The document provides a brief timeline of important developments in cars from 1769 to 1997. It describes the first car built by Nicolas Cugnot in 1769, the first practical automobile built by Karl Benz in 1885, Wilhelm Maybach building the first 4-cylinder engine in 1890. It then discusses Henry Ford's moving assembly line allowing for mass production of affordable Model T cars in 1913, cars developed during World War II, the muscle car era of the 1960s, the 1973 oil crisis, and the introduction of the Toyota Prius hybrid electric vehicle in 1997.