On January 5, 1889, the Scientific American had reprinted an earlier report of the Leipziger illustrierte Zeitschrift about the successful use of the high-speed Daimler engine, together with a woodcut illustration of the Benz car. When the first news about the success of the Daimler and Benz vehicles reached America, inventive minds soon responded. There is a report of a car built by a German immigrant, Henry Nadig, in Allentown, PA in the early 1890s. At the same time another automobile designer of German origin, Gottfied Schloener, built a car which ran 12 miles per hour in Milwaukee in 1889.

Other vehicles became known, for example those built by Charles H. Black in Indianapolis in 1891-93. On July 4, 1894, Elwood Haynes drove his Haynes automobile on the Pumpkinvine Pike near Kokomo, Indiana. While this was not the first automobile built and operated in Indiana, this well-documented event served as a focal point for an Indiana celebration of the history of the automobiles.

In the last 100 years, more than eighty Indiana cities have produced more than five hundred makes of motor vehicles.* German-American involvement in these companies was substantial, with many successful companies being started by German-Americans or Americans of German descent. Some examples of lesser known companies with a German name are Zimmerman Manufacturing Co., Roman Eichstaedt, Herrmann Automobile Co, Huffmann Brothers Manu- facturing Co, W. H. Kiblinger Co, and Merz Cyclecar Co. More famous names include Duesenberg, Studebaker and Stutz,. While some companies can be easily recognized through their German names, others cannot. For instance, the famous Auburn Auto Company was founded by the Eckhart Brothers, but named after their hometown. H.C.S., the Ideal Motor Company and American Underslung were all Harry C. Stutz ventures.

German names can also be found in the engineering departments of famous companies, such as Gordon Buehrig who designed for Auburn Cord and Duesenberg. Charles Greuter was the head engineer at Stutz after 1925. Studebaker employed Otto Klassmeyer and Ray Dietrich was head designer in South Bend.

The Duesenberg name is synonymous with excellence. Duesenberg cars were built in Indianapolis and their creators were the brothers Frederick and August Duesenberg, who immigrated as boys from Lippe, Germany in 1885.

The Studebaker ancestors, Clement and Peter, landed in Philadelphia in 1736. By 1851 the family had moved to South Bend. The next year, Henry and Clem of the fourth generation in the U.S., founded "Studebaker Brothers." In 1858 they were joined by two other brothers and became makers of Conastoga style wagons, known for sturdiness and durability. During the Civil War, Studebaker wagons were in high demand. In the 1890's, Studebaker was generally regarded as the world's largest wagon builder. The first Studebaker automobile was built in 1902, an electric powered, open carriage with tiller steering. 1904 saw the first gas-powered Studebaker in production. Harry C. Stutz first came to Indianapolis in 1903 at the age of twenty-seven. He was married to one Clara Dietz. In 1910 he started his own company and in 1912 the most famous Stutz automobile, the Bearcat, won 25 of 30 racing events. It also became popular as a sports car.

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Thanks for the great post. This is really interesting information because it points out that America had cars before the Duryea brothers started making them. I think just because the Duryea brothers were the first to start making cars commercially in America in 1893 one easily makes the mistake of thinking of them also as the first ones to build a car in America. Obviously that is not the case and it is interesting to realize how strong the German influence was in the birth of the automobile.

Yes it is amazing, and the story is trully heartwarmimg to any enthusiast, its all about passion.

I read that The americans from german descent were the biggest ethnic group in america, is it true ?

According to this information it is:

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Ancestry of U.S. Population by Rank
2000Rank Ancestry group Number Percent
1. German 42,841,569 15.2%
2. Irish 30,524,799 10.8
3. African American1 24,903,412 8.8
4. English 24,509,692 8.7
5. American1 20,188,305 7.2
6. Mexican 18,382,291 6.5
7. Italian 15,638,348 5.6
8. Polish 8,977,235 3.2
9. French 8,309,666 3.0
10. American Indian1 7,876,568 2.8
11. Scottish 4,890,581 1.7
12. Dutch 4,541,770 1.6
13. Norwegian 4,477,725 1.6
14. Scotch-Irish 4,319,232 1.5
15. Swedish 3,998,310 1.4
16. White1 3,834,122 1.4
17. Puerto Rican 2,652,598 0.9
18. Russian 2,652,214 0.9
19. Hispanic1 2,451,109 0.9
20. French Canadian 2,349,684 0.8
21. Chinese 2,271,562 0.8
22. Spanish 2,187,144 0.8
23. Filipino 2,116,478 0.8
24. European1 1,968,696 0.7
25. Welsh 1,753,794 0.6
26. Asian Indian 1,546,703 0.5
27. Danish 1,430,897 0.5
28. Hungarian 1,398,702 0.5
29. Czech 1,258,452 0.4
30. Korean 1,190,353 0.4%
31. African1 1,183,316 0.4
32. Portuguese 1,173,691 0.4
33. Greek 1,153,295 0.4
34. Japanese 1,103,325 0.4
35. Cuban 1,097,594 0.4
36. British 1,085,718 0.4
37. Vietnamese 1,029,420 0.4
38. Swiss 911,502 0.3
39. Dominican 908,531 0.3
40. Ukrainian 892,922 0.3
41. Salvadoran 802,743 0.3
42. Slovak 797,764 0.3
43. Jamaican 736,513 0.3
44. Austrian 730,336 0.3
45. Lithuanian 659,992 0.2
46. Canadian 638,548 0.2
47. Finnish 623,559 0.2
48. Colombian 583,986 0.2
49. Haitian 548,199 0.2
50. Guatemalan 463,502 0.2
51. Czechoslovakian 441,403 0.2
52. Lebanese 440,279 0.2
53. Scandinavian 425,099 0.2
54. United States1 404,328 0.1
55. Armenian 385,488 0.1
56. Croatian 374,241 0.1
57. Romanian 367,278 0.1
58. Belgian 348,531 0.1
59. Iranian 338,266 0.1%
60. Hawaiian 334,858 0.1
61. Yugoslavian 328,547 0.1
62. Ecuadorian 322,965 0.1
63. Spaniard 299,948 0.1
64. Taiwanese 293,568 0.1
65. Peruvian 292,991 0.1
66. Honduran 266,848 0.1
67. Pennsylvania German 255,807 0.1
68. Pakistani 253,193 0.1
69. Latin American1 250,052 0.1
70. Asian1 238,960 0.1
71. Nicaraguan 230,358 0.1
72. Arab1 205,822 0.1
73. Cambodian 197,093 0.1
74. Brazilian 181,076 0.1
75. Laotian 179,866 0.1
76. Slovene 176,691 0.1
77. Trinidadian and Tobagonian 164,738 0.1
78. Nigerian 164,691 0.1
79. Northern European1 163,657 0.1
80. Guyanese 162,425 0.1
81. West Indian1 147,222 0.1
82. Thai 146,577 0.1
83. Syrian 142,897 0.1
84. Egyptian 142,832 0.1
85. Hmong 140,528 —
86. Serbian 140,337 —
87. Slavic 127,136 —
88. Western European1 125,300 —
89. Panamanian 119,497 —
90. Turkish 117,575 —
91. Albanian 113,661 —
92. Israeli 106,839 —
Other ancestries 4,380,380 1.6

What's this ?
Same question.
I thought, the swedes, finns, norvegians and danishs were the scandinavians ??
I am also surprised by the importance of the german descent, so why don't we see big german influence on american culture ??

I am positively not an expert on the subject but here's just a few thoughts:

I think the english language became dominant because of the total number of english speaking people being by far in the majority at the beginning when the country was still a colony and as you can see by adding up the english language nationalities, there's a lot more of them than germans. But I also think that a lot of german influence is embedded in the American culture. The first post in this thread already proves the point. Also, science and technology owe a lot to german immigrants, such as Einstein and Werner von Braun. I know there's a lot of others but I can't remember their names now.

Regarding your questions on the individual points in the list. I'll try a few. ( Remember, I just found the list by Googling)

True scandinavians both geographically and linguistically are the Swedes, Norwegians, Danes and the Islandic people as well. The Finns live in an area that is known as Fenno-Scandinavia (Scandinavian peninsula + Finland)
but speak a language that is not considered a scandinavian language. Finland was part of Sweden for about 600+ years between approx. 1154 and 1823 (Maybe my fellow Finns can correct me here if I am wrong about the years)
and most of us Finns consider ourselves to be part of Scandinavians, like most things Swedish, share the same kinds of foods etc. Also genetically it has been proved that there is a close link between the Finns, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians, contrary to prior beliefs. Naturally some childish rivalries also exist, as with any neighbours.
However, back to the list, I believe that the Scandinavians have been separated from the list simply because they wanted to hilite the large number of Swedes and Finns who have emigrated to the US. I guess "Scandinavia" is then those Scandinavian countries that have not been listed individually.

The Pensylvania Germans are probably the group similar to the Amish people, not 100% sure of their name, maybe it was the Quakers. But now I am guessing. Hopefully someone else can shed some light on that and the Scottish-Irish, American etc. points you had questioned.