Car A car was a type of general purpose automobile typically used by family households in everyday situations , such as the transport of cargo or individuals . They were sold by car salesmen . Aside from civilian use , cars were also used for military purposes , such as the American Jeep or the German Volkswagen Kübelwagen . History . Cars were powered by the internal combustion engine which used a fossil fuel caled gasoline to run the through the first half of the 21st century . ( ) In 1930 , Bobby Cabe returned a car he borrowed to a friend ' s house . It was there he was arrest ed for the murder of Alfredo Pedillo Jose . ( ) That same year in Lee ' s Summit , highway patrolmen report ed to a newspaper about many people driving with out license tags on their cars . The most common excuse given was due to the fact that they expected to be drafted and didn ' t want to spend fifteen to twenty dollars for a car they won ' t use . ( ) That same year , when Spock and Kirk were crossing a New York City street on foot , a car almost strikes Spock , the angry motorist then slams on the brakes , causing his tire s to screech , and he shouts at Spock , telling him to watch where he ' s going . ( ) In the 1940s , Rex Denning ' s brother - in - law was a car salesman . Denning thought he wasn ' t good at his job . ( ) Jimmy was killed in 1953 for attempting to break into a car with a crowbar . ( ) While visiting Earth in 1986 , James Kirk was nearly hit by a taxicab . ( ) Cars were used quite often by police departments across 20th century Earth , and such vehicles were modified to include flashing lights , sirens , and other devices for their needs . When several of the crew of the visited the Earth of this era , Captain Kathryn Janeway asked Lieutenant Tom Paris what they would need to pass for locals and he replied " " Nice clothes , a fast car and lots of money . " " ( ; ) The hovercar eventually replaced the ground - based car for general use in 2036 , although ground - based cars were still quite common . ( ) During the 2130s , Charles Tucker III used to drive his car out to Chatkin Point and park along the shoreline and stare at the moon with his girlfriend . He later compared the size of his first car to that of a Retellian escape pod . ( ) In 2152 in orbit of an alien planet , the Enterprise , while scanning for the communicator signal to locate Jonathan Archer and Malcolm Reed , find that they were in a district far away from where they had landed their shuttlepod . Since they couldn ' t have got that far on foot , Hoshi speculated they may have taken a train or car . ( ) In 2153 , Charles Tucker III has a dream that he witnessed the death of his sister Elizabeth Tucker , who was killed in Florida by a Xindi weapon . In his dream , she is sitting at a table that appears to be at an outdoor restaurant , and there is a car parked in the nearby parking lot . ( ) However , in early 2154 , after realizing Phlox could be extremely persuasive , Charles Tucker III asked Phlox to " remind me never to buy a car from you " . ( ) In 2268 , the inhabitants of planet 892 - IV advertised a brand of car called the Jupiter 8 . ( ) The same year , when Spock , Kirk and McCoy beam ed down to Sigma Iotia II , they are nearly struck by a car . ( ) The Iotian s were driving cars identical to those driven in the United States of America on Earth , in the 1920s . One such car was a Flivver , as Spock called it . ( ) That same year , the Ekosian s also had cars . They were similar in design to many of the cars from Earth in 1944 . ( ) The Vedala , one of the oldest space faring species in the galaxy also used cars . They allowed a team of people , which included Kirk and Spock , to use their Vedala ground vehicle for transportation on the mad planet , where they were seeking the stolen Soul of the Skorr . ( ) In the Julian Bashir , Secret Agent holoprogram , the spy gets to use many cars , including limousine s . ( ) Alternate reality . In the early 2240s of the alternate reality , ' s stepfather owned an antique Corvette , which Kirk drove into a chasm . In 2258 , a car drove by Starfleet Academy just before James T . Kirk took the Kobayashi Maru scenario for a third time . ( ) The following year , Doctor advised now - Captain Kirk , " " You don ' t rob a bank when the get - away car has a flat tire , " " metaphor ically referring to Kirk planning to infiltrate Qo ' noS even though the ' s warp core had broken down . Also , when Kirk and were planning on space jump ing from the " Enterprise " to the , told Kirk that the doorway into the " Vengeance " was very small , and that making a jump successfully would be like " jumping from a moving car , off a bridge and into a shot glass . " Khan was nearly struck by a car when he was running from , who was chasing him through the streets of San Francisco and later atop airborne garbage barge s . ( )