A real estate developer named Mary Anderson invented the windshield wiper in 1903 and had her invention patented in 1905. She never profited from her invention though. Auto companies did not use her ideas until the patent expired in 17 years. It wasn't until 1923 that wipers became standard equipment. The first car that offered the feature as standard equipment was Cadillac.
It is harder to answer the ashtray question, but ashtray as a term was not in common usage until 1926, so the 1924 cars may have had a place for ashes, but it wasn't called an ashtray.
That's the rest of the story and I am sticking to it.
I have no idea about the movie that John referenced or the "story" it told about the wipers.