For an engine to start, it needs to be well rotated, using an external source of energy. Before the invention of the electric starter, this source of energy was man, or rather his muscle power. A car enthusiast in the early twentieth century rotated the crankshaft with the start / crank handle. It was extremely inconvenient, difficult and fraught with a certain degree of danger, as evidenced by the hundreds of broken fingers and dislocated wrists. In addition, manual starting of powerful engines with a high compression ratio required good physical fitness from the car owner. The first car to be serially equipped with an electric starter was the Cadillac in 1912.