I think I know what you are thinking, AlexK! In 1986 there was a series of documentaries shown on television celebrating the 100th birthday of automobile. I think six or seven documents/episodes were made, I still have them all on VHS! I remember I was only three years old but it made a big impact to me. The very first episode was a live show where all new 1986 cars were shown in front of audience around the world. One or two episodes were focused on the history of cars. One episode was about the future of cars and one episode was more like a TV-movie where they travelled in time just as you said. There might have been more episodes but I don't remember very well anymore...

I haven't found it on IMDB.com yet. I don't remember the name of the show.