We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Plowman (News)"
saying something like:

In article ,
Dave wrote:

I think it was the mini.

You think wrong.

Alvis made them in 1928 - a racing model first followed by a road car.
Then of course the famous Citroen Traction Avant - 1934 onwards.

Probably other earlier FWD - but those are the landmarks.

FIAT made a small fwd car in about 1929. It was probably the first
popular (or not, depending on reliability) fwd. Can't recall the model
name, though.