotive history — from the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen to the latest hypercars. Every entry includes verified production numbers, original specifications, and historical context you won't find in a press release. We don't publish until we're certain.
3,847 vehicles — 214 manufacturers — 47 countries
02
Verified specs only
Every number on this site is sourced from factory documentation, period road tests, or manufacturer archives. No crowdsourced guesswork. No copy-pasted press kits. If we can't verify a figure, we say so.
Primary sources only
03
Deep historical context
A specification table tells you what a car can do. We tell you why it was built that way — the engineering decisions, the racing regulations, the economic pressures, the rivalries. Every entry reads like an essay, not a datasheet.
History, not just numbers
04
No ads. No noise.
We are independently run and reader-supported. No banner ads, no affiliate links, no sponsored "top picks." Just clean information, presented clearly, because that's what the subject deserves.
Reader-supported since 2018
05
Updated continuously
New cars are added within days of announcement. Existing entries are revised when new documents surface — factory records, period photographs, updated homologation figures. The archive is never finished, because history isn't.
Last updated today
06
Comparison tools
Stack any two or three cars against each other across every spec simultaneously. Find the lightest car from 1965. Filter by displacement, by nationality, by racing class. The data is structured so you can actually use it.
Full search & filter
Free
No account requiredThe full archive is open to everyone, always.
API
Developer accessStructured data available for researchers and builders.
138
Years of history coveredFrom the very first patent to this week's reveal.
Milestones01 / 04
1886
The first automobile
Karl Benz files a patent for the Motorwagen — a three-wheeled vehicle powered by a single-cylinder four-stroke engine. The era of the automobile begins.
 Pre-war
1908
The Model T revolution
Ford introduces the Model T and, shortly after, the moving assembly line. For the first time, the automobile becomes accessible to ordinary people.
 Pre-war
1962
Ferrari 250 GTO
Widely regarded as the most beautiful and significant racing car ever built. Only 39 were made. Today, the GTO defines the pinnacle of collector value.
 Classic
1992
McLaren F1 — the benchmark
Gordon Murray's F1 sets a production car top speed record of 386 km/h that stands for over a decade. Three seats, a central driving position, a gold-lined engine bay.
 Modern
2024
The electric inflection
Over 40% of all new cars sold globally are electric or hybrid. The internal combustion engine, after 138 years of dominance, faces an existential transition.
 Contemporary
"
The automobile is not merely a machine. It is the most complex object ordinary people ever own — and the most revealing.
— Archive editorial note
Head to head02 / 04
Ferrari
250 GTO
Porsche
911 Carrera RS
McLaren
F1
Year
1962
1973
1992
Engine
3.0L V12
2.7L Flat-6
6.1L V12
Power
302 hp
210 hp
627 hp
Weight
880 kg
900 kg
1138 kg
Top speed
280 km/h
245 km/h
386 km/h
Units made
39
1,580
106
Terminology03 / 04
Homologation
The process of certifying a vehicle meets the minimum production requirements to compete in a specific racing class. Many iconic road cars — the GTO, the Carrera RS — exist solely because of this rule.
Gran Turismo
Italian for "grand touring." A car built to cover long distances at high speed in comfort. The concept gave rise to an entire category of automobiles — and one of the world's most loved video game franchises.
Forced induction
Compressing the intake air before it enters the engine — via turbocharger or supercharger — to produce more power from the same displacement. Nearly every performance car today uses it.
Kerb weight
The weight of a vehicle ready to drive — fuel, fluids, standard equipment — but without passengers or cargo. The single most important number in understanding how a car will actually feel to drive.
About this archive04 / 04
Why we
document
every car
01
History is fragile. Cars rust, burn, crash. Documentation survives where metal doesn't. We record everything — prototypes, one-offs, forgotten production runs.
02
Specs tell stories. A power-to-weight ratio, a gear ratio, a tyre compound — each number is a decision made by an engineer under constraint. We show you the numbers and explain what they mean.
03
No hierarchy. A 1927 Ford Model T belongs in the same archive as a 2024 Bugatti Tourbillon. Both are remarkable achievements of their time.
01
Daily database updates
Our database is refreshed every 24 hours. New models, revised specs, and corrected figures are pulled from manufacturer sources and pushed to the archive automatically — no manual delays.
Updated every 24 h
02
New releases within 48 h
When a manufacturer unveils a new model, it appears in our archive within 48 hours — with full specs, production context, and historical placement, not just a headline and a photo.
From reveal to archive
03
Corrections & revisions
Existing entries are revisited whenever new primary sources surface — factory documents, period press kits, updated homologation data. Every revision is logged with a date so you always know how current an entry is.
Full revision history
04
Live production status
Active, discontinued, and limited-run models are tracked in real time. If a production run ends, a recall is issued, or a specification changes mid-cycle, the archive reflects it — usually the same day.
Status tracked live