Get Makes

Returns every vehicle make in the database as normalized strings.

Use this before GET /auctions

Pass each string from data as the make query parameter on GET /auctions. Guessing make names from listings or marketing copy often returns no results.

Query limit: This endpoint is public and does not count toward your plan query limit. On MCP, list_makes is excluded the same way when it is the only tool call in that HTTP request.

GET https://api.oldcarsdata.com/makes

Request Parameters

No parameters required.

Code Examples

cURL

bash

curl "https://api.oldcarsdata.com/makes"

JavaScript

javascript

const response = await fetch('https://api.oldcarsdata.com/makes');
const data = await response.json();

Python

python

import requests

response = requests.get('https://api.oldcarsdata.com/makes')
data = response.json()

Success Response (200)

Makes retrieved successfully.

json

{
  "data": [
    "Toyota",
    "Ford",
    "Chevrolet",
    "BMW",
    "Mercedes-Benz"
  ]
}

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
`data`	array	Array of make names (strings), sorted alphabetically

Error Responses

Field	Type	Description
`error`	string	Error type identifier
`message`	string	Human-readable error message

500 — Internal Server Error:

json

{
  "error": "Internal Server Error",
  "message": "An unexpected error occurred"
}