Started in 2005 for pure hobby of research-analysis how the cars of Europe grew in terms of external dimensions, weight and engine size/power over the years, I published it on my website in 2011.
I added non-Europe cars during April 2012 after noticing customers (companies) looking for complete vehicle database with car dimensions. This increased from 500 European to 1100 Worldwide models, counted in .DOC at May 2012. Coverage: since 1945-1980 for Europe depending by brand and since 1990 for rest of world).
Posted for sale in May 2012 a package with 2 files: Car database list.DOC (sorted by manufacturer) and Car database timeline.XLS (sorted by class and year, showing cars evolution over 60 years). The Word database do not enjoy popularity of Excel database while the Excel database being sorted by class was difficult to check for missing models, so in December 2012 I re-sorted alphabetically the Excel version, and named Car Models Database and the DOC version was named Car Models Encyclopedia.
An one-brand SAMPLE file published on 20 December 2012, next week I re-sorted the Excel table by manufacturer instead of class, improved engine data for 2009-2012 cars (thanks to reviving Car Models & Engine Database after 4 years), I put Make | Model in separate columns (customer suggestion), also added number of seats (my idea), final database launched on on 12 January 2013, 1174 models from 70 brands, due to different counting system in Excel table compared with Doc, about 30 models were gone.
Next: increase coverage of 1980s and earlier, add more dead brands, re-posted on 30 January, 1346 models from 79 brands.
In the following months I added 20 models per month (mostly 1950s-1960s cars).
82 makes, 1412 models, as 5 Apr 2013, I emailed the new edition to the two customers which bought in March, versions with 1374 and 1379 models.
87 makes, 1457 models, 1309 KB, as 1 May 2013. Of 59 European brands, 31 are “complete all history / complete since WW2”.
87 makes, 1480 models, as 1 Jun 2013.
89 makes, 1540 models, 1401 KB file, as 1 August 2013. Of 61 European brands, 38 are “complete all history / complete since WW2”.
90 makes, 1556 models, 1443 KB file, as 11 Sepember 2013.
92 makes, 1614 models, 2721 body styles, 1006 KB file, as 1 November 2013. Main yearly update, added 2 extra columns: Class and Top speed, removed Class rows. File size reduction, timeline tables removed to be sold separately.
96 makes, 1740 models, 2968 body styles, 1055 KB file, as 1 January 2014. Vauxhall added separately from Opel (+65 models) and more old cars added. Timeline tables rebuilt.
96 makes, 1755 models, 2990 body styles, 1063 KB file, as 1 May 2014. Last update for Timeline version due to customer preference for Alphabetic version.
97 makes, 1790 models, 3035 body styles, 1083 KB file, as 1 August 2014.
99 makes, 1901 models, 3233 body styles, 1245 KB file, as 20 November 2014. Main yearly update.
99 makes, 1905 models, 3241 body styles, 1252 KB file, as 1 March 2015.
101 makes, 1932 models, 3277 body styles, 1313 KB file, as 1 June 2015.
101 makes, 1939 models, 3285 body styles, ???? KB file, as 1 August 2015.
102 makes, 1945 models, 3300 body styles, 1338 KB file, as 15 September 2015.
102 makes, 1955 models, 3324 body styles, 1384 KB file, as 15 January 2016.
110 makes, 2000 models, 3416 body styles, 1413 KB file, as 10 August 2016. Actually the update made 1997 models, so I added 3 upcoming models specially to reach round value of 2000 models.
110 makes, 2030 models, 3482 body styles, 1346 KB file, as 1 March 2017.
114 makes, 2077 models, 3560 body styles, 1373 KB file, as 1 September 2017.
114 makes, 2095 models, 3588 body styles, 1376 KB file, as 1 January 2018.
115 makes, 2132 models, 3644 body styles, 1392 KB file, as 1 August 2018.
115 makes, 2165 models, 3690 body styles, 1507 KB file, as 1 May 2019.
Naturally, 4-5 new models are launched in European market each month in average.
Since 2020 the Car Models Database been completely redesigned, based now on ADAC instead of AutoKatalog
