This Day in Automotive History 4/28/1876: Nicola Romeo born in Sant'Antimo, Italy. 1916: Ferruccio Lamborghini, the founder of the company that bears his name and is known for stylish, high-performance cars, is born in Renazzo di Cento, Italy. 1921: Douglas Davidson riding a Harley Davidson at the Brooklands circuit became the first motorcyclist to exceed 100 mph in Britain. 1922: The Ford Motor Company began manufacturing its own storage batteries. 1953: Kaiser-Frazer buys Willys. 1956: The Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner – the world’s first mass produced retractable hardtop - debuted at the New York Auto Show. 1967: Lotus Cars Ltd. introduced its new, ultra low, two-door mid-1498cc engine Lotus Europa, with a top speed of 121 mph. 1974: Niki Lauda won the Spanish Grand Prix at the Jarama circuit, his first victory in Formula 1 and the 50th win for Ferrari, after a nearly two year winless streak. 1975: The last International light truck was built, a model 500 4x4 cab and chassis, ending 68 years of production of such vehicles. 2012: A storm struck Louisville, KY and hail damaged some 3,500 Ford Escapes assembled at a plant nearby.
This Day in Automotive History 4/27/1887: The first motor car race in history took place, the Neuilly-Versailles-Neuilly, a distance of 20 miles, organized by the journalist Fossier. 1926: John Godfrey Parry-Thomas established a new Land Speed Record of 169.30 mph driving the 450 hp (340 kW) V12 Liberty aero engine of 27 liter capacity Higham-Thomas Special Babs at Pendine Sands, Wales. Babs began as 'Chitty 4', one of Count Louis Zborowski's series of aero-engined cars named 'Chitty Bang Bang'. 1936: The UAW, or United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, gained autonomy from the AFL, becoming the first democratic, independent labor union concerned with the rights of unskilled and semi-skilled laborers. 1989: Mandatory seatbelt law came into effect in Italy. 2005: Touting technology as a way to solve the country's energy problems, President Bush called for construction of more nuclear power plants and urged Congress to give tax breaks for fuel-efficient hybrid and clean-diesel cars. 2009: Struggling American auto giant General Motors (GM) stated it planned to discontinue production of its more than 80-year-old Pontiac brand. Pontiac's origins date back to the Oakland Motor Car, which was founded in 1907 in Pontiac, MI, by Edward Murphy, a horse-drawn carriage manufacturer.
This Day in Automotive History 4/26/1906: The George N. Pierce Company purchased a 16-acre plot of land that had been the site of the 1901 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY with the intention of making the site their new production facility. 1948: Production began on the 1949-model Ford, the first all-new automobile design introduced by the Big Three after World War II. 1962: Studebaker-Packard Corporation's stockholders voted to drop "Packard" from the corporation title from July 2, 1962. 1982: Rod Stewart was mugged as a gunman stole his $50,000 Porsche. 1983: The Honda Motor Company Ltd. dedicated their new Ohio assembly plant. 1998: The 2.5 ton, 5.4 meter long Bentley Arnage was unveiled to the public at the Sarthe Circuit in France. 1999: Ford completed its first purchase of a vehicle disassembly company (Copher Brothers Auto Parts in Tampa, FL) as part of a bigger plan to create a global network of state-of-the art vehicle recycling companies. 2001: The Saudi Arabian interior minister, Prince Nayef, stated that his government would not allow women to drive. 2009: The autoworkers' union and Chrysler agree to benefit cuts for employees to help the struggling company exit bankruptcy.
This Day in Automotive History 4/25/1901: New York became the first state to require automobile license plates; the fee was one dollar. 1925: Alfieri Maserati's first car, the Tipo 26, made its racing debut by winning its class at the Targa Florio. 1927: The first Dodge Convertible Cabriolet was produced. 1928: Frank Lockhart dies attempting to set world land speed record, Daytona Beach, Florida. 1931: Dr Ferdinand Porsche founded Porsche KG, a company of "designers and consultants for land, sea, and air vehicles". One of the first assignments was from the German government to design a car for the people, that is a "Volkswagen". This resulted in the Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most successful car designs of all time. 1959: Mario Andretti makes his racing debut at Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania. 1970: Mazda's first cars arrive in US. 1996: Ford Motor Company announced a recall of about eight million cars, minivans and pickups because of an ignition switch fire hazard. 2001: A new world record for Most Persons in a New Volkswagen Beetle (27) was set at Pennsylvania State University. 2018: Ford announced that it would stop producing its Taurus sedan, a car that was once America's top seller. The Taurus had debuted in 1985 for the 1986 model year.
This Day in Automotive History 4/24/1908: Ralph DePalma made his racing debut in an Allen-Kingston at the Briarcliff Trophy Race in Westchester, New York. DePalma would go on to win nearly 2,000 races in his 25-year career, including wins at the Vanderbilt Cup, the Savannah Grand Prize, and the Indy 500 of 1915.. 1918: The Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneuz began near Amiens in northern France during World War One. This battle is notable because it is recorded as the first conflict in which a tank-versus-tank fight occurred during war. 1960: Drag racing's first reported 200 mph speed was set by Chris "The Golden Greek" Karamesines with a 204.54 mph run at the Alton Dragway in Alton, IL. 1975: The last Citroen DS was produced, ending a run of nearly 20 years. Produced in sedan, wagon/estate and convertible body configurations, Citroën sold 1,455,746 cars, including 1,330,755 built at the manufacturer's original mass-production plant in Paris. 1983: Rolf Stommelen, a four-time 24 Hours of Daytona champ as well as a Formula One driver, is killed at the age of 39 in a crash at California’s Riverside International Raceway. 1995: The last Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 was produced. 2007: Warren Edward Avis (91), the American entrepreneur, who founded Avis Rent A Car System Inc. in 1946, died. Avis' early career began as a sales man for a drug company, the working for the Michigan Department of Investigation where he was an agent investigating auto dealership.
This Day in Automotive History 4/23/1900: A Fiat made its first competition appearance in the Turin-Pinerolo-Cuneo-Turin race. 1903: The Pennsylvania General Assembly required all motor vehicles not registered with a city or municipality to register with a county official. 1933: The first Grand Prix where grid positions were decided by practice time rather than the established method of balloting was held at the Circuit de Monaco. 1947: The 1,000,000th Packard was produced. 1952: The Abarth 1500 Biposto (Bertone) coupe, an experimental coupe designed by Franco Scaglione, who worked for Bertone at the time, was unveiled at the Turin Auto Show. It featured a futuristic design consisting of a central headlight, similar to the earlier Tucker Torpedo, and fins at the rear. 1985: The Standard Oil Company of Indiana was reorganized as the Amoco Corporation. 1987: Chrysler Corporation purchases Nuova Automobili F. Lamborghini, the Bologna, Italy-based maker of high-priced, high-performance cars. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the media reported that Chrysler paid $25 million for Lamborghini, which at the time was experiencing financial difficulties.
This Day in Automotive History 4/22/1870: Mitsubishi Group was founded by Yataro Iwasaki when he started a shipping company with three aging steam ships. The steamship company became the first Japanese company to offer overseas mail delivery to China. 1911: The Packard Six, later called the Model I-48, was introduced. 1933: Frederick Henry Royce, who with Charles Stewart Rolls founded the luxury British automaker Rolls-Royce, dies at the age of 70 in England. 1956: Carroll Shelby drove a Ferrari to victory in the 100 mile 'Del Monte Trophy' race held on the 2.1 mile Pebble Beach public road circuit. 1996: At the 66th Turin International Motor Show, the series version of the Mercedes-Benz SLK was publicly presented for the first time. 2006: President Bush declared hydrogen to be the fuel of the future in an Earth Day speech in Sacramento on the 2nd day of his visit to California.
This Day in Automotive History 4/21/1906: The first Montreal (Canada) Automobile Show opened. 1939: The 2,000,000th Studebaker was produced. 1962: Ford Motor Company's "An Adventure in Outer Space" exhibit opened at the Seattle World's Fair. 1965: Renault and Peugeot agreed to form an 'association for immediate close cooperation' in research, design, investment and purchasing. 1967: General Motors (GM) celebrates the manufacture of its 100 millionth American-made car. At the time, GM was the world’s largest automaker. 1976: A Cadillac convertible, the ‘last’ American-made soft-top car, rolled off the assembly line at GM’s Cadillac production facility in Detroit, ending a tradition that began in 1916. 1983: The 1984 Chevrolet Corvette was introduced as the first completely restyled Corvette since 1968. 1996: The "Father of the Corvette”, Belgium-born American engineer, Zora Arkus-Duntov (86), died. 2014: Tesla Motors Inc. delivers its first eight electric sedans to customers in China. CEO Elon Musk said the company will build a nationwide network of charging stations and service centers as fast as it can.
This Day in Automotive History 4/20/1897: Ernest Estcourt took delivery of the first ‘production’ car from the Daimler Motor Company, Coventry and drove it home to Hampstead in London. 1927: Phil Hill born, Miami, Florida. 1930: Clessie L Cummins, driving a diesel-powered Packard roadster at Daytona Beach, Florida, reached 80.398 mph to establish a land speed record for this type of vehicle. 1954: The first All Japan Motor Show was held at Hibiya Park, Tokyo. 2000: Lexus announced that it would introduce its first convertible, the SC 430 based on the Lexus Sport Coupe Concept car, which debuted at the 1999 Tokyo Motor Show. 2008: Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Montegi in Montegi, Japan, making her the first female winner in IndyCar racing history. 2016: Japan-based Mitsubishi Motors admitted that it had used improper methods to test the fuel economy of cars sold in Japan for 25 years.
This Day in Automotive History 4/19/1906: Nobel Prize winning scientist Pierre Curie (46) died as a result of a carriage accident in a storm while crossing the Rue Dauphine in Paris. 1927: The first production line Volvo, the 20 hp OV4, costing 4,800 kroner went on view in Stockholm, Sweden. 1955: Volkswagen of America, Inc. was established in Engelwood, New Jersey, as a sales division for the German car company. 1964: Mario Andretti races in his first Indy car race, finishing in 11th place. 1964:Two days after its introduction at the New York World Fair, the Ford Mustang was advertised to the whole of the American public via all three American television networks. It was the most successful product launch in motoring history, setting off near-pandemonium at Ford dealers across the continent. 1968: The 14,000,000th Buick was produced. 1979: Production of the Chevrolet Citation, the marque's first front-wheel-drive car, began. 1981: The first shipment of De Lorean DMC12 sports cars left Belfast for New York. 2005: Bugatti Veyron became the fastest production car when it achieved a speed of 253.8 mph at the Ehra-Lessien test track. 2009: The Shanghai Motor Show opened. Porsche kicked off the show by unveiling the Panamera.
This Day in Automotive History 4/18/1882: Gottlieb Daimler and his protégé Wilhelm Maybach reached an agreement to work towards the creation of a high-speed internal combustion engine for the purpose of propelling vehicles. 1929: The 500,000th Pontiac was produced. 1950: The 2,000,000th Nash automobile was produced. 1955: Lincoln becomes separate division of Ford. 1958: The Corvette Stingray made its debut at the President's Cup Race at Maryland's Marlboro Raceway. 1964: Sunbeam debuts Tiger. 1964: Ford GT40 makes its public track debut. 1993: Ford begins production of the Flexible-Fuel Vehicle (FFV) Taurus. FFVs can burn gasoline, ethanol or mixtures of the two. 2007: US research found that ethanol-fueled vehicles could contribute to more illnesses and deaths from respiratory disease than petroleum-powered cars and trucks. 2009: Fifty-year-old Mark Martin wins NASCAR race.
This Day in Automotive History 4/17/1911: Charles F. Kettering applied for a U.S. patent for the self-starting mechanism he had designed for the Cadillac Car Company. 1937: Audi and Volkswagen head Ferdinand Piech born. 1964: Ford Motor Company unveiled its new Mustang model at the New York World’s Fair. The base price was $2,368. Donald Frey (d.2010 at 86), spearheaded the design and development of the car. Industry experts in 1996 picked the 1964 Mustang as the number 1 favorite car. 1969: Ford Maverick debuts. 1970: The British-built Ford Capri was introduced to the United States market. 1971: Jackie Stewart scored the first ever win for the Tyrrell marque at the Spanish Grand Prix. 2013: On the Mustang's 49th anniversary, Ford made a 2014 Ruby Red GT convertible, with a black interior to mark one million produced at the Ford assembly plant in Flat Rock, Michigan.
This Day in Automotive History 4/16/1908: The first Oakland car was sold to a private owner. As originally conceived and introduced, the first Oakland used a vertical two-cylinder engine that rotated counterclockwise. 1946: Arthur Chevrolet, an auto racer and the brother of Chevrolet auto namesake Louis Chevrolet, commits suicide in Slidell, Louisiana. Arthur Chevrolet drove in the inaugural Indianapolis 500, held in 1911. 1950: Brands Hatch, the first purpose-built post-war racing circuit in England, staged its first car racing meeting on tarmac. 1991: Volkswagen acquired 70% of the largest company in the Czech Republic, Skoda Auto a.s. 2002: MG Rover announced the building of the 1.5 millionth MG car since production began in 1924. 2003: Volkswagen revealed the world's most economical road car. The prototype consumed just 0.99 litres of diesel per 100 km – or 285 mpg. 2009: The British government promised a multimillion pound investment to try to jumpstart the market for environmentally friendly electric cars. 2014: Japanese small-car maker Suzuki Motor Corp said it will introduce an affordable, simplified gas-electric hybrid technology in its cars, joining rivals in the race for fuel efficiency.
This Day in Automotive History 4/15/1908: The first issue of Ford Times, a monthly publication produced by the Ford Motor Company, was published. It remained in publication until 1996. 1912: Washington Augustus Roebling II, a 31-year-old race car engineer and driver, dies in the sinking of the RMS Titanic in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. 1924: Rand McNally releases their first road atlas. 1925: The first factory-assembled Ford Model T pickup truck was introduced. 1931: Ford closed its Berlin auto plant. 1949: The Italian racing car and road car maker, Abarth, was founded by Carlo Abarth of Turin. 1964: The first Ford Mustang was sold to a 22 year old teacher, Gail Wise. She went to Johnson Ford in Chicago. After a tour of the showroom turned up nothing of interest, the salesman said “I’ve got something in the back that's really new" — a light blue Mustang convertible, fully loaded with a 260 V8 and a power top. 1977: The Lincoln Versailles, a luxury-compact was introduced as a competitor of the Cadillac Seville during the grand opening ceremonies for the Renaissance Center in Detroit. 2005: Administrators for Britain’s MG Rover Group said they would break up the company, laying off 5,000 workers, in a bid to find buyers for different units after the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. made clear it was not interested in a joint venture.
This Day in Automotive History 4/14/1899: Herr Beissbarth of Munich, Germany was issued a license plate for his Wartburg. This plate survives today and is believed to be the oldest such artefact in existence. 1912: Renault Type CB Coupe de Ville being carried on the Titanic, sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean after the famous ship hit an iceberg. 1914: Stacy G Carkhuff patented a non-skid tire pattern. 1926: The first Maserati Tipo 26 racing car was first produced. 1927: 1st Volvo runs off the assembly line. 1931: Henry Ford drove the twentieth millionth Ford, a Model A off the assembly line. 1954: The handsome rear-engined Fiat Turbina experimental gas-turbine car was given its first road test. 1964: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel connecting Kiptopeke and Chesapeake Beach, VA, opened. The bridge-tunnel hybrid spans the entire mouth of the great Chesapeake Bay. It is the longest such structure in the world at 17.65 miles in length. 1992: The first Mercury Villager minivan was built at Ohio Assembly Plant. 2005: The Pontiac Solstice Roadster, a new two-door sports car from General Motors retailing for approximately $20,000, was featured on the reality TV game show “The Apprentice”.
This Day in Automotive History 4/13/1900: The first production Packard, a Model B, was shipped to a company official, George L Weiss. 1904: Fire destroys Cadillac's main assembly plant. 1931: American racecar driver Dan Gurney was born in Port Jefferson, NY. 1965: 10-millionth Pontiac built. 1970: The four-door Saab 99 and the Sonett III were premiered. 1986: At Jerez, Ayrton Senna, in a Lotus, beat Britain’s Nigel Mansell, to win the Spanish Grand Prix. The win, by a mere 14/1000ths of a second, was the narrowest win in Formula One history. 2000: The first 450 Chrysler PT Cruisers bound for Europe were loaded on a ship at the port of Veracruz, Mexico. 2006: The C70 model -- the first car built by the joint venture between Volvo Cars and Pininfarina (Pininfarina Sverige AB) sharing the Volvo P1 platform used in the S40, was presented. 2009: Former Major League Baseball all-star pitcher Mark “The Bird” Fidrych is found dead at the age of 54 following an accident at his Massachusetts farm involving a Mack truck he was working on. 2011: The first new MG for 16 years rolled off the production line. 2015: Production of the Jaguar XE formally commenced at Jaguar Land Rover's Solihull plant.
This Day in Automotive History 4/12/1888: Cecil Kimber, founder of the British sports car company MG, is born in England. 1902: King Edward VII became the first reigning British monarch to travel by car, when John Scott-Montague drove him through the New Forest in a 24 hp Daimler. 1903: England starts first municipal bus service. 1922: The International Motor Truck Corporation changed its name to Mack Trucks, Inc. 1977: General Motors (GM) announced it had dropped plans to produce a Wankel rotary engine. 1995: In a move that stunned the business world, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian and former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca made an unsolicited $22.8 billion-dollar bid to buy the nation's third largest automaker; Chrysler responded that it wasn't for sale. 2003: The all-new 170 mph British built Invicta S1 sportscar made its race track debut at the Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, England. 2006: BMW 3 Series was named World Car of the Year at the New York Auto Show. 2020: F1 great Stirling Moss died.
This Day in Automotive History 4/11/1888: 24-year-old Henry Ford marries Clara Jane Bryant on her 22nd birthday at her parent’s home in Greenfield Township, Michigan. Clara Ford would prove to be a big supporter of her husband’s business ideas. 1913: Ettore Bugatti first proposed designing the super car that would eventually emerge as the Bugatti Type 41 Royale. 1916: The Nash Motor Company, based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, US, was founded by former General Motors president Charles W. Nash after acquiring the Thomas B. Jeffery Company. 1997: Daimler-Benz presented the high performance sports car 6-litre V12 CLK-GTR. The Guinness Book of World Records recorded the CLK GTR as the most expensive production car ever built at the time, with a price of $1,547,620 (USD). 2013: Four Japanese automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp, and Nissan Motor Co., announced a recall of 3.4 million vehicles sold around the world because airbags supplied by Takata Corp are at risk of catching fire or injuring passengers.
This Day in Automotive History 4/10/1832: 1st electric form of transportation created. This is significant because this is showing how fast after the steam engine was first created people such as Robert Anderson (created the electric engine) wanted to make a more efficient form of an automobile. 1879: Sandor Herz—the future John Hertz, the man behind what will one day be the world’s largest car-rental company—is born in present-day Slovakia. 1916: Ralph Mulford broke the stock car speed record at Daytona Beach, Florida, US, covering a flying mile at 102.53 mph in a Hudson Super Six. 1969: Harley Jefferson Earl (b.1893), car designer, died. He was a Hollywood builder of custom cars and became GM’s VP of styling from 1940-1959. He was the first to introduce tail fins in 1948. His design philosophy was "You can design a car so that every time you get in it, it’s a relief--you have a little vacation for a while." 1978: The first American-made Volkswagen rolled off the assembly line in Pennsylvania. 1981: Henry Ford II rejected Chrysler Corporation's offer to merge. 1983: Bob Tullius and Bill Adam drove the Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5 to victory in the IMSA race at Road Atlanta in Brazelton, Georgia, USA. It was the first win for Jaguar in a top level series in 25 years and the first win for a factory prototype in IMSA competition.
This Day in Automotive History 4/9/1901: Frederick W. Ball was issued a US patent for his planetary transmission. 1920: Marie Luhring of the International Harvester Company was admitted as the first female member of the Society of Automobile Engineers. 1930: The very first Bridgestone tire was produced, by the Japanese "Tabi" Socks Tire Division. 1957: Lotus builds first single-seat race car. 1981: Pontiac introduced the T1000, a sub-compact based on the Chevrolet Chevette. 1988: Dave Prater (50) of soul duo Sam & Dave was killed when his car left the road and hit a tree in Syracuse, Georgia. He recorded for Stax Records from 1965 - 1968, including the hits, 'Soul Man' and 'Hold On, I'm Coming.' 1999: It was announced that the film world’s most successful secret agent, Bond, James Bond, would be driving the stunning new BMW Z8 in "The World is Not Enough", the 19th in the series of Bond films. 2009: The Honda FCX Clarity, a four-door sedan billed as the planet’s first hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle intended for mass production, wins the World Green Car award at the New York Auto Show. 2014: Toyota Motor Corp. said it is recalling 6.39 million vehicles globally for a variety of problems spanning nearly 30 models in Japan, the US, Europe and other places.
This Day in Automotive History 4/8/1805: Isaac de Rivaz applied for a French patent on his 'explosion motor', an important ancestor of the modern internal combustion engine. 1910: The Los Angeles “The Boards” Motordome, the first speedway with a board track, opened near Playa Del Rey, California, with a nine day series of races and exhibitions. 1940: The 28 millionth Ford was produced, a Deluxe Fordor Sedan with a body by Ford built at the Edgewater, New Jersey plant. 1958: Oldsmobile produced its 4 millionth car with Hydra-Matic transmission. 1979: In the Rebel 500 event at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, drivers Darrell Waltrip and Richard Petty swap the lead four times in a last-lap battle before Waltrip finally wins the race. 1998: Ford announced intent to introduce side-impact air bags throughout its North American car lineup. 2006: The new Alfa Brera, a sports coupe in the classic Alfa Romeo tradition went on sale in the UK. 2019: London introduced one of the world's toughest vehicle emissions standards, placing a tax on older, more polluting cars that drive into the center of the British capital.
This Day in Automotive History 4/7/1902: United States of the Texas Oil Company – Texaco – was founded. 1907: Raymond C. Dahlinger was hired by the Ford Motor Company to drive finished cars off the assembly line. 1931: The first production Marmon Sixteen was completed. 1947: Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, which developed the first affordable, mass-produced car–the Model T–and also helped pioneer assembly-line manufacturing, dies at his estate in Dearborn, Michigan, at the age of 83. 1955: The Plymouth Belvedere Turbine car was first shown to the public at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. 1966: The 11,000,000th Volkswagen was produced. 1998: Cozy Powell (50) of Rainbow, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath died after crashing his Saab 9000 on the M4 while driving in excess of 100 mph. 2004: The Empire State Building was lit in Ferrari red to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ferrari’s presence in the United States. 2009: GM and Segway announced that they were working together to develop a two-wheeled, two-seat electric vehicle designed to be a fast, safe, inexpensive and clean alternative to traditional cars and trucks for cities across the world. The project was called P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility).
This Day in Automotive History 4/6/1853: Emil Jellinek, an entrepreneur who commissioned engineer Wilhelm Maybach to design the first Mercedes automobile, named after Jellinek’s daughter, is born in Leipzig, Germany. 1898: Thirteen days after selling its first car, the Winton Motor Carriage Company became an international marque, selling a car to John Moodie of Hamilton, Ontario. The international sale was a testament to Alexander Winton's pioneering enthusiasm for car advertising. 1912: The Model 30 Cadillac became the first car to be fitted with both electric starting and lighting - the famous 'Delco' system. 1934: Ford introduces whitewall tires as an $11.25 option on all its new cars. 1957: New York City ended trolley car service. 1968: The Ford Motor Company "Wide World of Ford" exhibit opened for six months at HemisFair in San Antonio, Texas. 2013: The Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse version of the Bugatti Veyron became the fastest roadster in the world, reaching an averaged top speed of 408.84 km/h (254.04 mph) in a test.
This Day in Automotive History 4/5/1887: Lucius D Copeland of Phoenix, AZ was issued with a United States patent for his steam-powered bicycle and is sometimes classed as an early motorcycle. 1921: The Chevrolet Brothers Manufacturing Company was formed by Louis and Arthur Chevrolet to market their Frontenac high performance overhead-valve cylinder head conversion kits. 1923: 1st regular production of balloon tires (Firestone). 1940: The Buick Y-Job, the auto industry's first concept car, was unveiled to the press. Designed by Harley J. Earl, the car had power-operated hidden headlamps, a "gunsight" hood ornament, electric windows, wraparound bumpers, flush door handles, and prefigured styling cues used by Buick until the 1950s and the vertical waterfall grille design still used by Buick today. 1963: Craig Breedlove became the first person to travel over 400 mph on land. Driving the jet engine Spirit of America he set a land speed record of 407.447 mph over a mile distance. 1968: Ford Motor Company introduced the all-new Continental Mark III as part of deliberate strategy to build the prestige and owner loyalty of its luxury Lincoln brand. 1988: Tracy Chapman released the single "Fast Car" from her self-titled first album Tracy Chapman. The album went multi-platinum largely on the strength of the enormous popularity of "Fast Car." 2012: Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India's Tata Motors, announced that it planned to build its new Jaguar F-Type sports car in Britain.
This Day in Automotive History 4/4/1929: Karl Friedrich Benz died aged 84. 1931: Andre Michelin (77), who built the first factories for the mass production of rubber car tires, died. 1933: Bill France Jr., the leading force behind the transformation of the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) from a regional sport into a multi-billion-dollar industry with fans worldwide, is born. 1979: Dr Hans Nibol, driving the Mercedes-Benz C111/IV with a 4.8-litre V8 petrol engine (368 kW/500 hp) at the Nardo track in Italy, set several speed records, including the closed track record of 250.918 mph. 1993: Mario Andretti scored the 52nd and final victory of his Champ Car career 4/4/93 with a victory in Phoenix. 1996: Jaguar introduced a new kitten to their litter at the New York Auto Show. The Jaguar XK8 (project code X100) was a grand touring model and the first car of the new XK series. 2007: The 1,000,000th MINI was built in Oxford, England. It was Pepper White with an Almond Green roof displaying a graphic which consisted of one million little MINIs. 2017: London Mayor Sadiq Khan said drivers of the most polluting cars would be charged to travel into the center of the city from 2019, describing his city's air as "lethal".
This Day in Automotive History 4/3/1885: Gottlieb Daimler patents his water-cooled internal combustion engine. 1900: Robert E. Twyford, a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was issued with a US patent (646,477) for the first four-wheel drive system, which included a mechanical power steering mechanism. 1941: Andre Michelin (88), French tire manufacturer, died. 1947: President Louis Horowitz and Vice President Charles D. Thomas of the Playboy Motor Car Corporation of Buffalo, New York announced plans to produce a subcompact car, the Playboy. The most interesting feature of the new Playboy was the fold-down steel top. 1966: Battista "Pinin" Farina (72), founder of the Pininfarina coachbuilding company, and synonymous with some of the best-known classic Italian sports cars, died. 1996: The Museum of Modern Art in New York City placed a Jaguar E-Type in its permanent exhibit. Just the third car to be honored by the curators, the E-Type is the epitome of Jaguar's exquisite feel for body design. 1998: McLaren announced the signing of a 13-year-old karting whiz kid, Lewis Hamilton. 2009: "Fast & Furious" - the fourth film in an action-movie franchise centered around the world of illegal street racing debuted, kicking off a record-breaking $72.5 million opening weekend at the box office in the US.
This Day in Automotive History 4/2/1872: George B. Brayton of Boston, MA received a US patent for a petrol-powered engine. 1875: Walter Percy Chrysler, the founder of the Chrysler Corporation, which for years was one of America’s Big Three automakers along with General Motors (GM) and Ford, is born in Wamego, Kansas. 1889: Aluminum patented by Charles Hall. 1919: The 3,000,000th Ford Model T was produced. 1950: The Ferrari 195 S, a racing sports car produced by Ferrari was introduced at the Giro di Sicilia. 1956: Alfred P. Sloan stepped down after 19 years as chairman of General Motors, with Albert Bradley elected as his successor. 1973: John Z DeLorean resigned from GM. 1978: Darrell Waltrip scored his first career win at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Southeastern 500. 1987: The US Government allowed individual states to increase the speed limit on rural roads from 55 mph to 65 mph. 2015: A US jury ordered automaker Chrysler to pay $150 million to the family of a four-year-old boy who was killed when their Jeep exploded into flames. Remington Walden was killed in March 2012 in the US state of Georgia when a car rear-ended the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee he was in, causing the fuel tank behind the car's rear axle to leak and set the car on fire.
This Day in Automotive History 4/1/1826: Samuel Morey of Oxford, New Hampshire, US was issued a patent for his 'gas and vapor engine'. 1904: Henry Royce’s Manchester engineering company produced its first motor car. 1961: Amphicar debuts, NY (a lousy boat and a lousy car combined into one lousy vehicle). 1964: The Plymouth Barracuda was released to the public, 15 days ahead of the Ford Mustang. 1969: Last Chevrolet Corvair built. 1969: The Mercedes-Benz C111 made its first test run at the Daimler-Benz AG test track in Unterurkheim, Germany. 1970: American Motors Corp. (AMC) introduced the compact Gremlin for $1879. It was designed by Richard Teague on the back of a Northwest Airlines sickness bag. The last Gremlin was made in 1978. 1980: Rear fog lamps become mandatory in the UK for most vehicles manufactured after 1 October 1979 and used from this day. 1993: Race car driver and owner Alan Kulwicki, who won the 1992 National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) Winston Cup championship by one of the tightest margins in series history, is killed in a plane crash near Bristol, TN. 2010: In Fremont, CA, the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant (NUMMI) produced its last Toyota Corolla after 25 years of operations building cars the Toyota Way.
This Day in Automotive History 3/31/1900: The first car advertisement to run in a national magazine appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. The W.E. Roach Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ran an advertisement featuring its jingle, "Automobiles That Give Satisfaction." 1913: First experiments with assembly lines began at Ford's Highland Park Plant. 1931: Knute Rockne, the legendary Notre Dame football coach and namesake of the Studebaker Rockne line of autos, is killed in a plane crash near Bazaar, Kansas, at the age of 43. 1932: The first cars equipped with Ford's new low-priced V-8s go on sale. 1963: Los Angeles ended streetcar service after 90 years. 1998: Andy Wallace drove a standard McLaren F1 production car at 240.14 mph (386.46 kmh) at the Volkswagen Proving Ground, Wolfsburg, Germany. 2010: The fastest speed for a car driven blindfolded of 292.89 km/h (182.03 mph), was set by Metin Senturk (Turkey), president of the World Handicapped Foundation, in a Ferrari F430 at Urfa Airport, Urfa, Turkey. 2016: The Model 3, Tesla's third-generation car, was unveiled.
This Day in Automotive History 3/30/1892: The United States Rubber Company (Uniroyal) was organized in New Jersey. 1909: 1st double-decked bridge opens (Queensboro Bridge NY). 1947: Preston Tucker announced his concept for a new automobile to be named "the Tucker". 1968: The annual New York International Auto Show opened its doors to the public. Among the most unique vehicles to debut at the show was the Astro II, the first true mid-engine Corvette prototype, internally known as the XP-880. 1998: The Rolls-Royce company of Vickers PLC was sold to BMW of Germany for $570 million. 1998: The last air-cooled Porsche 911 was delivered to its proud owner, the US TV star Jerry Seinfeld. 2000: The Chevrolet Corvette Convertible received the award for "Best Engineered Car of the 1990's and Best Engineered Car of the 20th Century" from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE International). 2009: U.S. President Barack Obama issues an ultimatum to struggling American automakers General Motors (GM) and Chrysler: In order to receive additional bailout loans from the government, he says, the companies need to make dramatic changes in the way they run their businesses.
This Day in Automotive History 3/29/1806: The Great National Pike, also known as the Cumberland Road, became the first highway funded by the national treasury. 1910: C N Teetor as granted a patent for his "Oil-Regulating Piston Rings", leading to his founding of the Perfect Circle Company. 1927: Henry Segrave becomes the first man to go 200 MPH. 1948: The modern era of Formula 1 began with the Grand Prix de Pau (France), which was won by Nello Pagani in a Maserati 4CL. 1954: Packard introduced the Clipper Special Sedan and Club Sedan as mid-year, lower-priced additions to its Clipper line. 1971: The Jaguar E-type Series III was launched. 2009: Rick Wagoner, the chairman and chief executive of troubled auto giant General Motors (GM), resigns at the request of the Obama administration. During Wagoner’s more than 8 years in the top job at GM, the company lost billions of dollars and in 2008 was surpassed by Japan-based Toyota as the world’s top-selling maker of cars and trucks, a title the American automaker had held since the early 1930s.
This Day in Automotive History 3/28/1892: Charles Duryea and Erwin Markham signed a contract to design and finance the construction of a gasoline-powered automobile. 1900: The British Royal family took delivery of its first motor vehicle, a Daimler Mail Phaeton. 1941: Ford breaks ground for Willow Run plant near Ypsilanti, Michigan, some 30 miles west of Detroit. The plant will use Henry Ford’s mass-production technology to build B-24 bomber planes for World War II. During the war, Detroit was dubbed the “Arsenal of Democracy,” as American automakers reconfigured their factories to produce a variety of military vehicles and ammunition for the Allies. 1956: MGA #13355, a black roadster, was pulled off the assembly line and shipped to Bodies Branch at Coventry for conversion into the prototype MGA coupe. 1961: Powel Crossley Jr. (74), founder and namesake of the Crossley automobile, Crossley radios, and longtime owner of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, died in Cincinnati. 2012: The MG 5, a compact car that has been produced by the British company MG Motor, was launched. It shared the same automotive platform with the Roewe 350 saloon car. The MG 5 debuted in concept car form at the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show as the MG Concept5.
This Day in Automotive History 3/27/1863: Henry Royce born, Alwalton, England. 1907: Vauxhall Motors Ltd was registered in Great Britain. 1927: Fernando Minoia and Giuseppi Morandi won the first Mille Miglia. 1936: The first production Morgan 4/4 was completed after assembling four rather different prototypes. It was Morgan's first car with four wheels. 1952: Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of the Toyota Motor Corporation, which in 2008 surpassed America’s General Motors as the world’s largest automaker, dies at the age of 57 in Japan. 1956: The 2,000,000th American Motors automobile was produced. 1978: The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article about the 1978 Corvette Indianapolis 500 Pace Cars, indicating they would be excellent investments. 1998: Ferdinand Porsche Jr., creator of the Porsche sports car, died at age 88 in Zell am See, Austria. He was born in Wiener-Neustadt and moved to Germany with his family after WW I where his father became chief engineer of Daimler-Benz, the manufacturer of the Mercedes Benz cars. He wrote an autobiography titled "Cars Are My Life." 2002: Scion, a marque of vehicles produced by Toyota Motor Corporation, was unveiled at the New York Auto Show with the production-ready bbX concept, based on the Toyota bB, and the more conceptual ccX 3-door coupe.
This Day in Automotive History 3/26/1903: The first timed speed trials are held at Daytona Beach; Alexander Winton wins in his Bullet No. 1. 1923: Construction began on the Milan-Varese Autostrada, Italy - the world's first inter-urban limited access highway. 1930: Congress appropriated $50,000 for Inter-American highway. 1955: Just before filming began on Rebel Without a Cause, actor James Dean driving a Porsche 356 Speedster, won the first formal motor race he entered, a qualifying race during the California Sports Car Club event at Palms Springs, CA. 1975: The Golf GTi, was presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show as ‘The Volkswagen fastest of all time’. It had a top speed of 112 mph. 2008: The Ford Motor Company announces the sale of its Jaguar and Land Rover divisions to the Tata Group, one of India’s oldest and largest business conglomerates, for some $2.3 billion–less than half of what Ford originally paid for the brands. 2009: In Los Angeles, Tesla Motors unveiled its state-of-the-art five-seat sedan, billed as the world's first mass-produced, highway-capable electric car.
This Day in Automotive History 3/25/1901: Daimler introduces the Mercedes at the "Week of Nice" races. 1920: Walter P. Chrysler quits his jobs managing automotive production at General Motors. 1930: Larry Shinoda, known for his work on the Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Mustang, born. 1947: The remaining divisions of the former Cord Corporation evolved into the AVCO Manufacturing Corporation. 1966: The first Trans-Am series race, the longest running racing series in the US was run at the Sebring International Raceway in Florida, 1968: The one-millionth Lincoln Continental was produced. It was a Continental Sedan, finished in Huron Blue Metallic with a Dark Blue Chalfonte fabric interior. 1982: Danica Patrick, the first woman to win an IndyCar Series race, America’s top level of open-wheel racing, is born in Beloit, WI. 2004: Ayrton Senna made his Formula One debut at Jacarepagua, Brazil, racing for Toleman Motorsport. 2005: The Saturn Sky, a two-seat roadster, was unveiled to the world news media, with the car's market launch planned for 2006.
This Day in Automotive History 3/24/1898: Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania became the first person to buy an American-built motor car when he bought a Winton after seeing an advertisement in Scientific America. 1931: The millionth Ford to be built in Canada left the assembly line, just 3 weeks before the twenty millionth Ford left the Rouge plant in Detroit. 1945: The 20,000th tank was produced by the Chrysler Corporation. 1962: Ferrari 250 GTO made its debut in the 12 Hour sportscar race at Sebring, Florida. 1970: Buddy Baker drove a Dodge Charger Daytona to a new World Closed Course Speed Record of 200.447 mph at Talledega International Speedway, Alabama. 1974: The National Corvette Restorers Society was organized in Angola, Indiana. 1994: The Ford Windstar minivan was introduced. 1999: The Mont Blanc Tunnel that connects Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France with Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy, via European Route E25 through the Alps, was a scene of a fatal fire that took the lives of 38 people. 2003: Lamborghini launched its new 520bhp Gallardo, at the Geneva Motor Show.
This Day in Automotive History 3/23/1901: Chicago's first official auto show opened. 1909: Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH was founded by Wilhelm Maybach with his son Karl Maybach as director. 1910: 1st race at Los Angeles Motordrome (1st US auto speedway). 1937: Craig Breedlove, the first person to reach land speeds of 400mph, 500 mph and 600 mph in a jet-powered vehicle, is born. 1956: The Studebaker-Packard Corporation halted merger talks with the Ford Motor Company to pursue talks with the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. 1963: Ferrari dominated, taking the first six places in the Sebring 12 Hour World Sports Car Championship race. 1970: American Motors introduced the AMX/3, an upscale sports car in Rome, Italy, but production ended after six pre-production prototypes. 1992: General Motors applied to register the trademark of "STINGRAY". 2009: India’s Tata Motors launched its ultra-cheap ($2,000) two-cylinder 624 cc Nano car in Mumbai.
This Day in Automotive History 3/22/1905: The California Legislature approved an act requiring registration of all motor vehicles with the Secretary of State. 1907: The first internal combustion-powered cabs in London with taximeters began operating. The taximeter gave the cab its modern name. Its purpose was to indicate to both driver and passenger the distance travelled and so avoid arguments about the fare. 1932: The Oakland-derived Pontiac V-8 was produced. 1948: The Federal Trade Commission orders Willys-Overland to stop advertising that it created or designed the "jeep." 1983: The Pentagon awards a production contract worth more than $1 billion to AM General Corporation to develop 55,000 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV), nicknamed the Humvee. 2007: SSC tested the top speed capability of the Ultimate Aero TT on on a 12-mile closed stretch of US Route 93 in Nevada. Their goal was to replace the Bugatti Veyron as the fastest production car ever produced, which at the time could achieve 254.3 mph.
This Day in Automotive History 3/21/1899: The 75 mile (120.7 km) Nice-Castellane-Nice road race was won by Albert Lemaître driving a Peugeot 20 hp, at an average speed of 26.02 mph (41.87 km/h). He was driving the latest version of rear engined, 2 cylinder, (140 mm bore x 190 mm stroke) Peugeot, in which he also achieved a standing start mile in 1 minute 35 seconds. 1923: The 1,000,000th Buick was produced. 1947: Earl S MacPherson applied for a United States patent for his vehicle wheel suspension system. 1950: Preston Tucker filed suit against his former prosecutors. 1951: The 500th Porsche was completed. 1960: Three-time Formula One champ Ayrton Senna born, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Senna’s celebrated career was cut short in 1994 when he died at the age of 34 following a crash at a Grand Prix race in Italy. At the time of his death, he was considered by many to be the world’s best F1 driver. 1964: The Iso Rivolta Grifo prototype made its racing debut in the Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix of Endurance for sports cars, in Florida. 2008: It was reported that the French built Smart ForTwo by Daimler would be introduced in the US.
This Day in Automotive History 3/20/1920: Bugatti delivered its first 16-valve car, a Type 13, to a customer in Basel, Switzerland. 1925: The Opel 4/12 bhp "Laubfrosch" (German for tree frog) was exhibited at the Geneva Auto Show. 1928: James Packard, co-founder of the Packard Motor Company, a pioneering American automaker, dies at the age of 64. During Packard’s heyday in the 1930s, its vehicles were driven by movie stars and business titans. Packard was founded with a simple goal: to build the best horseless carriages. 1936: The BMW 326 made its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show. 1952: Fiat caused a sensation at the 1952 Geneva Show when it launched the 8V Berlinetta coupe with its exceptionally aggressive styling. 1969: Porsche officially submitted the 917 to the FIA for homologation. 1988: The last Pontiac Fiero. 1990: While on tour, a semi trailer rammed into a tour bus containing singer Gloria Estefan, husband Emilio, their son and three other passengers at Tobyhanna, PA severely injuring Gloria. 2008: The X Prize Foundation and sponsor Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. offered $10 million to the teams that could "design, build and race super-efficient vehicles that will achieve 100 mpg (2.35 liter/100 kilometer) efficiency, produce less than 200 grams/mile well-to-wheel CO2 equivalent emissions, and could be manufactured for the mass market.”
This Day in Automotive History 3/19/1900: The new Fiat plant in Turin, Italy was officially opened by the Duke of Genoa. 1952: The one millionth Jeep is produced. 1958: Henry Ford II approved the development of a compact Ford car, the Falcon. 1977: The last Rover P6 (named 2000, 2200, and 3500 for its engine displacements) rolled off the production line after 14 years. 2005: John DeLorean, an innovative auto industry executive and founder of the DeLorean Motor Company, dies at the age of 80 in New Jersey. In the early 1980s, the DeLorean Motor Company produced just one model, the DMC-12, a sleek sports car with gull-wing doors that opened upward, before going bankrupt. 2014: US government announced a $1.2 billion settlement with Toyota Motor Corp. and filed a criminal charge alleging the company defrauded consumers by issuing misleading statements about safety issues in Toyota and Lexus vehicles. From 2010 through 2012, Toyota Motor Corp. paid fines totaling more than $66 million for delays in reporting unintended acceleration problems. 2020: Anthony Levandowski, a former Google and Uber engineer, pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from Google. Levandowski had left Google to form Otto a self-driving truck startup and then sold Otto to Uber for $600 million.
This Day in Automotive History 3/18/1858: Rudolf Diesel born, Paris, France. 1895: The world's first gasoline-powered bus service began between Seigen, Netphen and Duez, Germany. 1908: The Ford Model T was announced to dealers. 1927: Sir Henry Seagrave breaks 200-mph barrier. 1933: Studebaker went into receivership. The company's president, Albert Erskine, resigned and later that year committed suicide. 1947: William C. Durant, the founder of General Motors (GM), died in New York City at the age of 85. Economic historian Dana Thomas described Durant as a man "drunk with the gamble of America. 1953: The Chrysler Imperial Newport hardtop coupe was introduced as a mid-year model. 1958: Plastone Company Inc. registered "Turtle Wax 'Hard Shell Finish' Auto Polish" trademark. 1997: The state-owned Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. was founded by the government of China. 2018: In Arizona an Uber car operating in autonomous mode struck Elaine Herzberg (49) in Tempe, who soon died of her injuries at a local hospital. This was believed to be the first pedestrian fatality involving a self-driving car.
This Day in Automotive History 3/17/1834: Gottlieb Daimler born, Germany. 1911: The North Dakota State Legislature required the Secretary of State to register all vehicles with state-issued license plates. 1929: General Motors purchased an 80% stake in Opel, the German car manufacturer, for $33.3 million. GM raised the stake to 100% in 1931. 1948: The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was formed by the Bishop family in Fontana, CA. 1949: The first car to carry the Porsche family name, the Porsche 356 Gmund Coupe, was introduced at the Geneva auto show. 1960: The Mercury Comet, the first of the marque to have a 6-cylinder engine, was introduced as a new series. 1977: The Lamborghini Cheetah – Lamborghini’s first attempt at an off-road vehicle that wasn’t a tractor was presented at the ’77 Geneva Motor Show. 2000: Ford Motor Company announced that it has reached a memorandum of understanding to buy Land Rover from the BMW Group. 2014: A partial driving restriction was imposed in Paris (France) and its inner suburbs based on license plate numbers.
This Day in Automotive History 3/16/1901: The California Legislature authorized counties, cities and incorporated towns to tax and license motor vehicles. 1910: Barney Oldfield set a world speed record of 131.724 mph, driving his 'Blitzen Benz' at Daytona, FL. 1934: The Chrysler Airflow was introduced to a European audience at the Geneva Motor Show. 1958: 50 millionth Ford rolled off the Dearborn, MI, assembly line. The car was a 1958 Thunderbird. 1960: In New York a car was displayed with a battery recharged by solar cells. 1966: General Motors produced its 100,000,000th car, an Oldsmobile Toronado. 1988: Racing legend "Mickey" Thompson and wife murdered. 2003: Race car driver Ricky Craven wins the Darlington 500, crossing the finish line .002 seconds ahead of Kurt Busch for the closest recorded finish in National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) history. 2005: The Ferrari F430 made its dynamic driving debut in the UK at Goodwood House during the press briefing for Goodwood’s Festival of Speed. 2013: The MINI Paceman (R61) went on sale in the US.
This Day in Automotive History 3/15/1878: Anton Johan Lovstad was issued with a Norwegian patent for "torsion springs for carriages", which closely resembles modern torsion bar suspension systems. 1906: Rolls-Royce Limited is formed. 1928: The Opel-RAK-1, the world's first rocket-propelled car was driven by Kurt C. Volkhart to a top speed of 47 mph. 1934: Henry Ford restored the $5 a day wage for his workers ($98 in 2021). 1954: The 5,000th Porsche was produced. 1954: Dodge Firearrow show car exhibited at Chicago Auto Show. 1960: Mercury debuts Comet. 1961: The Jaguar XK-E (E-Type) debuts at the Geneva Auto Show. Enzo Ferrari called it; “The most beautiful car ever made!” 1968: Construction starts on the north tunnel of the Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial Tunnel on Interstate 70 in Colorado, some 60 miles west of Denver. Located at an altitude of more than 11,000 feet, the project was an engineering marvel and became the world’s highest vehicular tunnel when it was completed in 1979. 1977: The 500,000th Chevrolet Corvette was produced. 1990: Ford introduces the Explorer sport utility vehicle.
This Day in Automotive History 3/14/1903: The first Boston Auto Show was held in Symphony Hall. 1910: Antonio Santoni was issued an Italian patent for his centrifugal supercharger. 1914: The patriarch of the Petty racing family, Lee Arnold Petty, was born. 1922: John “Jack” Mack, who co-founded what would become one of North America’s largest makers of heavy-duty trucks, is killed when his car collides with a trolley in Pennsylvania. 1951: Plymouth introduced its XX500 prototype show car. Designed by Virgil Exner, director of the department design of Chrysler, it was made in Italy by Ghia of Turin. 1954: The Fiat experimental gas-turbine car, the Turbina, was given its first road test. 1957: The Ford Skyliner with a retractable hardtop was introduced, with the first car presented to US President Dwight D Eisenhower. 1963: Mercedes caused a sensation at the Geneva Show with the 230S. Its pagoda-style roof had the advantage of increasing the surface area of the side windows. 1974: The Lamborghini Countach LP400 production vehicle debuted at the Geneva Motor Show. 1983: OPEC cuts oil prices for the first time in 23 years. 1992: Jeff Gordon notched his first-ever NASCAR victory.
This Day in Automotive History 3/13/1864: N A Otto & Cie was organized in Cologne by Nickolaus Otto and Eugene Langen to produce internal combustion gas engines. This company, which was moved to Deutz on the other side of the Rhine in 1867 , still exists today under the name of Deutz AG . 1935: Driving tests were introduced in Great Britain. 1947: The Maserati A6 1500. the marque's first production car, was unveiled at the Geneva Show. 1969: Disney releases "The Love Bug," which cements the VW Beetle in the youth mind. 1970: The first production Triumph Stag rolled off the assembly line. 1974: The Arab oil embargo finally ends. 1980: A jury in Winamac, Indiana, found the Ford Motor Company innocent of reckless homicide in the fiery deaths of three young women riding in a Ford Pinto. 2004: In the first DARPA Grand Challenge robotic vehicles began a 200-mile road race Near Barstow, California. The Pentagon sponsored race ended without a winner, as none of the autonomous vehicles built by the 15 qualifying teams was able to travel farther than 7 miles from the starting line. 2005: Subaru sold its three-millionth Legacy worldwide.
This Day in Automotive History 3/12/1831: Clement Studebaker, auto maker, was born. 1904: Colonel Harley Tarrant won the first automobile race in Australia. 1921: Giovanni “Gianni” Agnelli, the glamorous, powerful Italian business tycoon who turned Fiat, his family’s car company, into an international conglomerate, is born in Turin, Italy. 1937: The Fiat 500 Topolino was launched at the Geneva Motor Show. 1938: Johnny Rutherford born, Coffeyville, Kansas. 1947: The first ever Ferrari, a Tipo 125 Spyder Corsa, was completed. 1952: Mercedes introduced the 300SL to the press. 1964: The first production Lamborghini, the 350GT, debuted at the Geneva Motor Show. 1970: The Mercedes C111, the first of a series of experimental cars, made its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show. 1987: Enzo Ferrari unveiled the F40 - built to celebrate 40 years of Ferrari. 1990: First collision involving two cars equipped with air bags. 2007: The Ford Motor Company sold Aston Martin to a consortium comprised of David Richards, John Sinders, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co. for £479 million.
This Day in Automotive History 3/11/1927: The Flatheads Gang led by Paul Jawarski staged the first armored truck holdup in US history on the Bethel Road, seven miles out of Pittsburgh. 1929: Sir Henry Segrave, driving the 925 hp Napier "Golden Arrow", designed by Capt. J S Irving, raised the and speed record to 231.446 mph. 1954: BMW introduced the BMW 502 saloon at the Geneva Motor Show. 1971: Maserati launched the Bora, a two-seater, mid-engined Grand Tourer at the Geneva Motor Show. 1994: Tony George, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, announced plans for a new racing series, the Indy Racing League, to begin in 1996. 1999: The Zonda C12 made its debut in Geneva. 2009: Toyota sells sells its 1 millionth hybrid car in the United States.
This Day in Automotive History 3/10/1913: The North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation requiring the Secretary of State to register all automobile and issue license plates to their owners. 1927: Robert Kearns, who patented a design for a type of windshield wiper and later won multi-million dollar judgments against Chrysler and Ford for using his concept without permission, is born, in Gary, Indiana. Kearns’ invention, the intermittent windshield wiper, enabled wipers to move at timed intervals, rather than constantly swiping back and forth. 1966: The Austin 1100 Countryman and Morris 1100 Traveller estate cars were launched at the Geneva Auto Show. 1966: The Fiat 124 was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show and won "Car of the Year" in 1967. 1983: The Ford Bronco II was introduced. 2016: Japan-based Honda rolled out a new fuel cell vehicle, the first of its kind to be a five-seater. The zero-emissions Clarity did not sell in big numbers, however, given its price tag of 7.66 million yen ($67,000).
This Day in Automotive History 3/9/1879: Siegfried Marcus creates the first gasoline running automobile. 1901: The Olds Motor Works in Detroit burns down. 1932: First Ford flathead V-8 comes off assembly line. 1939: Malcolm Bricklin born, Philadelphia, PA. 1952: President Juan Peron dedicated the new Buenos Aires Autodrome. 1964: The first Ford Mustang comes off the assembly line. 1967: Ford introduced the Comuta electric car, with a top speed of 40 mph and a range of 40 miles, at the Geneva Auto Show. 1972: The first Lamborghini LP400 prototype and the Lamborghini Silhouette appeared at the Geneva Motor Show. 1985: The first-ever Adopt-a-Highway sign is erected on Texas’s Highway 69. The highway was adopted by the Tyler Civitan Club, which committed to picking up trash along a designated two-mile stretch of the road. 1987: Chrysler Corp. announced it had agreed to buy the financially ailing American Motors Corp. 1995: The Alfa Romeo GTV was launched at the Geneva Motor Show. The GTV was a 2+2 coupé. Around 41,700 GTVs were built from 1993 to 2004. 2018: Ford launched its first made-for-India compact car. Starting at ₹349,900, the Figo was Ford's first car designed and priced for the mass Indian market.
This Day in Automotive History 3/8/1885: Gottlieb Daimler purchased a stagecoach made by Wilhelm Wimpff & Sohn on this day. With the help of Wilhelm Maybach they adapted it to hold his “grandfather clock” engine, thereby creating the world’s first four-wheeled automobile. 1911: Ford Motor Co. (England) Ltd was established. 1950: Volkswagen, maker of the Beetle automobile, expands its product offerings to include a microbus that goes into production. Known officially as the Volkswagen Type 2 (the Beetle was the Type 1) or the Transporter, the bus was a favorite mode of transportation for hippies in the US during the 1960s and became an icon of the American counterculture movement. 1951: Three years after the launch of the pretty XK120 Roadster, Jaguar unveiled another version of its XK120, the Fixed Head Coupe at the Geneva Motor Show. 1957: The Renault Dauphine, successor to the highly successful Renault 4CV was presented to the press at the opening of the Geneva Motor Show. 1969: Pontiac debuts Trans Am. 2007: The new MINI One and MINI Cooper D models were unveiled to the public at the International Geneva Motor Show.
This Day in Automotive History 3/7/1903: Charles D Rolls, driving a Mors car on a private estate in Nottinghamshire, England, ran a record flying kilometre at 84.84mph. He himself disallowed the record, noting as an objection the favourable tailwind and gradual slope of the course. 1908: Cincinnati’s mayor, Mark Breith stood before the city council and announced, “Women are not physically fit to operate automobiles.” 1929: General Motors buys 80% of Opel. 1935: Malcolm Campbell set a Land Speed Record of 276.82 mph in his Blue Bird at Daytona, FL. 1938: Janet Guthrie, the first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 races, is born in Iowa City, Iowa. 1959: Hinsdale Smith (88), developer of roll-down auto windows, died. 1995: The Bentley Azure convertible was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show. 2002: The first customer took delivery of a red Koenigsegg CC 8S at the Geneva Auto Show and four more cars were built that year. Koenigsegg was established in Asia later that year with a premier at the Seoul Auto Show.
This Day in Automotive History 3/6/1896: Charles King of Detroit takes the first test drive of a gasoline-powered automobile in Michigan. 1900: Gottlieb Daimler, the German engineer who invented an early version of the internal combustion engine and founded an auto company bearing his name, dies at the age of 65. 1941: Pontiac's World War II effort begins with a government order for Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons. 1954: The 10,000th Saab car was completed. 1961: 1st London minicabs were introduced. 1971: Mario Andretti in his Ferrari took top honors at the South African Grand Prix and set fastest lap of the race. 1995: The Ferrari F50, capable of 0 to 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds and with a top speed of 194 mph, was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show. 2006: The fastest speed over a quarter of a mile in Top Fuel Dragbike racing of 245.36 mph (394.87 km/h) was achieved by Larry "Spiderman" McBride (United States) at South Georgia Motorsports Park, Valdosta, Georgia, United States. 2017: French carmaker PSA announced the acquisition of General Motors' European subsidiary, which included the Opel and Vauxhall brands, for 1.3 billion euros ($1.38 billion).
This Day in Automotive History 3/5/1875: The Wisconsin state legislature offered a $10,000 reward to any man who could supply "a cheap and practical substitute for use of horse and other animals on highway and farm”. 1929: Fire destroys the Los Angeles Auto Show. 1929: David Dunbar Buick, the founder of the Buick Motor Company, dies in relative obscurity and meager circumstances at the age of 74. In 1908, Buick’s company became the foundation for the General Motors Corporation; however, by that time David Buick had sold his interest in the company. 1934: Tatra introduces the T77 at the 1934 Berlin Motor Show. 1952: Willys introduces the Aero-Ace. 1955: BMW unveiled their latest product, the BMW Isetta Motocoupé before the assembled press at the opulent lakeside Hotel Bachmair in Rottach-Egern, Germany. 1971: Rolls-Royce receives a $144 million loan from British Government. 1973: The Audi 80 was launched in Geneva. 1992: The Ford Taurus became the first car produced in the U.S. with CFC- free air conditioning. 1996: Jaguar announced the launch of an all new sports car, the XK8. 1998: The Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph, produced from 1998 to 2002, was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. 2013: The four-seat Rolls Royce Wraith coupé was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.
This Day in Automotive History 3/4/1887: The Daimler "benzin motor carriage" made its first test run in Esslingen and Cannstatt, Germany. It was Gottlieb Daimler's first four-wheel motor vehicle. The "benzin" has nothing to do with Carl Benz; at that time Gottlieb Daimler was Carl Benz's major competitor. 1902: American Automobile Association established. 1921: Warren G. Harding became the first President of the US to ride to his inauguration in an automobile - a Packard Twin Six. 1932: Iconic American hot rod builder Ed "Big Daddy" Roth entered the world in Beverly Hills, CA. 1936: Jim Clark, who will dominate Formula One (F1) racing in the mid-1960s and win two F1 world championships, is born in Scotland. 1982: The Bentley Mulsanne Turbo was unveiled at the Geneva International Auto Show. 1985: A virtual ban on leaded gas was ordered by the US Environmental Protection Agency. 1993: The Lamborghini Diablo VT, 4WD, was introduced to the press and the public during the Geneva Motor Show. 2004: The Koenigsegg CCR supercar built in Italy, but produced in Sweden made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show. 2019: In Switzerland the electric Jaguar I-Pace won the Car of the Year award in Europe.
This Day in Automotive History 3/3/1893: Congress authorizes Agriculture Secretary J. Sterling Morton to establish ORI, the first Federal road Agency. 1932: Alfieri Maserati (44) Italian automotive engineer, known for establishing and leading the Maserati racing car manufacturer with the other Maserati Brothers, died from liver complications related to an accident in 1928. 1942: Production of civilian trucks was halted by the US government for the duration of World War II. 1958: The first Subaru, the Subaru 360 was launched. 1972: Sir William Lyons, founder of Jaguar Motors, retired as Chairman of Jaguar Cars Ltd. 1980: Audi debuts four-wheel-drive Quattro at the Geneva Motor Show. 2009: The uber-luxurious Maybach Zeppelin sedan goes on sale, with a starting price of $523,870 for the Maybach 57 Zeppelin and $610,580 for the Maybach 62 Zeppelin. 2011: The 6.5 litre (650 bhp) Lamborghini Aventador, capable of 217 mph (0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds) was launched.
This Day in Automotive History 3/2/1925: State and federal highway officials developed a nationwide route numbering system and adopted the familiar U.S. shield-shaped, numbered marker. For instance, in the east, there is U.S. 1 that runs from New England to Florida and in the west, the corresponding highway, U.S. 101, from Tacoma, WA to San Diego, CA. 1942: The US government implemented automobile rationing due to World War II. 1949: The Connecticut Light and Power Company installed the first automatic streetlight system in which the streetlights turned themselves on when it became dark in New Milford, CT. 1966: In Dearborn, Michigan, the Ford Motor Company celebrates the production of its 1 millionth Mustang, a white convertible. 1972: Evil Knievel broke a record by jumping over 15 cars at the Cow's Palace near San Francisco. 1999: Ford opened the first franchised Ford sales and service facility in Kazakhstan, Turkey. 2006: General Motors Corp. said it had made major steps in developing a commercially viable hydrogen-powered vehicle and expected to get the emission-free cars into dealerships in the next four to nine years.
This Day in Automotive History 3/1/1897: The Winton Motor Carriage Company was organized in Cleveland, OH. 1928: The Packard Standard Model 443 was introduced. 1937: Connecticut issues the first permanent, multi-year automobile license plates. 1941: Ford begins to produce general-purpose "jeeps" for the U.S. military and shifts completely to military production starting in February 1942. Civilian production does not resume until July 1945. 1965: Ferrari contracted Fiat to produce its V-6 Dino engine. 1966: Ford signed a £100,000 contract with Cosworth for the development of a new Formula 1 engine. 1973: The Honda Civic was introduced to the US market. 1985: The 40,000,000th Toyota vehicle, a Tercel, was produced on the same day that the 10,000,000th Toyota Corolla was produced. 1988: Pontiac announced the end of the Fiero automobile. 1999: Ford entered into a definitive agreement with AB Volvo for the purchase of Volvo's worldwide passenger car business for a price of $6.45 billion. 2005: At an auto expo in Geneva, Switzerland, Honda debuts the Civic Concept, a five-door hatchback. 2018: The Jaguar I-Pace, an electric SUV, was officially revealed.
This Day in Automotive History 2/28/1903: Henry Ford hired John F. and Horace E. Dodge to supply the chassis and running gear for his 650 Ford automobiles. 1921: The first US-built Rolls Royce was completed and delivered in chassis form to Wallace Potter of Pawtucket, RI. 1932: The final Ford Model A is produced. 1934: General Motors registered ‘GM’ as a trademark. 1940: Mario Andretti born, Montona, Italy. His long list of achievements includes a Formula One World Championship, four Champ Car National Championships (1965, 1966, 1969, 1984), three 12 Hours of Sebring victories (1967, 1970, 1972) and wins at the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500 and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. 1948: San Diego's first freeway opens, now known as Route 163. 1975: AMC introduced the Pacer, the first wide, small car. 1984: Ferrari's new GTO was introduced at the Salon de l'Auto Geneve. 2001: Jaguar unveiled the all-new sport saloon, the X-TYPE, on the evening before the opening of the Geneva International Auto Show. 2005: The Koenigsegg CCR supercar broke the record for the fastest production car in the world, having attained 388.87 km/h (242.91 mph), breaking the record previously held by the McLaren F1.
This Day in Automotive History 2/27/1892: Rudolf Diesel filed for a patent at the Imperial Patent Office in Germany. 1934: The auto safety advocate and activist Ralph Nader is born. 1939: The Bentley 'Scalded Cat', with an experimental straight-8 engine mounted in a standard Mark V chassis, was completed. 1947: Airplane manufacturer Saab formally resolved it would start to manufacture cars. 1948: The US Federal Trade Commission issued a restraining order, preventing the Willys-Overland Company from stating that it had developed the Jeep. 1982: The 74th Chicago Auto Show opened to the public. Visitors enjoyed a close look at the sporty Dodge Daytona and Chrysler Laser. Concept vehicles that year included the Buick Questor, Ford Probe IV, Continental Concept 100 and Nissan NRV II research vehicle. 2018: Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi announced plans to ban diesel cars by 2024. Rome has no major industries, so nearly all of the air pollution in the Italian capital is caused by motor vehicles. 2019: Volvo's electric performance brand Polestar unveiled a battery-powered compact car touted as a rival to Tesla's Model 3, called the Polestar 2.
This Day in Automotive History 2/26/1725: The first self-propelled, land based vehicle is credited to French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, who was born on this day. 1900: The National Cycle & Automobile Company Limited opened a showroom in Toronto, Ontario - the first automobile dealership in Canada, to sell bicycles and Locomobile steamers. 1930: The first red and green traffic signal lights were placed at Manhattan street corners. 1936: Adolf Hitler opened in Saxony, the first manufacturing plant of Germany’s “peoples car” – the Volkswagen. 1944: The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is founded, and dedicated to the preservation of vintage sports cars. 1966: Mario Andretti made his first Daytona 500 start, driving a Chevrolet for Smokey Yunick. Richard Petty, driving a Plymouth, won the race. 1967: Mario Andretti won the Daytona 500 in a Holman-Moody Ford, his only NASCAR Grand National win. 1970: The second generation 1970 1/2 Pontiac Firebird was introduced. 2007: In an effort to raise awareness of environmental issues, the Honda Formula One (F1) team unveils its Earth Car, a race car emblazoned with a large image of the planet instead of the typical advertising and sponsorship logos featured on most F1 vehicles.
This Day in Automotive History 2/25/1837: Thomas Davenport, of Brandon, VT, received a patent for an "Electric Motor" – the first commercially successful direct current electric motor. 1899: The world's first petrol-fuelled car crash in which the driver died occurred at Grove Hill Harrow, England. The car, a Daimler Wagonette, was being demonstrated by Mr Sewell to Major James Richer, Department Head at the Army & Navy Stores, as a possible purchase for his company. Mr Sewell, the driver, was killed on the spot. When the passenger, Major Richer, died four days later without regaining consciousness, he became Britain's first passenger whose death resulted from a car crash. 1906: The first automobile show in Canada opened in Toronto. 1919: Oregon became the first US state to impose a tax on gasoline. 1938: The city of Miami gets its first drive-in. The Miami drive-in charged admission of 35 cents per person, which was more than the average ticket price at an indoor theater, and soon had to trim the price to 25 cents per person. 1970: The 70,000,000th Chevrolet was produced. 2005: It was announced that the famous Jensen marque would be relaunched in 2016 with the arrival of the Interceptor 2, the first officially sanctioned model since the company’s collapse in 2002. 2008: Ferrari offered its support to the Italian Olympic team in its push for medals. The support was predominately given to the Winter Olympic athletes in pursuits such as bobsled and luge.
This Day in Automotive History 2/24/1909: Eight Detroit businessmen formed the Hudson Motor Car Company to produce an automobile which would sell for less than US$1,000. 1932: Malcolm Campbell driving the Napier Railton Blue Bird established a new World Land Speed Record (253.96 mph) at Daytona, Fl 1955: Alain Prost, the four-time Formula One (F1) champ, is born. 1968: American Motors introduced the AMX as a mid-year model. 1973: Two breeds of AMC Gremlin appeared in the 1973 Chicago Auto Show, including one fitted with the new "Levi's" interior. The Levi's edition featured seats and door panels in blue spun nylon, with copper rivets to resemble the familiar blue jeans. Nothing else at that year's show looked anything like the Citroen SM-Maserati, blending the French company's air-oil suspension with a Maserati V-6 engine. 1983: The Peugeot 205 was launched. 2009: The second-generation Honda Insight, billed as "the world's first affordable hybrid," went on sale in the United States. 2011: Toyota Motor Corp. recalled 2.17 million vehicles in the United States to address accelerator pedals that could become entrapped in floor mats or jammed in driver's side carpeting, prompting federal regulators to close its investigation into the embattled automaker. 2013: Rookie Danica Patrick won the pole, becoming the first woman on pole in the Daytona 500.
This Day in Automotive History 2/23/1893: Rudolf Diesel is issued a patent for his compression-ignition engine design. 1954: The 500,000th post-World War II Jeep was produced. 1958: Five-time Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina is kidnapped in Cuba by a group of Fidel Castro’s rebels. 1967: The Pontiac Firebird was introduced. 1971: Beatle George Harrison was fined and banned from driving for a year for speeding. 2006: To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Rolls-Royce, the company unveiled its 100EX Experimental Centenary car. 2009: New York City announced testing camera enforcement of bus lanes on 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan where a New York City taxi illegally using the bus lanes would face a fine of $150 adjudicated by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. 2010: India's biggest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India announced it has recalled 100,000 of its best-selling A-Star hatchback cars due to a fuel leakage problem. 2015: Bugatti sold its last Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, which was named La Finale.
This Day in Automotive History 2/22/1907: The first cabs with taxi meters begin operating in London. Cabs thus fitted became known as ‘taxicabs’, abbreviated to ‘taxis’. 1917: "Motor Age" magazine quoted American speed king Barney Oldfield as saying "If deflecting planes will drive an airplane up and down, why won't a deflecting plane on a car going more than 100mph help drive it down to the ground and add weight for traction...?" 1923: The one millionth Chevrolet is built. 1959: Lee Petty defeats Johnny Beauchamp in a photo finish at the just-opened Daytona International Speedway in Florida to win the first-ever Daytona 500. 1973: Ford received the maximum fine of $7,000,000 from the US Department of Justice because its staff allegedly falsified the results of emission tests on the entire range of 1973 Ford models. 2003: The New Beetle Cabriolet was launched in Germany. 2005: Jeff Gordon won the pole at the Daytona 500 for the final time. There were two big wrecks during the race, one with 19 laps to go for Justin Allgaier and Ty Dillon, brought out a red flag to ensue cleanup on the track, and one on lap 202 at a scheduled Green–white–checker finish, Joey Logano won his first Daytona 500.
This Day in Automotive History 2/21/1937: The first a successful automobile-airplane combination had its first flight. Built by the Westerman Arrowplane Corporation of Santa Monica, California, the vehicle was dubbed the Arrowbile, and claimed a top air-speed of 120 mph and 70 mph on a highway. 1948: The National Association for Stock Car Racing–or NASCAR, as it will come to be widely known–is officially incorporated. NASCAR racing will go on to become one of America’s most popular spectator sports, as well as a multi-billion-dollar industry. 1960: Georg W Borg (71), inventor of automobile clutch improvements and Chairman of the Borg-Warner Corporation, died in Janesville, WI. 1974: Hall-of-Fame NHL defenseman Tim Horton (44), who played 24 seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres, was killed in an automobile accident shortly after what would be his final professional hockey game. Having drunk a considerable amount of vodka, Horton was driving on the Queen Elizabeth Way from Toronto to Buffalo in his De Tomaso Pantera sports car when he failed to make a curve, lost control, and hit a cement culvert. His car flipped over and he was thrown out of the car (he was not wearing his seat belt). 1979: The 100,000,000th Chevrolet, a 1979 Monza coupe, was produced.
This Day in Automotive History 2/20/1909: The Hudson Motor Car Company was founded. Hudson may be most famous for its impact on NASCAR racing, which it accomplished thanks to a revolutionary design innovation. 1921: Citroën created a series of enamel road signs to help drivers find their way around the French road network. 1959: The first races on the 2.5 mile Daytona International Speedway took place, twin 100 mile qualifiers for the first 'Daytona 500'. 1965: Datsun (Nissan) sold its first car in Chicago on the opening day of the auto show. 1972: A.J. Foyt won the NASCAR Daytona 500. 1997: An episode of the hit TV sitcom “Seinfeld” titled “The Pothole” airs for the first time; it includes a story line in which the character Kramer adopts a stretch of the fictional Arthur Burghardt Expressway through the real-life Adopt-a-Highway program. 2004: The 10,675th and last Lotus Esprit rolled off the line after 28 years in production. 2009: General Motors Corporation's Swedish-based subsidiary Saab went into bankruptcy protection so the unit could be spun off or sold by its struggling US parent.
This Day in Automotive History 2/19/1866: Mary Anderson, inventor of the windshield wiper is born in Greene County, AL. 1928: Driving the British built and designed 12 cylinder, 22.3 litre, 450 hp Bluebird at Daytona Beach, Malcolm Campbell established a new World Land Speed Record of 206.96 mph. 1932: The first Ford car specifically designed for the British market, the 933 cc, 8 hp Model Y ‘Baby Ford’ Popular was unveiled at London’s Royal Albert Hall by Ford’s oldest British dealer, A E Rumsey of Bristol. 1954: The prototype Ford Thunderbird was finished; it debuted at the Detroit Auto Show the next day. The T-Bird was a scaled-down Ford built for two. It came with a removable fiberglass hard top and a convertible canvas roof for sunny days. 1974: Vanguard-Sebring's CitiCar makes its debut at the Electric Vehicle Symposium in Washington, D.C. 1982: With debts totalling £17,400,000 John DeLorean’s Belfast company, employing 1,500 workers producing luxury sports cars, was placed in the hands of the receiver. 1984: Driver Cale Yarborough wins his fourth Daytona 500. 2002: Ford ended 90 years of British car production with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs after the last Fiesta was made at its factory in Dagenham. 2015: Yutaka Katayama, the father of the Datsun Z, died at age 105 after a career that covered parts of eight decades.
This Day in Automotive History 2/18/1898: Enzo Ferrari born, Modena, Italy. 1900: The first circuit motor race, the Course du Catalogue, run over two laps of a 45 mile triangular course at Melun in France, was won by Léonce Girardot in a Panhard motor. 1930: Edsel B Ford purchased a MG M-type, possibly the first US sale for this marque, which he used frequently for three years before adding it to the Henry Ford museum collection. 1952: Studebaker celebrates 100th birthday. 1965: The racing division of Alfa Romeo, Autodelta's first creation, the GTA (the A stood for 'alleggerita' (lightened)) was presented at the Amsterdam Motor Show. 1979: Richard Petty wins his sixth Daytona 500. 2001: Famed NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Sr. dies following a crash in the last lap of the Daytona 500. 2008: Lewis Hamilton won a prestigious Laureus Award for his breakthrough season with McLaren in 2007. 2016: One of the ten DB10 models produced by Aston Martin for the James Bond film Spectre was sold for £2,434,500 at a charity auction.
This Day in Automotive History 2/17/1890: The first Panhard et Levassor was test driven in Paris, France. 1911: Charles Kettering's revolutionary self-starter is first installed on a production car, a 1912 Cadillac. 1920: It was announced that London’s Metropolitan Police would become the first police force in the Britain to replace horses with motor cars. 1934: The first high-school driver's ed class is held in State College, PA. 1954: Ford Thunderbird debuts at Detroit Auto Show. 1962: The Saab Sport premiered at the Stockholm Motor Show. 1966: Alfred P. Sloan Jr. (b.1875) former president GM (1923-1956), died. As president of GM he brought in corporate management, introduced the ideas of model changes and offering a car "for every purse and purpose." 1972: The Beetle overtakes the Model T as world's best-selling car, with 15,007,034 sold. 1982: The 1983 aerodynamically designed Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar were introduced. 2003: The London congestion charge for most motor vehicles entering the Central London area was introduced. 2013: Danica Patrick became the first woman to win a pole position in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. 2020: General Motors announced that the Holden brand would be retired by 2021.
This Day in Automotive History 2/16/1843: Henry Leland born, Barton, Vermont. 1852: H & C Studebaker, a blacksmith and wagon building business, was founded by Henry and Clement Studebaker in South Bend, IN. 1934: Licenses for lorry drivers were introduced in Britain under the Road Traffic Act. 1951: Nash-Healey debuts in US. 1962: The first AC Ace, as modified to Carroll Shelby’s specifications, was shipped to Dean Moon’s shop in Sante Fe Springs, CA, where a Ford 260 cid V-6 was installed to create the prototype Cobra. 1967: Mario Andretti, in only his second Daytona 500, won the race. 1990: The longest-ever reported traffic jam occurred, stretching 109 miles (176 km) from Lyon towards Paris, France. 1997: Jeff Gordon becomes the youngest winner of the Daytona 500 at age 25. 2005: CEO Sergio Marchionne announced Fiat SpA will buy the Maserati sportscar brand from Ferrari, a company in which it already had a majority stake, just three days after winning independence from General Motors Corp.
This Day in Automotive History 2/15/1902: Oldsmobile ran its first national automobile advertisement in the Saturday Evening Post. 1929: Graham Hill born, London, England. 1933: The Willys-Overland Company was forced into receivership. 1944: SCCA formed. 1948: NASCAR holds its first race on the sands at Daytona Beach, a full six days before the organization actually incorporates. 1954: The Thunderbird name was chosen for the new Ford sports car. 1963: Studebaker announced that all of their new cars would be fitted with front seat belts. 1968: American Motors debuts AMX to the press. 1968: Subaru of America Inc was organized in Pennsylvania and began importing the Subaru 360, a two-seater mini saloon. 1981: Richard Petty and crew gambled by not changing tires on the last pit stop and it paid off with Petty taking his 7th Daytona 500 win. 1998: After 20 years of trying, racing great Dale Earnhardt Sr. finally wins his first Daytona 500. 2006: Police in Los Angeles, CA, busted 8 people connected to an international car theft ring. The racket, disguised as a charity group, was linked to Chechnya and police believed proceeds from the stolen cars was used to finance Chechen terrorist operations.
This Day in Automotive History 2/14/1867: Sakichi Toyoda, whose textile machinery company spawned the Toyota Motor Corporation, is born in Japan. 1896: Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, is the first British royal to ride in a motorcar, likely a Panhard et Levassor. 1927: Ford standardized 21-inch wheels on all Model T cars. 1929: The St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place in Chicago. Al Capone's gang had fitted a Cadillac touring saloon to the specifications of the Chicago Police Department. 1941: One-millionth vehicle traverses the NYC Midtown Tunnel. 1957: American Motors registered a stylized 'Metropolitan' as a trademark for its British-built subcompact car. 1960: Junior Johnson won the second Daytona 500 by being the first stockcar driver to exploit "drafting". 1962: The Jaguar Mark X was introduced to the US market. 1971: Richard Petty led teammate Buddy Baker across the line in the Daytona 500. 2000: Manufacture of the Chrysler PT Cruiser began. 2007: Roush Racing announced that 50 percent of the team had been sold to Fenway Sports Group to create Roush Fenway Racing. 2020: Fiat Chrysler said it had temporarily halted production at its Serbian plant, the first such suspension by an automaker in Europe in response to the coronavirus outbreak in China.
This Day in Automotive History 2/13/1893: Hungarian engineers János Csonka and Donát Bánki were granted a patented for the carburetor. 1898: Henry Lindfield of Brighton, England, died after being involved in an automobile accident, becoming the first driving fatality in Great Britain. 1953: William C. Mack of Mack Trucks Inc. died aged 94. 1958: Introduction of the first four-seat "square bird" Thunderbirds. 1961: Enzo Ferrari introduced the mid-engined Ferrari Dino 156 Formula 1 car, to comply with then-new Formula One regulations that reduced engine displacement from 2.5 to 1.5 liters. 1968: The Lincoln Continental Mark III was introduced. 1988: The 80th Chicago Auto Show opened. On display were the Ford Probe, Chevrolet Cavalier Z24, Mercedes Benz 300 SE, Jeep Cherokee sport and the tenth anniversary of the Mazda RX-7. Concept vehicles included the Dodge Intrepid, Ford DM-1, Lincoln Machete, Plymouth Slingshot and Pontiac Banshee. 2002: The Mazda MX-5 Miata roadster was named the best-selling sports car by Guinness World Records. 2008: A California judge rules that the actor Mel Gibson, star of such movies as the Academy Award-winning “Braveheart” and the “Mad Max” and “Lethal Weapon” series, has successfully completed the terms of his no-contest plea to misdemeanor drunk driving.
This Day in Automotive History 2/12/1877: Louis Renault born, Paris, France. 1898: The first car crash resulting in a fatality happened when the steering gear failed on Henry Linfield’s electric car, and he crashed at the bottom of a hill at Purley Corner, Surrey, England. 1901: J.W. Packard is granted his first automotive patent, for an automatic spark advance. 1908: The first round-the-world automobile race began in New York City. It ended in Paris the following July with the drivers of the American car, a Thomas Speedway Flyer, was declared the winner over teams from Germany and Italy. The Flyer was made by the E.R. Thomas Motor Co. of Buffalo, NY. 1938: Taxicab insurance was introduced in the US requiring taxicab drivers to carry liability insurance. 1973: Four metric distance road signs, the first in the US, were erected along Interstate 71 in Ohio. 2008: In an attempt to cut costs, struggling auto giant General Motors (GM) offers buyouts to all 74,000 of its hourly employees in the U.S. represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. 2014: A sinkhole collapsed part of the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green damaging eight cars.
This Day in Automotive History 2/11/1895: Pneumatic tires were installed on a Duryea, often cited as the first such application in the industry. 1932: Ford announces new V-8 engine. 1933: Auto Union AG presented the new Audi Front UW220, its first standard-size passenger car with front-wheel drive at the Berlin Motor Show. 1937: After a six-week sit-down strike by General Motors (GM) autoworkers at the Fisher Body Plant No. 2 in Flint, Michigan, GM president Alfred P. Sloan signs the first union contract in the history of the American auto industry. 1953: Production prototypes of the Kaiser Darrin - “The Sports Car The World Has Been Awaiting” - went on display. Powered by a 90 hp 2.6 litre 6 cylinder engine, the Kaiser-Darrin was created to compete with Chevrolet's Corvette 1959: NASCAR great Marshall Teague killed in speed record attempt. 1979: Kyle Petty won the 17th running of the ARCA 200 at the Daytona International Speedway. It was Kyle's first race and first win. 2010: Volkswagen announced it was recalling nearly 200,000 vehicles in Brazil because of a problem with the rear wheels that could cause them to seize or fall off.
This Day in Automotive History 2/10/1885: The first US patent for seat belts was issued to Edward J. Claghorn of New York. 1926: General Motors directors approved the purchase of a site for a new truck production facility - the 160 acre Alfred Howland farm just south of Pontiac, Michigan. 1942: The last cars produced before World War II come off the production line, as ordered by the US War Production Board. 1953: Volkswagen adopted an oval rear window for its standard sedan, replacing the original split rear window. The Volkswagen Transporter added a rear bumper as standard equipment. 1955: The Chrysler C-300 hardtop coupe, America's first 300 hp mass produced car, was introduced to the US public as a mid-year model. 1966: Ralph Nader, a young lawyer and the author of the groundbreaking book “Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile,” testifies before Congress for the first time about unsafe practices in the auto industry. 1989: The Mazda MX-5 was unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show, with a price tag of $14,000. The MX5's first generation, the NA, sold over 400,000 units from May 1989 to 1997.
This Day in Automotive History 2/9/1846: Automotive industry pioneer Wilhelm Maybach, who founded the luxury car brand bearing his name, is born in Heilbronn, Germany. 1909: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation was incorporated with Carl G. Fisher as president. 1952: A two-way radio was first used in NASCAR competition. 1985: Taking a different path toward promoting its products, Volvo displayed a crashed sedan at the 1985 Chicago Auto Show. 1993: NBC News announced it had settled a defamation lawsuit brought by General Motors over the network's "inappropriate demonstration" of a fiery pickup truck crash on its "Dateline NBC" program. 2000: Sylvester Stallone disappointed F1 fans when he revealed that his highly anticipated motor racing film, Driven, would in fact be based on the American CART Champ Car series. 2001: Automotive concept vehicles exhibited at the 100th Chicago Auto Show included the Buick Bengal convertible, Ford Forty Nine dream car, Cadillac Vizon crossover, Jeep Willys, Chevy Borrego and Hyundai HCD6 Roadster. 2010: Honda Motor Co. added 378,000 US vehicles and 41,000 in Canada to its 15-month-old global recall for faulty air bags in the latest quality problem to hit a Japanese automaker.
This Day in Automotive History 2/8/1911: Charles F Kettering installed his reduced size starter-generator in a Cadillac and conducted the first successful tests on the system. 1931: James Dean, the famous film actor and racing enthusiast, is born in Marion, IN. 1956: Unveiled in 1954, the AEC Routemaster double-decker bus went into service in London. 1964: Incorporation of the Iraqi National Oil Company, which later became an anchor among the OPEC nations. 1968: The 100,000th Triumph Spitfire, a Mk3, rolled off the production line. 1985: Sir William Lyons, the founder of the British luxury automaker Jaguar, dies at the age of 84 in Warwickshire, England. 1993: General Motors sued NBC, alleging that the "Dateline NBC" program had rigged two car-truck crashes to show that 1973-1987 GM pickups were prone to fires in side impact crashes. NBC settled the lawsuit the following day. 1994: Sale of the Mercury Capri, made by Ford of Australia, was discontinued in North America. 2002: Ferrari 575 M Maranello was unveiled. 2007: Scion, a marque of vehicles produced by Toyota Motor Corporation founded in 2003, unveiled two models, the xB, based on the t2B concept, and the new xD, successor of the xA, at the 2007 Chicago Auto Show. 2016: The Jeep brand celebrated its 75th anniversary during the Super Bowl 50 broadcast with two special commercials.
This Day in Automotive History 2/7/1919: Henry Ford was ordered by the courts to distribute profits, with interest, to stockholders back to August 1916. 1931: David Evans, driving the Cummins No.8 Diesel Special at Daytona Beach raised the land speed record for this type of vehicle to 100.755 mph. 1938: Automotive industry pioneer Harvey Samuel Firestone, founder of the major American tire company that bore his name, dies at the age of 89 in Miami Beach, Florida. 1942:The US federal government ordered passenger car production to be stopped and converted to wartime purposes. 1958: Dutch DAF 600 automatic transmission car introduced. 1959: The Daytona International Speedway formally opened. 1975: Taking notice of the safer roadways and to curb their own highway deaths, the Canadian government lowered their national speed limit to 55 mph. 1985: The first Ford Tempo with an air bag was delivered to the United States Department of Transportation for testing. 1987: At the Chicago Auto Show, Cadillac debuts the two-passenger Allante convertible as a rival to the Mercedes-Benz 560SL. 2009: A rare unrestored 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante Coupe that had been found in the garage of a British doctor a month earlier, was sold at a Paris auction for some $4.4 million. The black two-seater was one of just seventeen 57S Atalante Coupes ever made by Bugatti.
This Day in Automotive History 2/6/1911: Rolls-Royce’s "Spirit of Ecstasy" mascot was registered as a trademark. 1951: Kaiser Silver Dragon debuts. 1954: The Mercedes 300 SL "Gullwing" debuts at the New York International Auto Show. 1964: Britain and France agreed to build a Channel tunnel. 1966: The first Daytona 24 Hour event was won by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby driving a Ford Mk. II. 1974: The speed limit in the Netherlands was reduced to 100 km/hr due to oil crisis. 1990: Rock star Billy Idol suffered serious injuries when he failed to stop at a stop sign and crashed his Harley-Davidson motorbike into a car in Hollywood. 2009: The Honda Insight, billed as “the world’s first affordable hybrid,” goes on sale in Japan. Honda took some 18,000 orders for the car within the first three weeks. 2018: In the Philippines bulldozers and backhoes pounded more than two dozen seized luxury cars, including Porsches, Mercedes, Jaguars and Corvettes, in a dramatic demolition showcasing the no-nonsense leader's crackdown on crime and corruption.
This Day in Automotive History 2/5/1752: Driving on the right was introduced in Russia by the decree of Empress Elisaveta Petrovna. 1846: John Boyd Dunlop born, Dreghorn, England. 1878: Andre Citroen, later referred to as the Henry Ford of France, born, Paris, France. 1880: Gabriel Voisin born, Belleville-sur-Saone, France. 1918: Thomas A. Edison, perhaps the America’s greatest ever inventor was issued a US patent for a "Starting and Current-Supplying System for Automobiles" (No. 1,255,517). 1942: Oldsmobile ceases civilian vehicle production to switch to war materiel. 1952: The first automatic "Don't Walk" signs were installed (and promptly ignored) in New York City, at 44th Street and Broadway in Times Square. 1970: AMC acquires Kaiser-Jeep Corp. 1974: The maximum speed on German Autobahns was reduced to 100 kmph (62 mph). 1995: Mike Skinner won the first ever NASCAR Supertruck race, at Phoenix, AZ. 2005: The KZ1R, Ascari’s new thoroughbred for the racetrack, made its first appearance in Holland at Auto Rai. Powered by a 5.0 litre BMW based V8 engine delivering 520 bhp, the KZ1R could reach a top speed of 200 mph and accelerate from 0-60mph in 3.4 seconds.
This Day in Automotive History 2/4/1873: George Schuster Sr., winner of the 1908 New York to Paris Race is born. 1913: Perlman patents de-mountable auto tire-carrying wheel rim. 1913: Richard Seaman, British racing great, is born. 1922: Henry Ford purchases the Lincoln Motor Company from Henry Leland for $8 million. 1927: Malcolm Campbell established a new World Land Speed record of 174.883 mph along Pendine Sands, Carmarthenshire, Wales driving the British built 500 hp Napier-Aero engined Bluebird. 1929: The 1,000,000th Ford Model A was produced. 1941: Ransom Eli Olds aged 76 received his last automobile patent for an internal combustion engine design. 1968: Porsche recorded a 1-2-3 victory in the Daytona 24 Hours. 1971: Rolls Royce declared itself bankrupt. 2004: Mini USA announced the debut of the Mini Cooper S MC40, costing $27,000. This limited-production commemorative edition celebrated the 40th anniversary of Mini's win at the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964 - a victory that forever changed the reputation of Mini to that of a true motorsport legend.
This Day in Automotive History 2/3/1911: Rolls Royce appalled by mascots on owners cars, commissioned the ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ statuette. 1948: The beginning of the Tailfin era. Harley Earl and Cadillac produce the first finned 1948 Cadillacs. Earl credits the P-38 Lightning as the inspiration for the car. 1958: Paul Goldsmith drove Smokey Yunick's Pontiac to victory in the last stock car race held on the beach at Daytona, FL. 1990: General Motors unveiled their first prototype ‘Impact’ electric car. 2006: “The World’s Fastest Indian,” a movie based on the true story of motorcycle racer and land-speed record holder Burt Munro, opens in US theaters. The film starred Anthony Hopkins as Munro, the sexagenarian who in the 1960s set several land-speed records on his modified 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. 2016: Toyota announced that it would discontinue the Scion brand in August 2016, with selected models to be re-branded as Toyota vehicles for the 2017 model year.
This Day in Automotive History 2/2/1880: The first electric streetlight was installed in Wabash, Indiana, US. The city paid the Brush Electric Light Company of Cleveland, Ohio, $100 to install a light on the top of the courthouse. 1899: Renault Frères incorporates. 1922: Morris Markin formed the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company. 1923: Leaded "Ethyl" gas first marketed in Dayton, Ohio. 1955: The Chrysler Corporation legally made Imperial a separate marque, to better compete with its North American rivals, Lincoln and Cadillac 1974: The Bricklin SV-1 was introduced at the National Association of Automobile Dealers convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, 1991: Hurley Haywood will collect his fifth win at the 24 hours of Daytona endurance race, the most victories of any driver in the event’s history. 1992: 24 Hours at Daytona trophy goes to Japan for first time. Japanese racers Masahiro Hasemi, Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki took home the gold driving a Nissan R91CP. 2000: Ford and UPS formed a strategic alliance to reduce vehicle delivery time from Ford plants to dealers and customers. 2004: A standard 2004 Dodge Ram SRT-10, driven by NASCAR driver Brendan Gaughan reached a speed of 154.587 mph at the DaimlerChrysler Proving Grounds, to establish a new speed record for production pickup trucks.
This Day in Automotive History 2/1/1898: Travelers sells the 1st auto insurance policy to Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo, NY. He paid $11.25 for up to $10k in coverage for his Columbia Electric. 1901: The Edison Storage Battery Corporation was organized, primarily to develop a nickel-iron alkaline battery to improve the feasibility of electric automobiles. 1907: Léon Serpollet, the first steam powered land speed record holder, dies. 1947: Graham-Paige auto assets sold to Kaiser. 1953: Lee Petty won the season opening 100-mile NASCAR Grand National race on the 1/2 mile dirt Palm Beach Speedway at Daytona Beach, FL. 1957: The first rotary engine, initially called a Wankel engine, after its inventor, Felix Wankel, juddered to life in a NSU laboratory in Germany 1994: Harley-Davidson applied to trademark the distinctive sound of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle engine 2004: The first TV commercial airs for the Ford GT, a new, high-performance “supercar” based on Ford’s GT40 race car, which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in France four years in a row starting in 1966.
This Day in Automotive History 1/31/1905: A 90 hp Napier driven by Arthur MacDonald is the first car to break 100mph. 1942: Last Chrysler, Plymouth and Studebaker built before WWII. 1955: Pontiac's two-door Custom Safari debuts. 1957: Studebaker-based Packard Clipper debuts. 1970: The 701, March's first Formula One car, designed by Robin Herd with Peter Wright, and built by March Engineering, was unveiled. 1983: A new law came into force at midnight in Britain making it compulsory for drivers and front seat passengers to wear seatbelts. 1994: News broke that British Aerospace was selling Rover to BMW for £800 million. 2003: Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) launched the Lancer Evolution VIII sports sedan in Japan. 2007: Cars.com names its top 10 most memorable TV cars; a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am named KITT from the show “Knight Rider” tops the list.
This Day in Automotive History 1/30/1903: The first British Motor Show organized by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) was held at Crystal Palace, London. 1920: Jujiro Matsuda (1875-1952) forms Toyo Cork Kogyo, a business that makes cork, in Hiroshima, Japan; just over a decade later the company produces its first automobile and eventually changes its name to Mazda. Today, Mazda is known for its affordable, quality-performance vehicles, including the Miata, the world’s best-selling two-seat roadster. 1929: The Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 was unveiled at the Rome Auto Show. 1942: The last pre-war automobiles produced by Chevrolet and DeSoto rolled off the assembly lines. 1951: Ferdinand Porsche, the legendary Austrian-German automotive engineer, died in Stuttgart, Germany aged 75. 1958: Rambler American debuts. 1962: The first Shelby AC Cobra prototype ran at Silverstone, England. 2007: The first Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé destined for the US was bought at a charity auction held during the annual Naples Winter Wine Festival in Florida for $2 million.
This Day in Automotive History 1/29/1886: Karl Benz patents 1st auto with gasoline engine. 1906: Victor Demogeot, driving a V-8 Darracq at Ormond Beach, Florida reached 122.449 mph to set a record for internal-combustion engine cars. 1929: US car manufacturer General Motors purchased the German firm Opel. 1942: The last pre-World War II Chrysler and Dodge automobiles were produced. 1981: Nissan announced plans to build a factory in the United Kingdom. 1989: Global Motors, the American company that imported the Yugo, filed for bankruptcy. 2010: Honda Motor Co. recalled a total 646,000 units of the Fit/Jazz and City models globally, including 140,000 in the United States. 2016: The last ever Land Rover Defender produced was rolled out of Jaguar Land Rover's Solihull plant in the UK.
This Day in Automotive History 1/28/1864: Charles Nash born, Cortland, IL. 1896: The English village of East Peckham, Kent issues what may be the first speeding ticket to a motorist going 8 mph in a 2 mph zone. 1911: The first Monte Carlo Rally ended with Frenchman Henri Rougier, in a Turcat-Mery, declared the winner. 1937: The prototype of the Rolls-Royce Wraith made its first test run. 1938: Mercedes driver Rudolf Caracciola in a W125 Rekordwagen on the Bundesautobahn 5 between the German cities of Frankfurt and Darmstadt, set a new speed record of 432 km/h (268 mph). 268 miles per hour remains, to this day, the record for top speed on a public road. 1999: Ford Motor Co, confirmed the acquisition of the passenger car division of Volvo AB for $6.47 billion. 2009: Country singer/songwriter John Rich releases a song about the plight of autoworkers titled “Shuttin’ Detroit Down.”
This Day in Automotive History 1/27/1904: Willie Vanderbilt (1878-1944) reached 92.3 mph in his new German motorcar at the Daytona Beach Road Course at Ormond Beach, Florida, establishing a new land speed record. 1934: The DeSoto Airflow and Chrysler Airflow caused a sensation on the opening day of the 1934 Chicago Auto Show. However, the ultra-modern ‘aero’ styling was too dramatic and too revolutionary for most consumers. 1936: Production of the Cord 810 began. 1965: The Shelby GT 350, a version of a Ford Mustang sports car developed by the American auto racer and car designer Carroll Shelby, is launched. The Shelby GT 350, which featured a 306 horsepower "Cobra Hi-Riser" K-code 289 V-8 engine, remained in production through the end of the 1960s and today is a valuable collector’s item. 1994: Production of the Ford Windstar began at Oakville (Ontario) Assembly Plant. 2012: California Air Resources Board approved strict vehicle emissions regulations in a package known as the Advanced Clean Car program. It would cut in half current greenhouse gas emission by 2025. 2013: The fastest motorcycle wheelie on ice of 108.5 mph was achieved by Ryan Suchanek at Lake Koshkonong, WI.
This Day in Automotive History 1/26/1906: An American mechanic in the seat of a steam-powered automobile set a land speed record of 127.66 mph. Fred Marriott’s milestone was not beat until four years later, when a Blitzen Benz used a gasoline engine to reach 141. 1920: Lincoln Motor Car Company founded. 1947: Red Byron captured the inaugural National Championship Stock Car Circuit event, billed as the "Battle of the Champions," on the Beach-Road course at Daytona. 1979: "The Dukes of Hazzard" a television comedy about two good-old-boy cousins in the rural South and their souped-up 1969 Dodge Charger known as the General Lee, debuts on CBS. 1996: The three-turn tri-oval 1mile (1.6 km) Walt Disney Track, Florida, US hosted its first car race, a Formula Ford 2000 support race, followed the next day with the Indy Racing League's Indy 200 car race. 2003: Billy Joel was airlifted to hospital after his car smashed into a tree. The singer lost control of his Mercedes S500 and skidded for 100 yards before crashing. The accident happened in The Hamptons, NY. 2010: Toyota Motor Corp. halted sales of some of its top-selling models to fix gas pedals that could stick and cause unintended acceleration.
This Day in Automotive History 1/25/1905: Arthur Macdonald piloted a Napier six-cylinder racing car named Samson to a new land speed record of 104.65 mph. 1941: NASCAR driver Buddy "Leadfoot" Baker is born. He would go on to be the first driver to exceed 200 mph on a closed course. 1952: General Motors unveiled the Autronic Eye, the first automatic headlight-dimming system. When the phototube, mounted on the dashboard, detected approaching headlights, it automatically switched the car’s beams to low until the other lane was clear. 1991: The US Postal Service issued a four-cent stamp commemorating the Dudgeon Steam Wagon, a steam-powered vehicle built in 1853 by Richard Dudgeon, who astounded New Yorkers by riding it from his home on East Broadway to his place of business at 24 Columbia Street in 1855. 2003: Giovanni “Gianni” Agnelli, the glamorous, powerful Italian business tycoon who turned Fiat, his family’s car company, into an international conglomerate, dies at the age of 81. 2006: Ford unveiled the Ford Escape Hybrid E85, a research vehicle marrying two petroleum-saving technologies, hybrid electric power and flexible-fuel capability, at Washington Auto Show.
This Day in Automotive History 1/24/1860: Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir of Mussy-la-Ville, Luxembourg, in modern day Belgium, designed an internal combustion engine that was the first to burn a mixture of coal gas and air ignited by a “jumping sparks” ignition system. The advances in his engine design entitled him to a patent for his internal combustion engine, which he received on this day. 1871: Albert Erskine, who headed up the pioneering American automaker Studebaker before it went bankrupt during the Great Depression, is born in Huntsville, Alabama. 1912: A Hupmobile Model D touring car returned to Detroit, completing a promotional 48,600 mile, 26 country around-the-world trip. 1924: Kingsford, MI, the Ford Motor Company's planned community, was incorporated as a village. 1956: The 100,000th Volvo PV444 was produced. 1960: Volvo debuts P1800 prototype. 1969: Ford unveiled its first fastback sports saloon, the Capri, to the press at the Brussels Motor Show. The Capri was sold as ‘the car you always promised yourself". 2006: A US coalition of electric utilities kicked off a national campaign to push auto makers to make plug-in hybrids. 2016: The Obama administration in the US announced plans to pour nearly $4 billion into developing self-driving cars over the next decade.
This Day in Automotive History 1/23/1912: The Aermore Manufacturing Company based in Chicago received a patent for the Aermore Exhaust Horn, a multiple-pipe horn powered by an engine exhaust that played a chord like a church organ. 1914: Alex Tremulis born, designed the classic Cord 810 and 812 series, as well as a custom Duesenberg roadster and the Tucker Torpedo. 1948: The first annual Automotive Equipment Display and Hot Rod Exhibition, opened at the National Guard Armory in Exposition Park, in Los Angeles. 1972: Jackie Stewart won the first Argentine Grand Prix run since 1960. 1980: Giovanni Michelotti who designed the Ferrari 166, Ferrari 375MM, Maserati 5000 GT, BMW 700, Triumph GT6, Triumph Spitfire, Alfa Romeo 2600, Prince Skyline Sports Coupe and many more, died. 2006: “Who Killed the Electric Car?,” a documentary about the aborted attempt by the auto industry to create an electric vehicle, debuts at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. The movie posited that there was a conspiracy between oil companies, automakers and the government to kill the electric car. 2006: Ford announces it will cut up to 30,000 jobs and idle 14 plants by the year 2012.
This Day in Automotive History 1/22/1904: The Buick Motor Company, Detroit, was dissolved in preparation for new incorporation in Flint, MI. 1912: The Florida East Coast Railroad opened, between Key West and the US mainland. The railroad closed in 1935. Three years later, the roadway was paved, bringing road traffic to the Florida Keys for the first time. 1936: Triumph cars and motorcycles became separate entities as the motorcycle company was sold to J.Y. "Jack" Sangster for £5000, who owned the rival Ariel motorcycle company. 1944: Henry Ford II was elected vice president of Ford. 1950: Preston Tucker found not guilty of mail fraud. 1954: General Montors demonstrated the XP21 Firebird - the first gas turbine car unveiled in the United States. 1976: The first SEAT 124D rolled off the assembly line at the Landaben (Portugal) plant. 1986: Porsche 959s finished first (Metge/Lemoyne), second (Ickx/Brasseur), and sixth (Kussmaul/Unger) in the Paris-Dakar Rally. 2009: “Gran Torino,” a movie named for the 1972 Ford muscle car, opens in Australia and New Zealand.
This Day in Automotive History 1/21/1862: Opel is founded. Long before Opel ever made a car, they produced sewing machines. 1901: The first Paris Motor Show was held at Grand Palais. 1911: Twenty-three cars from 11 different locations around Europe converged on the tiny Principality of Monaco to compete in the first Monte Carlo car rally. 1932: The Automobile Club of America folded – a victim of the depression. 1954: 1st gas-turbine vehicle (Turbocruiser Bus) exhibited in NY. 1957: Edsel’s General Manager Richard Krafve predicted "The new Edsel line of cars will surpass the originally announced first-year sales goal of 200,000 units." 1969: The Ford Capri was previewed by selected members of the motoring press in Bonn, Germany. 1981: The first DeLorean 150-bhp DMC-12 rolled off the production line at the DMC factory in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. 1990: The 200 mph, 492 bhp mid-engined Lamborghini Diablo was presented to the public at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo. 2009: Toyota officially passes GM as planet’s biggest car maker. 2011: Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles in the US to fix accelerator pedals with mechanical problems that could cause them to become stuck. 2016: In China General Motors Co. opened a Cadillac factory in Shanghai to target the country's growing but crowded luxury car market.
This Day in Automotive History 1/20/1894: The German company of Hildebrand & Wolfmuller were granted a patent for the world’s first production motorcycle. 1909: Newly formed automaker General Motors (GM) buys into the Oakland Motor Car Corporation, which later becomes GM’s long-running Pontiac division. 1924: The banked 5/8-mile dirt Legion Ascot Speedway, Los Angeles opened. 1942: Chevrolet builds last car before WWII. 1946: Non-running prototypes of the new Frazer and its counterpart, the Kaiser K85 front wheel-drive car, debuted at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. 1949: The Buick Riviera, a two-door pillarless hardtop, described in advertising as "stunningly smart", was launched at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. 1955: General Motor’s Motorama Show opened in New York where the Buick Wildcat III, Chevrolet Bel Air Nomad, Cadillac LaSalle II roadster and sedan, and Cadillac Eldorado Brougham were exhibited. 1956: London police began employing radar speed traps. 1971: The Jaguar XJ13 prototype was taken to MIRA for some publicity filming with Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis at the wheel. 2010: The Mini Countryman (R60) was officially announced.
This Day in Automotive History 1/19/1896: The first motor vehicle appeared on the streets of Japan, an imported German built Hildebrand & Wolfmuller motorcycle. 1904: Thomas A. Edison was granted a patent for an" Electrical Automobile" (US Patent No. 750,102) designed with a driving motor that could be used for the purpose of charging the batteries. 1907: Briggs Cunningham born, Cincinnati, OH. 1952: New Jersey's 118-mile-long turnpike is completed. 1978: The last VW Type 1 (Beetle) rolled off a German assembly line. Production would continue outside of Germany until July 30, 2003 when the very last Type 1, number 21,529,464 in total, rolled off the production line in Puebla, Mexico. 2000: Tourism chiefs in Liverpool, Merseyside were banned from putting up motorway signs saying ‘Liverpool, the Birthplace of the Beatles’, because the Highways Agency thought the signs would distract motorists. 2007: First McDonald’s drive-through opens in Beijing. 2013: Rick Champagne, an Arizona man with a special fondness for caped crusader Batman and his sidekick Robin, bought the original Batmobile driven in the iconic television series with a bid of $4.2 million at an auction.
This Day in Automotive History 1/18/1902: Byron J. Carter applied for a United States patent on his three-cylinder steam engine. This steam engine was the first engine used in the 1902 “Jaxon” steam car. 1908: The first production Lancia, the 12HP Alpha was unveiled at the Turin Motor Show. 1919: Walter Bentley establishes Bentley Motors in London, England, though the first cars were not delivered until September 1921. 1937: Ford built its 25-millionth car. 1940: The Packard Eighteenth Series 120 was introduced. 1970: A.J. Foyt won the Motor Trend 500 NASCAR Grand National race at Riverside International Raceway in a Ford. 2008: Four photographers were arrested for reckless driving after they chased American pop star Britney Spears’ car on the outskirts of Los Angeles. 2009: Marks the final day of a week long auction in which auto giant General Motors (GM) sells off historic cars from its Heritage Collection. GM sold around 200 vehicles at the Scottsdale, Arizona, auction.
This Day in Automotive History 1/17/1903: Cadillac premieres its first car at Madison Square Garden, NYC. 1921: The first US-built Rolls Royce was completed. 1949: The first Volkswagen Beetle arrived in the US from Germany. 1953: The Corvette prototype makes its debut at GM's Motorama auto show in New York. 1955: The 1955 Packards were introduced to the US public, featuring the marque’s first V-8 engines and new Torsion-Level suspension. 1956: Ford common stock goes on sale, with 10.2 million shares sold in the first day, representing 22 percent of the company. 1964: The first Porsche Carrera GTS, a lasting favorite in the world of luxury sports cars was delivered to a Los Angeles customer. 1981: In light of new guidelines requiring the use of downsized cars (110-inch wheelbase vs. the older 115-inch wheelbase), Richard Petty tested a Dodge Mirada at Daytona, Florida, US. The car was unable to run competitive speeds, so Petty gave up any idea of returning to the Chrysler fold. 1998: A section of Memphis’ Highway 51 South was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. 1999: The French car producer Renault acquired a 20% interest in the Japanese Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.
This Day in Automotive History 1/16/1853: Andre Michelin born, Paris, France. 1900: James W. Packard, founder of Packard MotorCar Company applied for a patent on an 'Automatic Spark Control', his first relating to automobiles. 1906: The French Automobile Club licensed the department of Sarthe to organize a motor race that eventually resulted in both the 24 Hours of Le Mans (24 Heures du Mans) and the French Grand Prix. 1935: A.J. Foyt born, Houston, TX. 1945: French car manufacturer, Renault was nationalized. 1950: Saab delivered its first car, the Saab 92. 1958: The first of just eight Scarab sports car, the brain-child of Lance Reventlow − whose father was a European count, whose mother was heiress to the Woolworth fortune, and whose wife at the time was Jill St John - was tested. Four were astounding successes and four were spectacular failures. 1965: United States President Lyndon B Johnson and Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson signed the US & Canada Automotive Trade Agreement. 1977: Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon debut. 1997: Comedian and TV star Bill Cosby’s 27-year-old son Ennis Cosby is murdered after he stops to fix a flat tire along California’s Interstate 405 in Los Angeles. 2007: Benny Parsons (66), who drove in Winston Cup for almost 20 years and won the 1973 championship, and is the answer to a popular trivia question of who is the only driver to win championships in Cup and ARCA (1969), died of cancer.
This Day in Automotive History 1/15/1870: Pierre S. du Pont born, Wilmington, Delaware. 1905: A motorized hearse was used for the first time in the US in a Chicago funeral procession by funeral director H. D. Ludlow & Pearce Undertaking. 1925: The Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan, one of the first modern airports in the world, was formally dedicated. It operated from 1924 to 1947. 1936: Edsel Ford, the son of auto industry pioneer Henry Ford, forms a philanthropic organization called the Ford Foundation with a donation of $25,000. The foundation grew into a multi-billion dollar institution that today supports programs in the US and over 50 other countries around the globe for the purpose of the “advancement of human welfare.” 1979: The Ferrari 312T4, which Enzo Ferrari considered the ugliest car to leave his factory, was unveiled. The 312T4 monocoque was designed to be as narrow as possible, to take advantage of ground effects, but this was limited by the width of the flat 12 engine.The car was extremely reliable and it won 6 races in 1979, three each for Villeneuve and Scheckter. 1984: American Motors set up the first automobile-manufacturing joint venture in the People's Republic of China. The result was Beijing Jeep Corporation, Ltd., in partnership with Beijing Automobile Industry Corporation, to produce the Jeep Cherokee (XJ) in Beijing.
This Day in Automotive History 1/14/1914: Although the Model T has been around since 1908, the first Ford Model T that was made on an assembly line was completed. 1920: John Dodge, who with his brother Horace co-founded the Dodge Brothers Company, which was once America’s third-largest automaker and later became part of Chrysler, dies at the age of 55. 1954: Nash & Hudson Merge to create AMC. 1958: Ford merges the Edsel Division with Lincoln-Mercury. 1969: The 150 bhp Triumph TR6, the ultimate incarnation of the chassis-based Triumph TR series, was launched. 1982: The brand new 3rd generation of Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds were shown to the public for the first time. 2006: A General Motors Futurliner bus was sold for a record US$4,000,000 (+premium) at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Arizona. This bus toured America before and after World War II, displaying GM's emerging technologies in the "Parade of Progress."
This Day in Automotive History 1/13/1906: American Motor Car Manufacturers’ Association held its first auto show. 1920: Charles F Kettering was named Vice President of General Motors. 1942: Ford patents a method of constructing plastic auto bodies. 1953: Alfa Romeo purchased the aerodynamic BAT 7 from Carrozzeria Bretone to display at the New York Auto Show. 1962: Ernie Kovacs, a comedian who hosted his own television shows during the 1950s and is said to have influenced such TV hosts as Johnny Carson and David Letterman, dies at the age of 42 after crashing his Chevrolet Corvair into a telephone pole in Los Angeles, California. 1997: Detroit (North American) Auto Show opened. Production cars introduced included the Chevrolet Corvette C5, Chrysler Concorde, Dodge Durango, Ford Escort ZX2, Mercedes-Benz CLK, Subaru Forester, Toyota Sienna, and the Volvo C70 convertible. 2003: The Jaguar R4 Formula One car, with the new Cosworth V10 engine, was unveiled. 2013: General Motors unveiled its latest model of the Corvette Stingray on the eve of the Detroit motor show. The next day GM’s Cadillac ATS sedan took the show’s top prize. 2015: The much anticipated Indian Motorcycle Exhibit inside the Museum of Springfield History in Springfield, MA, opened.
This Day in Automotive History 1/12/1897: Ray Harroun, the winner of the inaugural Indianapolis 500, was born on this day in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania. 1904: Henry Ford sets a land-speed record of 91.37 MPH on the frozen surface of Michigan's Lake St. Clair. He was driving a four-wheel vehicle, dubbed the “999,” with a wooden chassis but no body or hood. 1923: The 7,000,000th Ford Model T was produced. 1953: Just days before the launch of the Corvette the General Motors management team informed the styling team that the front emblem and the horn button containing the likeness of the American flag had to be replaced, after discovering it was illegal in the US to have stars and stripes in an automobile emblem. When the first Corvette was shown to the press at the Motorama in New York City, the front emblems and horn button contained a black-and-white chequered flag and a red Chevrolet bow tie and fleur-de-lis. 1975: Bob McCurry of Chrysler Corp. introduced the auto rebate in a Superbowl commercial. 2006: After three years in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Toyota announced it would field Camrys in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competition in 2007. 2013: The 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow used by Freddie Mercury until his death in November 1991, sold at auction for £74,000 to a Russian businessman.
This Day in Automotive History 1/11/1913: Hudson displays first sedan type automobile at N.Y. Auto Show. 1923: Carroll Shelby born, Leesburg, TX. 1937: Nearly two weeks into a sit-down strike by General Motors (GM) auto workers at the Fisher Body Plant No. 2 in Flint, Michigan, a riot breaks out when police try to prevent the strikers from receiving food deliveries from supporters on the outside. 1940: General Motors celebrated the production of its 25-millionth American-made car, a silver Chevrolet Master Deluxe four-door town sedan. 1956: The DeSoto Pacesetter convertible was introduced as a limited production replica of the unique car produced to serve as a pace car for the forthcoming Indianapolis 500. 1977: Henry Ford II resigned from the Ford Foundation. 1980: Honda announced that it would build Japan's first US passenger-car assembly plant in Ohio. 2009: South Korea’s Hyundai Genesis was named North American Car of the Year and the Ford F-150 as the 2009 North American Truck of the Year. The awards were first given in 1994. This was the first time a Korean automaker has won.
This Day in Automotive History 1/10/1901: A 100-foot drilling derrick named at Spindletop near the town of Beaumont, TX produced a roaring gusher of black crude oil - the first major oil discovery in the United States. 1942: Ford issued contract to build Willys Jeep. 1979: The last convertible Beetle rolls off of Volkswagen production lines. 2000: The Ford Focus was named the 2000 North American Car of the Year at North American International Auto Show in Detroit -the first Car of the Year winner in both Europe and North America. 2008: At the New Delhi Auto Expo in India, Tata Motors debuts the Nano, billing it as the world’s cheapest car: The anticipated price tag is around $2,500. 2011: Italian auto giant Fiat said it had increased its stake in Chrysler to 25% from 20% as part of a deal signed after the iconic US brand emerged from bankruptcy in 2009. 2020: In Florida the 1968 Ford Mustang GT that Steve McQueen drove in the classic car chase from the movie "Bullitt," one of the most famed cars from American cinema, was sold for $3.4 million at auction.
This Day in Automotive History 1/9/1924: The market capitalization of Ford Motor Co would exceed $1 billion for the first time. 1926: First Pontiac built. 1948: The last 1947 Pontiac was produced, 12 days after production of the 1948 Pontiacs had began, one of the few times that two model years were produced concurrently. 1965: The James Bond movie “Goldfinger,” which features the suave British super-spy driving an Aston Martin Silver Birch DB5 sports car, opens in theaters across the US. Aston Martins would go on to appear in a number of other Bond films. 1979: Just 33 months after its launch, the millionth Ford Fiesta was built at Ford's Cologne (Germany) facility, breaking all previous European production records. 1998: US Post Office unveiled a new Ford Model T stamp. 2008: 70 vehicles were involved in a large pileup on I-4 near Polk City. The pileup was caused by an unexpected thick morning fog that was mixed with a scheduled—and approved—environmental burn by the Florida Wildlife Commission. The fog drifted across I-4, mixing with the smoke, reducing visibility to near-zero conditions.
This Day in Automotive History 1/8/1915: The Cadillac Motor Car Company’s two speed rear axle was ruled to be an infringement of patent rights held by Walter S Austin of the Austin Automobile Company. 1927: Introduction of The Little Marmon aka the Marmon Eight in New York City. 1956: The United States Auto Club (USAC) sanctioned it's first race, a Midget race indoors on a 1/10 mile oval on the concrete floor of the Allen County Coliseum Ft. Wayne, Indiana. 1968: Advertising appeared on a Grand Prix car for the first time when Jim Clark put his John Player Gold Leaf Lotus 49 on pole for the non-championship New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe. 1982: The Johnny Cash Parkway opened in Hendersonville TN. 2001: The 2002 Ford Thunderbird debuted at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. 2010: The China Passenger Car Association reported that China overtook the US as the biggest auto market in 2009. 2015: The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fined Honda $70 million for failing to submit reports of fatal accidents and injuries to the government. 2016: Maria Teresa de Filippis, first female F1 driver, passes away.
This Day in Automotive History 1/7/1918: First Chevrolet truck built. 1929: TIME Magazine names Walter P. Chrysler its Man of the Year. In 1928, under Walter Chrysler’s leadership, his company had acquired the Dodge Brothers Company, thereby becoming the world’s third-largest automaker. 1958: The Plymouth Fury sport coupe was introduced. The Fury was a sub-series of the Plymouth Belvedere from 1956 through 1958. 1969: Fiat acquired a 50% stake in Ferrari. 1974: Edsel B. Ford II joined the Ford Motor Company as a product analyst. 1980: President Carter signed the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act. Financier James Wolfensohn persuaded 400 private lenders to restructure their debt so that a $1 billion loan from the US government could prevent Chrysler from sliding into bankruptcy. 1985: Saturn Corporation was officially founded. 1989: The Dodge Viper concept was introduced at the North American International Automobile Show. 2004: Mercedes-Benz unveiled its new SLK-Class in Stuttgart. 2007: General Motors introduced the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid concept car at North American International Auto Show, becoming the first-ever series plug-in hybrid concept car shown by a major car manufacturer.
This Day in Automotive History 1/6/1911: Cadillac Motor Company delivered a new Cadillac to Delco to facilitate development of the self-starter by Charles F Kettering and associates. 1917: Gold-plated Studebaker displayed at N.Y. Auto Show at Grand Central Palace. 1925: John De Lorean born, Detroit. 1930: To show the feasibility of diesel, founder Clessie Cummins concocted a marketing stunt that would prove diesel engines could compete with gasoline motors in daily drivers. To do so, he installed one of his engines in a used Packard and traveled from Indianapolis to New York, completing his journey on this day. 1953: Earl S MacPherson was issued with a US patent for his vehicle wheel suspension system. 1954: Kaiser Darrin goes on sale. 1959: Work began on the 7-mile Mont Blanc road tunnel between France and Italy. 1987: After a gap of 29-years, the Ford Thunderbird was again presented with the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award. This was the first repeat winner of the award. 1997: Chevrolet unveiled the 1997 Corvette, dubbed the "C5", powered by a new small block V-8 engine, the LS1, with 345 hp and 10:1 compression ratio. 2004: Celebrating 50 years of Ferrari in North America, the Italian marque showed its newest sports car, the all-new 612 Scaglietti for the first time worldwide at the North American International Auto Show.
This Day in Automotive History 1/5/1904: Ransom Eli Olds retired from Olds Motor Works. 1914: Ford workers' pay increased to $5 per day. 1924: First Chrysler debuts. 1928: The Graham-Paige debuts. 1933: Construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge. When completed in 1937, the Golden Gate has a 4,200-foot-long suspension span, making it the world’s longest suspension bridge. Since opening to the public in May 1937, almost 2 billion vehicles have crossed the bridge, in both the north- and southbound directions. 1955: The first AC Ace was imported into the US by Joe Bojalad, Pittsburgh, PA. 1962: Buick announced that it would resume importing the German-built Opel. 1993: Nigel Mansell's first foray into the world of Indycar could hardly have gone better as he broke the track record at Phoenix Raceway in a Lola-Ford. 2002: Managing Director Mike Beasley announced that for the first time in its 80-year-old history Jaguar had sold over 100,000 cars in a year when he unveiled the new Jaguar S-Type range at the Los Angeles Motor. 2003: Green Day's lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong was arrested on suspicion of drink driving after being stopped in California speeding in a black BMW convertible.
This Day in Automotive History 1/4/1901: First use of road signs on major roads. 1917: Construction began of the massive Ford Rouge car-manufacturing facility on the banks of the Rouge River in Dearborn, MI. On completion in 1928 it was the largest integrated factory in the world. 1921: Mack Brothers Company registered the ‘MACK’ bulldog trademark. 1930: Cadillac introduced its first V-16-powered car at the New York Auto Show, less than three months after the stock market crash. It was made from two 45-degree V-8s, totaling 452 cubic inches (4.9 litres) and conservatively rated 165-185 horsepower. 1958: At an admission price of 90 cents, visitors on the opening day of the 50th Chicago Auto Show were able to view more than 470 vehicles at the International Amphitheatre. 1967: Donald Malcolm Campbell dies in an attempt to break the water-speed record in his craft, Bluebird K7. He was the first, and to date, is the only person to ever break the land speed and water speed records in the same year. 1980: Dodge Main, the huge Hamtramck, Michigan factory designed by Albert Kahn in 1910, closed after nearly 70 years of use. 1990: The Lincoln Town Car was named Car of the Year by Motor Trend. 1996: GM announces that it will build an electric car, the EV1. 2014: A Tesla Model S in Norway caught fire while charging at one of Tesla's supercharger stations and was completely destroyed. No one was injured.
This Day in Automotive History 1/3/1870: Brooklyn Bridge construction begins. 1899: The New York Times uses the word "automobile" in its pages for the first time. 1914: Ford begins offering $5 per day for eight-hour work days and 15,000 job seekers clamor for 3,000 jobs at the Model T Plant in Highland Park. The previous pay rate was $2.34 per day for nine hours. 1914: Earl ''Madman'' Muntz is born, Elgin, Illinois. 1926: General Motors introduced Pontiac, a companion brand to their modestly priced Oakland line. Soon after Pontiac production and sales were initiated, the brand was far outselling its partner. 1969: Michael Schumacher, who won a record seven Formula One (F1) world championships, is born. 1999: The "Inspirational Yellow" Concept Thunderbird was introduced at the Detroit Auto Show. Ford had discontinued the Thunderbird model in 1997 after more than 40 years. 2008: Ford Motor Co. named Tata Motors Ltd. the top bidder for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands.
This Day in Automotive History 1/2/1839: Charles Goodyear develops vulcanization of rubber. 1842: 1st wire suspension bridge opens to traffic, Fairmont, PA. 1923: Chevrolet debuts first air-cooled engine. 1957: Ghia-built Crown Imperial limo announced. 1974: President Nixon signed legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 mph. Federal speed limits were abolished in 1995. The legislation was conceived by Claude Brinegar (1926-2009), Nixon’s secretary of transportation. 1994: The Chrysler Corporation introduced the Neon compact car. 2009: Media outlets report that a rare unrestored 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante Coupe has been found in the garage of a British doctor. A month later, on February 7, the car sold at a Paris auction for some $4.4 million. 2013: Avis Budget Group agreed to buy Zipcar Inc., a rent by the hour car agency, for $491 million. 2014: Fiat secures full ownership of Chrysler in a $4.35 billion agreement.
This Day in Automotive History 1/1/1853: The world's first practical steam fire engine, named Uncle Joe Ross after the city councilman who championed it, began service in Cincinnati. Invented by Abel Shawk and Alexander Latta it took nine months to build at a cost of $10,000. This steam engine had the capacity of the six largest double-engine hand pumpers. 1919: Edsel Ford, the son of Model T inventor and auto industry pioneer Henry Ford, succeeds his father as president of the Ford Motor Company. The younger Ford ascended to the top spot after his father resigned the position in December 1918, following a disagreement with stockholders. However, father and son soon managed to purchase these dissenting investors’ stock and regain control of the company. 1927: Massachusetts became the first state in the US to require automobile insurance. 1952: Colin Chapman and Michael Allen formed the Lotus Engineering Company. 1975: The Honda Civic CVCC was introduced in the US. 1981: Roger Smith took office as chairman and CEO of GM. 2008: Washington became the first US state to ban text messaging while driving. 2009: Porsche's new museum in Stuttgart, a sprawling monument to 60 years of German engineering, opened to the public.
This Day in Automotive History 12/31/1879: Karl Benz successfully tested his first gasoline engine. 1927: Henry Ford publishes the last issue of the Dearborn Independent. At the peak of its popularity in the mid-1920s, it had about 700,000 readers. 1928: Ferdinand Porsche resigned from Daimler-Benz AG. 1938: The "Drunk-o-meter" - the first breath test for car drivers, invented by Dr Rolla N. Harger. 1971: President Richard Nixon signed the National Air Quality Control Act, which called for a 90 percent reduction in automobile emissions by 1975. 1984: Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen, crashed his Corvette Stingray, on the A57 outside Sheffield, Allen lost his left arm in the accident. Allen was on his way to a New Year's Eve party at his family's home when a Jaguar passed him. The driver had been egging Allen on and would not allow him to pass. 1988: Ford's worldwide earnings were $5.3 billion, the highest of any auto company to date. 1992: Lee Iacocca retired as Chairman of the Chrysler Corporation. 2002: After 71 years together the world famous British car marques – Bentley and Rolls-Royce – separated. Rolls-Royce left Crewe and became part of BMW AG, while Bentley, still owned by Volkswagen AG, remained at the historic Cheshire site.
This Day in Automotive History 12/30/1918:Henry Ford resigned as President of the Ford Motor Company. 1920: Charles F Kettering was appointed to the Board of Directors of General Motors. 1936: One of the first sit-down strikes in the United States, autoworkers occupy the General Motors Fisher Body Plant Number One in Flint, Michigan. The autoworkers were striking to win recognition of the United Auto Workers (UAW) as the only bargaining agent for GM’s workers; they also wanted to make the company stop sending work to non-union plants and to establish a fair minimum wage scale, a grievance system and a set of procedures that would help protect assembly-line workers from injury. In all, the strike lasted 44 days. 1940: In California, the Arroyo Seco Parkway, connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, officially opened as the first freeway in the Western US. 1960: Fifty special 1961 Ford Thunderbird convertibles were produced for use in the upcoming inaugural parade of John F Kennedy. 1964: The 9,000,000th Volkswagen was produced. 1987: Manufacturers of all-terrain vehicles agreed to withdraw the three-wheel model from dealers' inventories, but stopped short of a recall, as demanded by groups who felt the ATV's were dangerous. 2002: Diana Ross was arrested for drunk driving by the Arizona highway patrol.
This Day in Automotive History 12/29/1800: Charles Goodyear born, New Haven, CT. 1907: The 10,000th Ford automobile was produced. 1908: Otto Zachow and William Besserdich of Clintonville, WI, received a patent for their four-wheel braking system, the prototype of all modern braking systems. 1931: The Auburn 1931-34 ‘Winged Man” mascot is patented by designer K E Stant. 1967: Hyundai Motor Company was founded in South Korea. The company's first model, the Cortina, was released in cooperation with Ford Motor Company in 1968. 1983: Arnold Schwarzenegger was cited for driving without a license after he drove his Jeep into a ditch with Maria Shriver aboard. No one was hurt. 1989: 20-year-old actor Christian Slater is arrested for drunk driving in Los Angeles. He had a blood-alcohol level of .24, or .24 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood–three times the legal limit in CA. Slater’s arrest came after a predawn car chase–he was driving 50 MPH in a 35-MPH zone–that ended when he crashed his Saab into a tree. He spent 10 days in jail.
This Day in Automotive History 12/28/1908: The Buick Motor Company and the Olds Motor works merged under the General Motors corporate heading. 1926: The Pontiac ‘Indian Head’ mascot was patented by William Schnell. 1938: Silent-film star Florence Lawrence commits suicide in Beverly Hills. She designed the first “auto signaling arm,” a mechanical turn signal, along with the first mechanical brake signal. She did not patent these inventions, however, and as a result she received no credit for–or profit from–either one. 1953: After an initial run of 300 cars in Flint, MI, production of the Chevrolet Corvette was shifted to the plant in St Louis, MO. 1957: The 2 millionth Volkswagen left the production line in Wolfsburg, Germany. 1962: The 11,000,000th Buick was produced.
This Day in Automotive History 12/27/1904: Henry M Leland was officially named General Manager of the Cadillac Motor Car Company. 1923: The Packard Second Series Six was introduced. 1929: The Cadillac V-16 (sometimes known as the Cadillac Sixteen) which was Cadillac's top-of-the-line car was introduced. All were finished to custom order, and the car was built in very small numbers; only 4076 cars were constructed in the eleven years the model was offered. 1933: The 1934 Buicks were introduced, the first with independent front suspension. 1941: The Federal Office of Price Administration (OPA) initiates its first rationing program in support of the American effort in World War II: It mandates that from that day on, no driver will be permitted to own more than five automobile tires. 1951: The US Postal Service in Cincinnati, OH put the Crosley car into use. It was the first right-hand-drive car designed specifically for mail delivery. 2006: The San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic began a 90-day test run using cameras to scan license plates in search of cars with unpaid tickets. Wheel clamps were immediately attached to all vehicles with five or more outstanding tickets.
This Day in Automotive History 12/26/1908: The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company, later the FWD Corporation was founded in Clintoville, WI. 1923: The 9,000,000th Ford Model T was produced. 1933: Nissan leadership founded Jidosha-Seizo Kabushiki-Kaisha (Automobile Manufacturing Co.) to take over all automobile production for Tobata. A decision in June of the next year resulted in a name change from Jidosha-Seizo Kabushiki-Kaisha to Nissan. 1956: The visionary carmaker Preston Tucker dies of lung cancer. He was just 53 years old. He is best remembered for his Tucker ’48, a vehicle that introduced many features that have since become widely used in modern cars, such as the roll bar, the shatterproof windscreen and fuel injection. 1965: Paul McCartney fell from his moped and chipped his front tooth. He also got a nasty cut on his lip and was left with a scar from the accident. 1978: The first Paris-Dakar Rally began. 182 vehicles (80 cars, 90 motorcycles and 12 trucks) turned up in the Place du Trocadéro in Paris for a 10,000-kilometre (6,214-mile) journey into the unknown, destination Dakar. 1985: The Ford Motor Company introduced the Taurus, the product of years of engineering. The original Taurus was a milestone for Ford and the entire American automotive industry, bearing an influential design that brought many new features and innovations to the marketplace. 1992: The Lincoln Continental Mark VIII, a grand touring luxury coupe that was marketed and sold by Lincoln from 1993 to 1998, was introduced. 2001: The Ford F-Series celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary as America’s best-selling truck.
This Day in Automotive History 12/25/1878: Louis Chevrolet is born. 1880: Layne Hall is born in Mississippi, when he died in November 1990, Hall was the oldest licensed driver in the United States. Hall continued to drive his blue 1962 Cadillac Sedan de Ville sedan–to the grocery store, to the doctor’s office, to visit friends and even to go on dates–until he died on November 20, 1990. His accomplishment won him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. 1903: The first Maxwell was successfully tested in Detroit. Maxwell was a brand of automobiles manufactured in the US from about 1904 to 1925. The present-day successor to the Maxwell company is Chrysler Group. 1946: The first Ford Sportsman was delivered to actress Ella Raines. The first wood-bodied convertible ever produced, the Ford Sportsman evolved on the whim of company president Henry Ford II. 1985: It was no ordinary Christmas drive for David Turner and Tim Pickhard when they set off on a journey of approximately 847 miles from Lands End in England to John O’Groats in Scotland. When they finished the trip four days later they would hold a new distance record for an electric vehicle on a single charge. To obtain the record, the pair drove a Rover Leyland Sherpa powered by a Lucas electric motor.
This Day in Automotive History 12/24/1801: British inventor Richard Trevithick takes seven of his friends for a test ride on his “Puffing Devil,” or “Puffer,” the first steam-powered passenger vehicle. Unlike the steam engine pioneered by the Scotsman James Watt, Trevithick’s used “strong steam”–that is, steam at a very high pressure (145 pounds per square inch, or psi, compared to the Watt engine’s 5 psi, which enabled him to build an engine small enough to fit in his “Puffer”. 1893: Henry Ford completed his first successful working gasoline engine car. 1903: England issued its first car license plate, number A1. 1953: The first prototype Lincoln Continental Mark II was completed. 1961: Automobile designer Bill Mitchell received quite the gift from General Motors when two of his designs were accepted for production, the 1963 Buick Riviera and the split-window 1963 Chevrolet Corvette.
This Day in Automotive History 12/23/1904: Hon C S Rolls contracted Royce, Ltd. to purchase all automobiles of 2-cylinders/10 hp through to 6-cylinders/30 hp manufactured by the latter company. 1915: William C Durant, acting through Chevrolet Motor Company, announced his plans to purchase a controlling interest in General Motors. 1923: President Woodrow Wilson was presented with a Springfield Rolls-Royce 40/50hp Silver Ghost Oxford Touring Car for his birthday (which is actually December 28). Left by anonymous supporters, the RR had even been modified with a higher windshield and roof so Wilson wouldn’t have to remove his favored top hat while riding. 1982: The Missouri Department of Health and the Federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) inform residents of Times Beach, MO that their town was contaminated when the chemical dioxin was sprayed on its unpaved roads, and that the town will have to be evacuated and demolished. 2005: Ford announces it will transfer $2 billion to shore up Jaguar Cars, which it bought in 1989 for almost $3 billion in today's prices. 2010: China's capital announced that it would sharply limit new vehicle registrations to try to ease massive traffic jams that were rapidly turning Beijing's streets into parking lots.
This Day in Automotive History 12/22/1900: Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek took delivery of the first car to be produced under the "Mercedes" name. 1910: The Fisher Closed Body Company was established by brothers Frederick J Fisher and Charles T Fisher. 1928: The Marmon Motor Car Company announced its new marque, the Roosevelt, as the "World's First Eight Under $1,000". 1937: The Lincoln Tunnel in New York opened to traffic. 1952: The Chevrolet Dream Car called EX122 is completed in time for Motorama. It will go into production as the 1953 Corvette. 1965: Fiat licenses the production of the Fiat 125 in Poland. 1973: OPEC more than doubled the price of oil from $5.12 a barrel to $11.65. 1978: The last true, rear wheel drive, GM developed Novas left the assembly plant. 2005: The United Auto Workers agrees to a deal with Ford in which 99 cents an hour of any future wage increases will go towards a health-care fund. 2008: Toyota Motor Corp. projected its first-ever operating loss since 1939, acknowledging that its nine-year stretch of global vehicle-sales growth had stalled.
This Day in Automotive History 12/21/1895: The 1000th Daimler motor car was produced. 1926: The first US built Rolls Royce Phantom I was completed and delivered to Harry C Orndorff of Rhode, Island. 1932: Carl McGee, Oklahoma inventor, applied for a patent for his parking meter. He had came up with the 1st coin-operated, single-space, mechanical meter to be used to free up parking spaces in downtown Oklahoma City. 1945: General Patton dies following car accident. 1965: Hertz Rent-A-Car ordered 800 Mustang GT350Hs, their second order of these cars from Shelby American. 1966: The 100,000th Porsche was produced, a 912 Targa outfitted for the police, was delivered. 1967: The film "The Graduate" opened at two theatres in New York; makes Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider famous. 1979: Congress approves $1.5 billion bailout of Chrysler. 2018: The California Public Utilities Commission approved a bid by Zoox of Foster City to offer rides to the public in self-driving cars, but with a trained test driver at the wheel ready to take over. This was the state's first approval of a robot-taxi.
This Day in Automotive History 12/20/1868: Harvey Firestone born, Columbia County, OH. 1892: Alexander Brown and George Stillman of Syracuse, NY, patented the first inflatable automobile tire. 1912: The Stewart-Warner Speedometer Company was incorporated in Virginia. 1945: Rationing of automobile tires instituted in 1941 ended in the US. 1954: Buick Motor Company signed comedian Jackie Gleason to one of the largest contracts ever entered into with an entertainer. Gleason agreed to produce 78 half-hour The Jackie Gleason Show TV programs over a 2-year period for $6,142,500. 1989: The provocative filmmaker Michael Moore’s satirical documentary “Roger & Me” opens in theaters across the United States. The film chronicled Moore’s unsuccessful attempts to meet Roger B. Smith, the chairman and chief executive of General Motors, who had presided over the closing of 11 factories in Flint, MI, during the 1970s and 80s. 2009: Dutch sports carmaker Spyker said it had made a new bid for Sweden's Saab Automobile, two days after General Motors said it would close the loss-making unit.
This Day in Automotive History 12/19/1924: The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost manufactured in England is sold in London. Production continued in the Springfield, Mass., plant until 1926. 1938: Henry Ford II was elected to the Ford Motor Company Board if Directors. 1939: Benjamin Copf of Ford-Japan, Yoshisuke Ayukawa of Nissan, and Risaburo Toyoda of Toyota signed a joint venture agreement to manufacture cars in Japan. 1966: Two Sunbeam Tiger Mk II production prototypes were completed. The Tiger was introduced to American buyers in 1964, and launched in the UK the following year. 1972: The final LRV is left on the moon. 1994: Rolls-Royce, the luxury car maker, announced that its future cars would feature 12-cylinder motors manufactured by Germany's BMW. 1999: Ferdinand Porsche, designer of Auto Union Grand Prix racers and the original Volkswagen, was honored as the Car Engineer of the Century. 2007: US President Bush signed a bill calling for an increase in auto-fuel efficiency, the first in 32 years. 2011: Sweden’s Saab Automobile filed for bankruptcy, giving up a desperate struggle to stay in business after previous owner General Motors Co. blocked takeover attempts by Chinese investors.
This Day in Automotive History 12/18/1898: Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat of France set the first official automobile land speed record on this day in 1898 when he completed the flying kilometer in an electric Jeantaud in 57 seconds, an average speed of 63.13 km/h (39 mph). 1909: The first races were held on the newly repaved (with 3,200,000 bricks replacing crushed stone and tar) Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 1929: Helene Delangle (1900-1984), French racing pioneer, became the fastest woman driver in the world, averaging 120.5 mph at Montlhery, France. 1968: The movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," starring Dick Van Dyke and a magical Grand Prix car, debuts in New York. 1970: Ford names Lee Iacocca president. 1981: Ford and Mazda established Autorama, a joint venture distribution channel for Ford products in Japan. 1991: General Motors announced it would close 21 North American plants over the next four years and slash tens of thousands of jobs in a sweeping restructuring of the world's largest company. 2009: General Motors Co. said it would shut down Saab after talks to sell the brand to a Dutch carmaker collapsed; marking the third time this year that a deal by GM to sell an unwanted brand had fallen through.
This Day in Automotive History 12/17/1791: New York City creates the first one-way street in the US. 1903: 1st successful flight by the Wright Brothers. 1910: Charles Kettering, William A Chryst, and William P Anderson successfully tested the first automobile self starter. 1925: The new Stutz Vertical Eight, with 'Safety Body', the first Stutz designed during the Frederic E. Moskovics era, was unveiled to dealers. 1940: The American Bantam Car Company completed its initial contract to supply 70 prototype Jeeps to the US government. 1963: Passing of the Clean Air Act. 1979: Hollywood stuntman Stan Barrett blasts across a dry lake bed at California’s Edwards Air Force Base in a rocket- and missile-powered car, becoming the first man to travel faster than the speed of sound on land. 1983: The Lincoln Continental Mark VII introduced. 1986: A federal jury in Detroit cleared automaker John DeLorean of all 15 charges in his fraud and racketeering trial. 2008: Toyota shelved the development of clean diesel engines. 2012: Infiniti announced a new product nomenclature scheme where all sedans and coupes will carry a "Q" prefix while all crossovers and SUVs will carry a "QX" prefix.
This Day in Automotive History 12/16/1914: The Chevrolet 490, designed by Alfred Sturt, was announced, as William C Durant’s first serious competitor of the Ford Model T- its model number noted the current price of the Ford car. 1934: Scuderia Ferrari conceived plans for the 16-cylinder Alfa Romeo Bimotore race car. 1949: The first Saab automobile, the '92' was produced. The design was very aerodynamic for its time, with a drag coefficient of 0.30. 1979: The night before the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ annual price-setting meeting in Caracas, two member states (Libya and Indonesia) announce plans to raise the price of their oil by $4 (Libya) and $2 (Indonesia) per barrel. (The resulting prices–$30 and $25.50 per barrel, respectively–were among the highest they had ever been.) 1982: Colin Chapman, Lotus founder, dies. 1985: Ford acquired First Nationwide Financial Corporation, operator of the ninth-largest U.S. savings and loan, for $493 million. 2002: Jaguar XJ made its North American debut. 2007: British Formula One star Lewis Hamilton had his driving license suspended for a month after being caught speeding on a French motorway.
This Day in Automotive History 12/15/1852: Ignaz Schustala obtained official permission to begin construction of a carriage factory in Olmutz, Moravia, Austria-Hungary (now Olomouc, Czech Republic) - this enterprise would eventually evolve into the Tatra automobile works. 1861: Charles Duryea born, Canton, IL. 1896: Stephen M. Balzer patents rotary-engine auto. 1931: Following successful London experiments, it was announced that traffic lights were to be installed throughout Britain. 1935: Bill Mitchell joins GM. 1941: The American Federation of Labor Council adopted a no-strike policy in war industries, which included car plants being converted to military production. 1969: The last Plymouth Superbird was manufactured. 1989: GM and SAAB agreed to form a 50-50 joint auto-making company, called Saab Automobile A.B. GM acquired the rest of SAAB a decade later. 2000: After favorable public reaction, Volkswagen officially incorporated Bugatti Automobiles SAS with former VW drivetrain chief Karl-Heinz Neumann as president. 2016: California regulators approved 7,500 PG&E car-charging stations at a cost estimated at $130 million.
This Day in Automotive History 12/14/1909: The last brick, made of gold was laid at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, giving the track its popular nickname "The Brickyard". In a span of 63 days, 3.2 million paving bricks, each weighing 9.5 pounds, were laid on top of the original surface of crushed rock and tar to upgrade the Speedway." 1929: The first Pontiac Model 6-30-B and New Series Big Sixes were produced. 1931: Rolls-Royce acquired the much smaller rival car maker Bentley after the latter's finances failed to weather the onset of the depression. 1947: The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) was founded at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, FL. 1978: Ford Motor Company celebrated the 150 millionth car, truck or tractor to be built worldwide since its founding 75 years earlier. The milestone vehicle, a 1979 Mustang, was built at Ford’s Dearborn Assembly Plant. 1987: The last American Motors-designed Eagle station wagon was produced. 2005: It was reported that Volkswagen AG was getting ready for the 2006 US launch of its $1 million Bugatti Veyron, a 2-seater with 1,001 horsepower.
This Day in Automotive History 12/13/1913: The Lincoln Highway, the first improved coast-to-coast highway for motor vehicles across America, had its first section opened in New Jersey, between Jersey City and Newark. 1922: William Kissel and Friedrich Werner received an American patent for their removable car top on KisselKar and Kissel automobiles, eight years after they first offered the invention. 1939: The first production Lincoln Continental was finished. 1947: The Maine Turnpike, the first "superhighway" in New England and the first such highway in the US built without state or federal tax dollars, opened to traffic. 1957: Ford built the last of its early two-seat Thunderbirds as public demand sparked a shift to four-seaters. 2003: Seattle preservationists load the city’s iconic Hat ‘n’ Boots Tex Gas Station onto a tractor-trailer and drive it away from the spot where it had stood for almost 50 years. 2013: Cuba announced it will allow unrestricted car imports for the first time in half a century, marking the end of an era that made icons of the island's vintage automobiles. Cubans soon found that imported cars were priced far beyond what an average salary could afford. 2016: GM delivered the first of its eagerly awaited Chevy Bolt electric hatchbacks to three customers gathered at a Fremont, CA, dealership, less than two miles from the Tesla Motors factory.
This Day in Automotive History 12/12/1912: Herbert M Dawley applied for a US patent for his fender-mounted headlights design that would become a hallmark of the pierce-Arrow marque. 1923: The 1,000,000th Dodge automobile was produced. 1925: Arthur Heinman opens first "motel," San Luis Obispo, CA. 1946: Emerson Fittipaldi born, Sao Paulo, Brazil. 1949: Saab, a Swedish aircraft maker, began full-scale production of the Saab 92 automobile based on the prototype Saab 92001. 1953: NASCAR president Bill France disclosed plans for a 2.5-mile superspeedway in Daytona Beach. France estimated the facility would cost $1,674,000 to build and could open as early as 1955. 2000: GM declares that it will begin to phase out the 103-year-old Oldsmobile, the oldest automotive brand in the US. Oldsmobile had once been one of the most venerable and innovative American brands–Olds cars were the first to have decorative chrome trim, for example, and the first to have fully automatic transmissions. 2008: The White House and the Treasury said they were considering diverting money from the Wall Street rescue fund to stave off bankruptcy filings among US carmakers. 2017: Singapore launched an electric car-sharing service.
This Day in Automotive History 12/11/1894: The world’s first car show, the Exposition Internationale de Vélocipedie et de Locomotion Automobile, opened in Paris. Only four makes of motor vehicles were on display. 1905: Delage debuts in Paris. 1961: The Philco Corporation was acquired as a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company. 1962: The New York City Board of Estimate unanimously votes against a plan for a $100 million elevated expressway across the bottom of Manhattan. 1967: The Lincoln Continental Mark III was previewed by the press. The Mark III was created when Lee Iacocca, president of Ford Motor Company at the time, directed Design Vice President, Gene Bordinat, to "put a Rolls Royce grille on a Thunderbird". 1978: Mafia men use Ford Econoline to steal $5.8m in heist. 2006: MINI agreed to acquire John Cooper Works. They acquired the rights to the name in January 2007 and bought out the company in 2008. 2010: Nissan North American delivered its first all-electric Leaf to Olivier Chalouhi of Redwood City at a dealership in Petaluma, CA.
This Day in Automotive History 12/10/1902: Benz & Cie. presented the 1.5 liter Parsifal 8/10 hp at the Paris Motor Show. The two-cylinder engine was equipped with spray-nozzle carburetors, automatic intake valves, side-mounted upright exhaust valves and a lateral camshaft. 1915: The 1 millionth Ford car rolls off the assembly line at the River Rouge plant in Detroit. After he introduced the moving assembly line in 1913 the company’s productivity soared. 1917: BMW’s Trademark, a circular blue and white BMW, called a "roundel", was submitted for registration at the Imperial Patent Office, Germany. 1970: Ford elected Lee Iacocca as president. 1981: The Rouge Steel Company was formed as a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company. 2008: The $14 billion package to aid General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC collapsed amid disputes over union wage cuts. A band of mostly Republican Southern senators, including states that subsidized foreign auto makers, formed the heart of the opposition. 2013: General Motors names Mary Barra to succeed Dan Akerson as CEO making her the first female CEO in the global automotive industry.
This Day in Automotive History 12/9/1868: The world’s first traffic lights invented by the railway engineer J. P. Knight went into service to help Members of Parliament cross Bridge Street to and from the Houses of Parliament in London. 1903: Sanford, Maine based American Automobile and Power Company, incorporated. 1921: An engineer at General Motors named Thomas Midgeley Jr. discovers that when he adds a compound called tetraethyl lead (TEL) to gasoline, he eliminates the unpleasant noises (known as “knock” or “pinging”) that internal-combustion engines make when they run. Midgeley could scarcely have imagined the consequences of his discovery: For more than five decades, oil companies would saturate the gasoline they sold with lead–a deadly poison. 1945: American entrepreneur Preston Tucker revealed plans to produce the Torpedo, a new 150 mph car. 1963: After insufficient initial sales of the 1964 models and the ousting of president Sherwood Egbert, Studebaker announced the closure of its South Bend plant in Indiana. 1969: The AC Spark Plug Division of General Motors began developing the catalytic converter. 2005: Lotus unveiled its new two-seater £33,000 GT car. The Europa S followed the Lotus tradition of producing lightweight sports cars, weighing just 995 kg thanks to an aluminum chassis, similar to that found in the Elise and Exige. 2015: Genesis Motors announced the launch of its first model, the G90.
This Day in Automotive History 12/8/1861: William Durant born, Boston, MA. 1908: Four 80-acre tracts of land were purchased for $72,000 to build the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 1921: Carroll A Hochwalt created tetraethyl lead (TEL) by combining zinc ethyl and lead chloride, leading to the development of ‘ethyl’ gasoline (leaded). 1942: Architect and engineer Albert Kahn–known as “the man who built Detroit”–dies at his home there. He was 73 years old. Kahn and his assistants built more than 2,000 buildings in all, mostly for Ford and General Motors. 1945: The Toyota Motor Company received permission from the occupation government to start production of buses and trucks, vehicles necessary to keep Japan running. 1956: The Ford Ranchero debuts. 1981: The first Mitsubishi badged vehicles arrived on US shores. For the 1982 model year 30,000 vehicles were sent to the US, including the Tredia, Cordia and Starion models, followed by the Mighty Max pickup truck. 1991: General Motors announced the closure of 21 plants. 2005: Firestone, a multinational rubber manufacturing giant known for its automobile tires, came under fire from human rights and environmental groups for its alleged use of child labor and slave-like working conditions at a plantation in Liberia.
This Day in Automotive History 12/7/1888: John Boyd Dunlop, a Scottish inventor, was issued a patent for his pneumatic tire. 1906: Two 4 cylinder Hispano-Suiza luxury cars were unveiled at the Paris Salon. 1928: Hot rodder & racer Mickey Thompson is born. 1931: Last Model A produced. 1933: The first 1933 Pontiac Straight 8 was produced. 1950: Buick builds its six-millionth car. 1953: The Mercury Sun Valley coupe was introduced featuring a transparent Plexiglas section over the front half of the roof. 1964: New York City Board of Estimate votes to revive a controversial plan to build a 10-lane, $100 million elevated expressway across Lower Manhattan from the Holland Tunnel on the west to the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges on the east. 1979: The final MG Midget rolled off the assembly line. The car was first introduced in 1961 as a more spendy badge-engineered Austin-Healey Sprite. It had identical mechanicals as the Sprite, but in 1962 the 948cc engine was upgraded to 1098cc. The car would go through various changes until production ceased. There were 73,899 of the final generation Midget produced, with the last 500 for the home market being painted black.
This Day in Automotive History 12/6/1897: The London Electric Cab Company began regular service using cars designed by Walter Bersey. With a top speed of 9-12 mph, they could be driven 50 miles between charges. 1916: The first American LaFranc centrifugal pumper was delivered to Troy Fire Department, NY. 1939: The Rolls Royce ‘Silver Ripple’, a small prototype with 3.5 liter 6-cylinder engine, was completed. 1955: The Federal government standardized the size of license plates throughout the US. Previously; individual states had designed their own license plates, resulting in wide variations. 1963: The first 426 Hemi engine was successfully tested by the Chrysler Corporation. 1970: Myanmar made the super radical change from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right side. 1974: Citroen and Peugeot merged. 1976: Professional stuntwoman Kitty O’Neil sets the land-speed record for female drivers at the Alvord Desert in southeastern Oregon. The record hovered around 400 mph; O’Neil’s two-way average speed was 512.710 mph. 1989: Centre International de l’Automobile Museum opened in Paris.
This Day in Automotive History 12/5/1893: The first electric car in Canada, a two-seater with padded seats and wire-spoke wheels, was completed by John Dixon Carriage Works in Toronto. 1932: The first Ford Model C car was introduced. Powered by the first 4 cylinder engine made by Ford with a counter-balanced crankshaft, it was largely eclipsed, however, by Ford's other 1932 offering: the Ford V8. 1970: Last segment of the Dan Ryan Expressway opens in Chicago. Most of the Dan Ryan proper had opened in 1961; construction on the West Leg, or Interstate 57, began in 1967. The road got its name from Cook County Chairman Dan Ryan, who had written the 1955 bond issue that directed many millions of dollars to the county’s expressway-building fund. Today, his namesake road, despite being one of the widest in the world, is known for its frequent traffic jams. 1977: The first mass produced front wheel drive cars from the Chrysler Corporation, the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon, were introduced. 2019: Uber launched in Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan, part of its expansion into African markets with low levels of car ownership and limited mass transport.
This Day in Automotive History 12/4/1915: Henry Ford set sail for Europe from Hoboken, NJ, aboard the Ford Peace Ship, Oskar II. Ford came up with the idea of sending a boat loaded with himself and 170 prominent pacifists on a peace ship to Europe where war was raging to see if they could negotiate an agreement that would end the war. 1928: “Dapper Dan” Hogan, a St. Paul, Minnesota saloon keeper and mob boss, is killed when someone plants a car bomb under the floorboards of his new Paige coupe. 1948: Leading British car manufacturers Austin, Morris, Ford, Rootes, Standard and Vauxhall agreed to standardize motor parts in the interests of economy and efficiency. 1952: The Packard Clipper Sportster was introduced. Clippers were available in Special and Deluxe trim models, as two- and four-door sedans. A 1953 Clipper went from 0 to 60 mph in 17.6 seconds in a Popular Mechanics test. 1961: The 5 millionth Volkswagen was produced. 1971: GM's largest recall, 6.7 million vehicles due to motor-mount failure. 1998: The first personal computer specifically designed for use in a car, made by Clarion, went on sale in the US for $1,299. In addition to global positioning, AutoPC's Microsoft operating system responded to voice commands to change radio stations and CDs, and to check e-mail. 2009: General Motors and its Chinese partner SAIC announced a joint venture to produce small cars in India.
This Day in Automotive History 12/3/1910: Neon lighting, invented by French physicist Georges Claude, was first demonstrated at the Paris Auto Show. 1914: The first three Rolls-Royce armored cars were delivered to the British Armed Forces. The vehicles were based on a Rolls-Royce 40/50-bhp car chassis, to which were added armored bodywork and a single turret for a Vickers machine gun. 1951: Four-time Indy 500 winner, Rick Mears born, Wichita, KS. 1979: The last Pacer rolls off the assembly line at the American Motors Corporation (AMC) factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. When the car first came on the market in 1975, it was a sensation, hailed as the car of the future. “When you buy any other car,” ads said, “all you end up with is today’s car. When you get a Pacer, you get a piece of tomorrow.” By 1979, however, sales had faded considerably. Today, polls and experts agree: the Pacer was one of the worst cars of all time. 1999: In an online survey Americans chose the Ford Mustang as their all-time favorite car. 2014: Malaysian car manufacturer Proton officially announced plans to construct an automobile plant in Bangladesh.
This Day in Automotive History 12/2/1902: French engine designer Léon-Marie-Joseph-Clément Levavasseur patented the first working V8 engine in France. 1916: Uniontown Speedway in Uniontown, PA, holds first race, 5 die. 1927: Model A Ford goes on sale, it was the first Ford to use the standard set of driver controls with conventional clutch and brake pedals, throttle, and gearshift. 1956: Pontiac announced plans to produce a limited edition model with fuel injection. 1969: American Motors and Kaiser Industries Corporation signed an agreement whereby Kaiser could sell their Kaiser-Jeep operation to AMC. 1998: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced plans to host the United States Grand Prix Formula One race at the Speedway starting in 2000. 2002: Toyota delivers its first two “market-ready” hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCHVs, in the company’s shorthand) to researchers at the University of California at Irvine and the University of California at Davis. 2008: Hawaii unveiled plans to be first in the nation to roll out electric car stations statewide, a move Gov. Linda Lingle hailed as a major step toward weaning the islands off oil.
This Day in Automotive History 12/1/1893: Henry Ford was promoted to Chief Engineer of the Edison Illuminating Company. 1904: The first production Rover car, the Rover 8, designed by Edward W Lewis went on-sale. 1913: The Ford Motor Company installed the continuous moving assembly line for the mass production of an entire car, reducing the time it took to build a car from more than 12 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes. 1914: Maserati established in Bologna, Italy. 1925: General Motors buys Vauxhall. 1929: Enzo Ferrari founded the Scuderia Ferrari. 1942: The U.S. government imposed gasoline quotas to conserve fuel during the shortages of World War II. 1950: Chevrolet produces its 25,000,000th vehicle. 1955: Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat on a Montgomery city bus. 1967: American Motors Corporation hired Craig Breedlove to set long distance high speed records with their AMX. 1984: New York became the first US state to pass a law which required vehicle occupants to wear seatbelts. 1989: Ford spends $2.5 billion to buy Jaguar Cars. 2003: It became a specific offence to use a mobile phone in your hand whilst driving in the UK.
This Day in Automotive History 11/30/1900: Germany patents four-wheel-drive. 1907: The first exclusive show for motor trucks opened in Chicago, US with 29 exhibitors. 1911: William C. Durant and Louis Chevrolet announced plans to build a new automobile, the Chevrolet. 1933: The N.A.D.A. Official Used Car Guide, carrying the US government’s endorsement as the nation’s authority on used-car prices was published. 1960: De Soto production ends. 1960: The first International Harvester Scout rolled off the assembly line and would become the company’s most successful consumer vehicle to date. 1965: Ralph Nader publishes the book Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile. The book became a best-seller right away. It also prompted the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, seat-belt laws in 49 states (all but New Hampshire) and a number of other road-safety initiatives. 1973: The Mercury Bobcat was introduced as a badge-engineered Ford Pinto by the Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd., one year before the car would become available in the US. 2010: A report by the US national Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that evidence of drug use was being found with increasing frequency among drivers who died in motoring accidents.
This Day in Automotive History 11/29/1901: East 182nd Street in Bronx, New York, US was paved and opened. 1906: A group of Fiat racing drivers, including Vincenzo Lancia and his friend Claudio Fogolin, founded Lancia & C. Fabbrica Automobili in Turin, Italy. 1910: Ernest E. Sirrine of Chicago patented what was the first iteration of a traffic light. 1948: Australian prime minister Ben Chifley and 1,200 other people attended the unveiling of the first car to be manufactured entirely in Australia – an ivory-colored car officially designated the 48-215, but fondly known as the Holden FX. 1954: The last Allard car was produced. 1996: Top Volkswagen official Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua resigns from his job amidst accusations of racketeering and industrial espionage. 2004: For the second time in a month, a blind thief was arrested in Romania for stealing a car and crashing into a tree. 2006: Aston Martin unveiled one of the most eagerly anticipated convertibles of the year, the V8 Vantage Roadster at the 2006 Los Angeles Auto Show. 2007: Roger B. Smith (82), former chairman and CEO of General Motors, died in Detroit. He was the target of Michael Moore’s 1989 film “Roger & Me." During his term GM’s market share dropped from 45% to 36%.
This Day in Automotive History 11/28/1895: Piloting a gas-powered “horseless carriage” of his and his brother’s own design, the mechanic, inventor and now racecar driver Frank Duryea wins the first motor-car race in the United States. The race, sponsored by the Chicago Times-Herald, was intended to drum up publicity for the nascent American car industry. It worked, especially for the Duryeas: In the year after the Times-Herald race, the brothers sold 13 of their eponymous Motor Wagons, more than any other car maker in America. 1927: The Ford Motor Company began a massive advertising campaign in advance of the introduction of the Model A scheduled for December 1927. 1942: The first production Ford bomber, the B-24 Liberator, rolled off the assembly line at Ford's massive Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan. 1993: Steppenwolf drummer Jerry Edmonton (47) died in a car crash in Santa Ynez, CA. 1995: President Clinton signed a bill that ended the federal 55 mph speed limit. 2006: The start of Lewis Hamilton's F1 career came on the test track in Barcelona but lasted two laps before his McLaren broke down.
This Day in Automotive History 11/27/1870: Joseph Mack born, Mount Cobb, PA. 1889: Curtis P. Brady was issued the first permit to drive an automobile through Central Park in New York City. 1914: The Modoc Motor Company, a division of Montgomery Ward & Company, was dissolved after three years of operation. 1924: New York City's Macy department store held its first Thanksgiving Day parade down a two-mile stretch of Broadway from Central Park West to Herald Square. 1956: Future NASCAR great Junior Johnson pleaded guilty to making moonshine whiskey. 1957: The first spade of dirt was turned on the tract of land that would become the Daytona International Speedway. 1972: The 16,000,000th Pontiac, a blue 1973 Catalina sedan, was produced. 1996: The last Cadillac Fleetwood. 2007: Best known as a three-time Indianapolis 500 champion (now four-time), Hélio Castroneves and his partner, professional ballroom dancer Julianne Hough, won the fifth season of “Dancing With the Stars.”
This Day in Automotive History 11/26/1927: The Ford Motor Company announced the introduction of the Model A, the first new Ford to enter the market since the Model T was introduced in 1908. 1931: The first cloverleaf interchange to be built in the United States, at the junction of NJ Rt. 25 (now U.S. Rt. 1) and NJ Rt. 4 (now NJ Rt. 35) in Woodbridge, New Jersey, is featured on the cover of this week’s issue of the Engineering News-Record. (By contrast, a piece on the under-construction Hoover Dam was relegated to the journal’s back pages.) 1946: The Dearborn Motors Corporation was organized to market Ford tractors. 1948: The first Holden automobile was produced. Holden occupies a special place in Australia’s history as the manufacturer of the first all-Australian car. 1966: Mangusta, the first De Tomaso produced in significant numbers was introduced. 1968: The Audi 100 was shown to the press at the Ingolstadt City Theatre, Germany. 2007: The first production Jaguar XF was driven out of the Castle Bromwich factory.
This Day in Automotive History 11/25/1844: Karl Friedrich Benz, German engineer and entrepreneur who designed and developed the world’s first automobile powered by an internal combustion engine, was born. 1920: Gaston Chevrolet, the younger brother of famous automobile designer and racer Louis Chevrolet, was killed during a race in Beverly Hills, CA. 1925: The first Ford Motor Company airplane was completed. 1949: The 1,000,000th Cadillac is produced. 1953: Ford Motor Company’s Rouge Engine Plant rolled out the last of the flathead V8 engine, 21 years and 16,388,762 engines after Henry Ford’s affordable design put 8 cylinder power within the reach of everyman. 1966: The 1967 Plymouth Barracuda was introduced. 1990: After a howling wind- and rainstorm on Thanksgiving Day, Washington state’s historic floating Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge breaks apart and sinks to the bottom of Lake Washington, between Seattle and its suburbs to the east. Because the bridge’s disintegration happened relatively slowly, news crews were able to capture the whole thing on camera, broadcasting it to a rapt audience across western Washington. “It looked like a big old battleship that had been hit by enemy fire and was sinking into the briny deep,” said one observer. (He added: “It was awesome.”)
This Day in Automotive History 11/24/1849: John Froelich, the inventor of the first internal-combustion traction motor, or tractor, is born on this day in Girard, Iowa. In 1894, Froelich and eight investors formed the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company. In 1918, the John Deere plow-manufacturing company bought Waterloo for $2,350,000. The Waterloo Tractor Works, still owned by John Deere, remains one of the largest tractor factories in the US. 1900: The first gasoline-powered Pierce motor vehicle featuring a modified one-cylinder deDion 3 hp engine, was taken on a test drive through the streets of Buffalo, NY. 1965: The UK government introduced an experimental speed limit of 70mph on motorways in England. The trial was introduced due to the high number of accidents while drivers were free to go as fast as they liked after the first highway – the M1 – was opened in 1959. 1973: The Autobahn gets a speed limit. 1999: The Lincoln LS was named Motor Trend Car of the Year. It was the first Lincoln in decades to offer an optional manual transmission (V6 model only). 2005: Jaguar announced the armored XJ Long Wheelbase – its first-ever armored passenger vehicle.
This Day in Automotive History 11/23/1897: Ransom Eli Olds of Lansing, Michigan, was issued a US patent for his ‘motor carriage’, a gasoline-powered vehicle that he had constructed the year before. 1929: The first Oakland V-8 was produced. 1940: The Ford Motor Company delivered two jeep prototypes for testing at the US Army proving grounds at Camp Holabird, MD. 1954: The 50 millionth General Motors car is produced, Chevrolet General Manager Thomas Keating drove a gold plated 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe off a Flint, Michigan assembly line. 1966: Elvis Presley’s 22nd film, a rock ‘n’ roll musical called “Spinout” in which Elvis played a singing race car driver, opens in theaters across the U.S. The movie was the year’s 57th highest-grossing film. 1992: The Ford Mondeo was launched, with sales beginning on 22 March 1993. Intended as a world car, it replaced the Ford Sierra in Europe, the Ford Telstar in a large portion of Asia and other markets, while the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique replaced the Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz in North America.
This Day in Automotive History 11/22/1826: The Blanchard steam carriage was successfully tested in Springfield, MA by designer Thomas Blanchard. 1893: Automotive designer and executive Harley J. Earl was born in Hollywood, CA. 1900: The first car produced under the Mercedes name is taken for its inaugural drive in Cannstatt, Germany. 1918: Enzo Ferrari made his racing debut. 1927: The first patent for a snowmobile was granted to Carl Eliason of Sayner, WI. 1942: Tubeless tires were successfully tested. 1963: William Clay Ford purchased the Detroit Lions. 1963: John F Kennedy travelling in the presidential Lincoln Continental convertible was assassinated in Dallas, TX. No serving US president has travelled in an open top car since. 1999: Ford joined the US Postal Service to celebrate the issue of a special stamp honoring the Ford Mustang. 2005: Motor Trend magazine named the Honda Civic as 2006 Car of the Year.
This Day in Automotive History 11/21/1843: Vulcanized rubber was patented in England by Thomas Hancock, 8 weeks before Charles Goodyear in the US. 1904: Motorized omnibuses replaced horse-drawn cars in Paris, France. 1927: Time magazine puts the week-old Holland Tunnel on its cover. 1942:The 1,700-mile Alaska Highway, connecting the contiguous United States to Alaska through Canada, was formally opened. Building had begun after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii the previous year, and the road was first used to transport military supplies. It opened to the public in 1948. 1964: The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge across the entrance to New York City harbor between Brooklyn and Staten Island was opened to traffic. 1967: Rally driver and gymkhana pro Ken Block is born. 1970: Ford introduced the Boss 351 Mustang on this day in 1970 for the 1971 model year at the Detroit Auto Show. 2002: The Ford Thunderbird was named Motor Trend magazine’s Car of the Year for a record fourth time.
This Day in Automotive History 11/20/1907: The McLaughlin Motor Car Company was in Ontario, Canada, founded under Samuel McLaughlin (1871-1972). In 1910 he became a director of General Motors and sold his company in 1918 becoming president of General Motors of Canada. 1919: The 20,000th Essex, a 2-passenger roadster, was produced. The Essex is generally credited with starting a trend away from open touring cars design toward enclosed passenger compartments. 1920: GM names Pierre du Pont president. 1923: The US Patent Office grants Patent No. 1,475,074 to 46-year-old inventor and newspaperman Garrett Morgan for his three-position traffic signal. 1931: Rolls Royce purchased Bentley Motors for £125,275, thwarting an attempt by Napier to acquire the assets. 1951: Sears, Roebuck & Co. debuts Kaiser-built Allstate. 2003: Motor Trend named the Toyota's hybrid Prius as "Car of the Year." 2011: Famed Ferrari designer Sergio Scaglietti dies.
This Day in Automotive History 11/19/1912: Thomas Neal became the first Chairman of General Motors. 1925: British MPs considering the Criminal Justice Bill rejected prison sentences for reckless driving, but voted for sentences of up to 4 months for drunkenness whilst in charge of a car. 1954: The world's first automatic toll collection machine went into service at the Union Toll Plaza on NJ's Garden State Parkway. 1956: Henry Ford II announced that the Ford Motor Company's new marque would be called the Edsel and the Special Products Division would become the Edsel Division. 1959: Ford ceases Edsel production. 1967: Mario Andretti won the USAC Championship race at Phoenix. 1993: Toyota and General Motors sign an historic agreement: Beginning in 1996, GM will offer its bestselling Chevy Cavalier, refitted with right-hand drive, for sale in Japan. The Cavalier was one of the first American automobiles to hit the Japanese market. 2010: The Los Angeles Auto Show opened. Fiat, now associated with Chrysler, introduced its tiny Fiat 500 to the US public.
This Day in Automotive History 11/18/1906: Alec Issigonis (key designer behind the Mini) born, Smyrna, Ottoman Empire. 1936: Supercharging was offered as a $415 extra-cost option on the Cord 812. 1940: Buick builds its four-millionth car. 1960: Just two weeks after the 1961 DeSoto was introduced to an uninterested market, Chrysler announced the termination of the DeSoto marque. 1996: A revolutionary new Volkswagen factory opens in Resende, Brazil. The million-square-meter Resende factory did not have an ordinary assembly line staffed by Volkswagen workers: In fact, the only people on Volkswagen’s payroll were the quality-control supervisors. Independent subcontractors were responsible for putting together every part of the trucks and buses that the factory produced. 2012: Two and a half years after a group of investors announced it would bring Formula One racing to Austin, Texas more than 117,000 fans packed into the just-completed Circuit of the Americas to watch the US Grand Prix.
This Day in Automotive History 11/17/1902: Frenchman M Augieres drove a Mors Z Paris-Vienne internal combustion engine car to a record of 77.13 mph / 124 km/h in Dourdan, France. The Mors is most notable because it was the first gasoline engine vehicle to take the world land speed record. 1906: Soichiro Honda born, Hamamatsu, Japan. 1927: The Leyland Titan double deck bus was introduced in Britain. 1957: Carroll Shelby, best known by many for his Shelby Cobras and his modified Mustangs, drove John Edgar's Maserati 450S to victory in an SCCA National race at Riverside, CA. 1971: The inaugural 2,900 mile Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, from the Red Ball Garage in New York City to the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, California was won by Dan Gurney and Brock Yates in a Ferrari Daytona coupe. 1986: Georges Besse, the 58-year-old CEO of French automaker Renault, was gunned down just steps from his Paris home. 1998: The brand-new DaimlerChrysler began trading its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The company had formed five days earlier, when the American Chrysler Corporation merged with the German conglomerate Daimler-Benz AG.
This Day in Automotive History 11/16/1901: Riker Torpedo Racer sets the world speed record for electric cars. The car’s builder and pilot, an engineer named Andrew Riker, managed to coax his machine one mile down the straight dirt track in just 63 seconds. 1904: Los Angeles recorded its first automobile theft, a White steam-powered touring car, which was later recovered. 1925: Carmaker Vauxhall Motors of Luton was purchased by American giant GM for $2.5 million. 1929: Scuderia Ferrari was founded by Enzo Ferrari to enter amateur drivers in various races. 1937: Ferdinand Porsche was issued a United States patent for his torsion-bar suspension. 1950: Cadillac achieved six figure model year production for the first time – the 100,000th 1950 Cadillac was a Fleetwood Sixty Special Sedan. 1996: A monument honoring brothers John F and Horace E Dodge was dedicated at the site of their birthplace in Miles, MI. 2009: French tire maker Michelin announced plans to invest nearly $900 million to build a tire plant to supply India's fast-growing vehicle market.
This Day in Automotive History 11/15/1909: The 1000th Hupmobile was produced. 1965: At the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, 28-year-old Californian Craig Breedlove sets a new land-speed record—600.601 miles per hour—in his car, the Spirit of America, which cost $250,000 and is powered by a surplus engine from a Navy jet. 1977: At the Mahwah, NJ plant, workers completed the 100-millionth Ford to be built in America. The historic cream-and-gold 1978 Fairmont Futura went on a national tour to mark the milestone, with stops in Detroit and other US cities. 1999: The world’s first volume production line for aluminum cars opened in Neckarsulm, Germany. The facility costing over DM 300 million could produce 60,000 Audi A2 cars annually. 2006: BMW announced the start of production of the BMW Hydrogen 7, the world’s first hydrogen-powered luxury saloon car. 2008: Bernie Ecclestone, under fire after dismissing racial abuse of Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona earlier in the year as "a bit of a joke", called for anyone found guilty of the offence to be banned from the sport for life.
This Day in Automotive History 11/14/1832: The world’s first streetcar, named the John Mason, began operation in New York City, running between Prince and 14th Streets in Lower Manhattan. 1905: The Packard Motor Car Company was granted a trademark for its ‘Packard’ script logo. 1914: John and Horace Dodge completed their first vehicle. 1928: The Bayerische Motoren-Werke (BMW), an Eisenach, Germany motorcycle manufacturer, purchased the Dixi-Werke AG from Gothaer Waggonfabrik AG to enter the automobile. industry. 1945: Tony Hulman purchases Indianapolis Speedway from Eddie Rickenbacker for $750,000. 1962: The Jeep Wagoneer was introduced, it pioneered the sport utility vehicle concept. 1996: GM produced its first electric car, the EV1. Manufactured in Lansing, MI, the EV1 had a range of 70-90 miles before requiring a recharge. More than 1,100 EV1s were produced between 1996 and 1999, making it the first mass produced electric car from a major automaker in nearly a century. 2006: Texas officials closed the last two of Texas' famed Pig Stand restaurants, the only remaining pieces of the nation's first drive-in restaurant empire. The restaurants' owners were bankrupt, owing more than $200,000 in unpaid sales taxes.
This Day in Automotive History 11/13/1899: R.A.C. Smith is first person to drive a car through Central Park, N.Y.C. 1908: The Ford Model T made its world show debut at the Olympia Motor Exhibition in London, just weeks after production had begun in Detroit. 1934: The 10 millionth Chevrolet was produced, a 1935 Standard 4-door Sedan built in Flint, Michigan. 1971: “Duel,” directed by Steven Spielberg, featuring a demonic Peterbilt, debuts. 1974: 28-year-old Karen Silkwood is killed in a car accident near Crescent, Oklahoma, north of Oklahoma City. Silkwood worked as a technician at a plutonium plant operated by the Kerr-McGee Corporation, and she had been critical of the plant’s health and safety procedures. 2012: Motor Trend magazine named Tesla Model S its 2013 Car of the Year, the first time a non-gasoline powered vehicle received the honor. 2009: The Dutch government announced it would bring the polluter-pays principle into the home garage. As of 2012 rather than an annual road tax, drivers would pay a few cents for every kilometer on the road, in a plan aimed at breaking chronic traffic jams and cutting carbon emissions.
This Day in Automotive History 11/12/1895: The Automobile Club de France was founded. 1904: Importer Max Hoffman born, Vienna, Austria. 1908: Oldsmobile joins GM. 1909: The Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft registered the ‘Mercedes’ name as a trademark. 1927: Holland Tunnel opens, linking New York and New Jersey. 1936: Oakland Bay Bridge, crossing San Francisco Bay was officially opened. 1946: The Exchange National Bank of Chicago, instituted the first drive-in banking service in America. 1949: The first Volkswagen Type 2, later named the Transporter, rolled off the assembly line. 1965: Summers brothers set a land-speed record in Goldenrod, a quad-engine streamliner, at 409.277 MPH at the Bonneville Salt Flats. 1998: Daimler-Benz completed a merger with Chrysler to form Daimler-Chrysler.
This Day in Automotive History 11/11/1921: The world’s first traffic jam happened in Washington DC, on Armistice Day. It lasted 3 hours and involved 3,000 vehicles. The jam began as the procession of world leaders led by President Warren G Harding drove from the US Capitol to Arlington National Cemetery to bury the Unknown Soldier. 1926: US Route 66 was established, although signs did not go up until the following year. 1928: Two Studebaker Presidents average 85 MPH during 24-hour run, November 11-12. 1935: The Ford Motor Company exhibit at the California-Pacific Exposition in San Diego closed after hosting 2,2552,199 visitors. 1940: Willys unveiled its General Purpose vehicle, the "Jeep." The Willys Quad, featuring 4-wheel drive, was one entry in a US government competition for a small military utility vehicle. 1978: A stuntman on the Georgia set of “The Dukes of Hazzard” launches the show’s iconic automobile, a 1969 Dodge Charger named the General Lee, off a makeshift dirt ramp and over a police car. That jump, 16 feet high and 82 feet long (its landing totaled the car), made TV history. 1989: Jaguar entered a new era when the company became a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company. 2005: Automaker DaimlerChrysler AG ended its ill-fated involvement with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Co., selling its 12.4 percent stake in the company to Goldman Sachs for an undisclosed price.
This Day in Automotive History 11/10/1885: What is often considered the first modern motorcycle, the Daimler Reitwagen (“riding car”) was first rode on this day by 17-year-old Paul Daimler, son of German inventor Gottlieb Daimler, effectively making him the world’s first biker. 1903: The patent office awards U.S. Patent No. 743,801 to a Birmingham, Alabama woman named Mary Anderson for her “window cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles to remove snow, ice or sleet from the window.” 1914: The first Dodge came off the assembly line, a four-cylinder Dodge Model 30. 1925: Ford debuts Tri-Motor airplane. 1930: The Marmon Sixteen debuted at the Chicago Auto Show. 1942: The first GMC amphibious truck, dubbed the “DUKW”, was completed. 1953: The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation sold its Willow Run factory to GM. 1978: The 1,000,000th Mazda Wankel rotary engine was produced. 2007: The new Mini Clubman went on sale in the UK. 2020: BMW releases new flying vehicle footage.
This Day in Automotive History 11/9/1908: The first Cactus Derby, a 511 mile desert road race from Los Angeles to Phoenix began and was won by F C Fenner and H D Ryus driving a White steamer. 1932: The Pierce-Arrow V12 was introduced. 1937: Waldo D Waterman was issued in a United States patent for his Arrowbile, a combination automobile/airplane. The Arrowbile was a high-wing monoplane, with detachable wings and was powered by a Studebaker engine. Five Arrowbiles were built. 1941: At 3am drivers in Budapest switched to driving on the right. Bizarrely the rest of Hungary had changed at 3am on 6 July 1941 1960: Robert McNamara becomes the president of the Ford Motor Company. He would hold the job for less than a month, heading to Washington in December to join President John F. Kennedy’s cabinet. 1962: Fire destroyed the Albert Khan designed Ford Rotunda, originally built for the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, which opened in May of 1933 and ran for two years. Known as the Century of Progress Exposition, more than 40 million people visited. 2011: Toyota Motor Corp. said it was recalling about 550,000 vehicles worldwide, mostly in the United States, for problems that could make it harder to steer.
This Day in Automotive History 11/8/1866: Herbert Austin born, Buckinghamshire, England. 1908: The Hupp Motor Car Corporation was organized in Detroit. 1909: The first Hupmobile test drive. 1916: The International Motor Company was reorganized as the International Motor Truck Corporation. Their principal business was the manufacture of Mack trucks. 1918: The McLaughlin Motor Company of Canada was absorbed by GM. 1962: The famous Ford Rotunda stands in Dearborn, Michigan for the last time: the next day, it is destroyed in a massive fire. Some 1.5 million people visited the Rotunda each year, making it the fifth most popular tourist attraction in the US. 2005: The 24-millionth VW Golf rolled off the production line in Wolfsburg, Germany. 2006: Bristol announced the Bristol Fighter T, an 8.0-litre production car with an engine capable of 1,012 hp. The £350,000 Bristol Fighter T had a theoretical top speed of 270 mph. 2007: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, joined by 14 other states, sued the Bush administration over its refusal to let them enforce bigger auto emissions cuts than those required by the federal government.
This Day in Automotive History 11/7/1900: Packard’s first full page magazine advertisement appeared in ‘The Horseless Carriage’. 1918: Alfred P Sloan Jr was elected to the board of General Motors. 1949: The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation changed the serial number plates on all unsold 1949 Frazers and introduced them as 1950 models. 1956: The 9 millionth Buick was produced. 1965: A drag racer from Ohio named Art Arfons sets the land-speed record—an average 576.553 miles per hour—at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats. Arfons drove a jet-powered machine, known as the Green Monster, which he’d built himself out of surplus parts. 1969: The 250,000th Corvette (a Riverside Gold convertible) rolled off the assembly line. 1980: The “King of Cool,” Steve McQueen. passed away on this day in 1980 due to pleural mesothelioma, a cancer associated with asbestos exposure. 2001: Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. agreed to pay $41.5 million to head off lawsuits by states over defective tires. 2006: Toyota Motor Corporation acquired 5.9% of Isuzu Motors Ltd. 2019: Chinese electric car maker BYD Co Ltd and Japan's Toyota Motor Corp said they planned to set up a joint venture to design and develop battery electric cars as they ramp up efforts to produce zero emissions vehicles.
This Day in Automotive History 11/6/1888: William Steinway, a member of the piano-making family, acquired the rights to build Daimler cars in the United States. 1893: Edsel Ford born, Detroit, Michigan. 1899: First test run of Packard's first car. 1908: Carlo Abarth born, Vienna, Austria. 1944: The first Citroën truck left the Javel plant in France. 1947: The first shipment of post World War II Rolls Royce and Bentleys arrived in the US. 1954: Construction of the Cadillac Park Avenue show car began – the car, with modifications, was later produced as the ultra-luxury Eldorado Brougham. 1969: The Ferrari 512S was presented to the press at the Gatto Verde Restaurant, near Maranello, Italy. 1982: Rothmans Porsche 956s finished 1-2 in the non-championship 9-hour endurance race at Kayalami, South Africa. 1986: The destitute Alfa Romeo company approved its takeover by fellow Italian automobile manufacturer Fiat, shortly after rejecting a takeover bid by the Ford. 1998: President Clinton designates “Automobile National Heritage Area” in Detroit.
This Day in Automotive History 11/5/1863: James Ward Packard born. 1893: Raymond Loewy born, Paris, France. 1895: Inventor George B. Selden received US Patent No. 549,160 for his “road engine” (gasoline-powered automobile), granting him the monopoly on the concept of combining an internal combustion engine with a carriage. 1918: In his most ambitious political effort Democrat Henry Ford lost a US Senate race to Republican Truman H Newberry by about 7,500 votes out of the 430,000 votes cast. 1927: Britain’s first set of automatic traffic lights came into operation at Princes Square, Wolverhampton. 1950: The first Pebble Beach Road Races were staged, with the main event won by Phil Hill in a Jaguar XK120. 1965: The prototype Shelby GT 350H was shipped to the Hertz Corporation for testing, the first of 936 Ford Mustang-based muscle cars would be built to order for the rental car company. 1999: Ford introduced the all-new 6.0 L Power Stroke Diesel engine. 2009: In Germany thousands of Opel workers, fearing widespread layoffs, walked off the job to protest General Motors’ decision to abandon their Division’s sale to new owners.
This Day in Automotive History 11/4/1902: James W Packard and William A Hatcher were issued a United States patent for their 'H-slot' gear shift gate. 1904: The Type A, Citroën's first vehicle, was launched. 1910: The Morgan Company launched its original three-wheeler at the Olympia Motor Show in London. 1938: The new Mercury marque from Ford Motor Company was unveiled to the public. 1939: The Packard Motor Company exhibited the first air-conditioned car at the 40th Automobile Show in Chicago. 1944: The Scuderia Ferrari factory in Modena, Italy was bombed by the allies. 1953: The first General Motors Hydra-Matic transmission was produced at the Willow Run factory. 1962: The first Mexican Grand Prix, run at Mexico City, 7,300 feet above sea level. 1989: The first production model of the world's first three-door coupe, the Saturn rolled off the Spring Hill assembly line in Tennessee. 2000: Harold E. LeMay dies. He had amassed one of the largest personal collections of automobiles ever recorded. It contained upwards of 3,000 cars, trucks, motorcycles, military vehicles, buses and other modes of transport. 2017: A Koenigsegg Agera RS set a new record for the world's fastest production car with an average speed of 446.97 km/h (277.73 mph).
This Day in Automotive History 11/3/1900: First national auto show of Automobile Club of America, N.Y.C., Madison Square Garden. 1901: The first motor race in Japan was held. 1911: Swiss immigrant Louis Chevrolet and US entrepreneur Billy Durant founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Co. 1930: Detroit-Windsor Tunnel opens to traffic. 1953: The Dodge Firearrow show car with body by Carrozzeria Ghia was introduced. 1965: The Lamborghini Miura chassis was unveiled at the Turin Motor Show. Despite not having a body, multiple orders were placed by affluent customers. It featured a mid-mounted V12 engine and many consider the vehicle to be the grandfather of all super cars. 1966: The Maserati Ghibli, a two-door, two-seater coupe debuted at the Turin Motor Show. 1995: The US Postal Service issued 5 antique automobile stamps. 2007: Building work began in Abu Dhabi on the world's first Ferrari theme park. 2016: The White House said it would establish 48 national electric-vehicle (EV) charging networks on nearly 25,000 miles of highways in 35 US states.
This Day in Automotive History 11/2/1893: Battista Pininfarina born, Turin, Italy. 1895: The oldest surviving car magazine in the world, The Autocar, was launched - "in the interests of the mechanically propelled road carriage" - when, it is believed, there were only six or seven cars in the United Kingdom. 1902: First four-cylinder, gas-powered Locomobile hits the road. 1935: Ford's Zephyr debuts. 1935: Cord debuts the 810. 1978: Lee Iacoccoa joined Chrysler Corporation as President and Chief Executive Officer. 1983: The Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan begin to roll off of the assembly line. 1999: In the first-ever sale of electric vehicles by a major auto maker in Canada, Ford of Canada delivered 16 battery-powered, zero-emission 1999 Ford Ranger EV pickup trucks to Quebec-based customers. 2008: Lewis Hamilton became the youngest ever Formula One World Champion, aged 23 years, after finishing 5th at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
This Day in Automotive History 11/1/1895: First U.S. auto club formed. 1895: 1st Magazine devoted to motor vehicles ("The Horseless Age") printed. 1899: The first automobile show in the US opened in New York City as part of a general technology exposition. 1905: Ground breaking ceremonies were held in Flint, MI for the new Buick Motor Company factory. 1927: For the first time since the Model T was introduced in 1908, the Ford Motor Company began production of a significantly redesigned automobile, the Model A. 1930: President Herbert Hoover turns a telegraphic “golden key” in the White House to mark the opening of the 5,160-foot-long Detroit-Windsor Tunnel between the US city of Detroit and the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario. 1955: Studebaker's Hawk debuts. 1957: The Mackinac Straits Bridge, between Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas, opened to traffic. 1972: Having the body design executed by Bertone in an attempt to produce a "special" look, Lamborghini unveiled the Urraco P250 in Turin. 1982: Honda starts building cars in Marysville, Ohio. 2005: Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire LLC agrees to pay Ford $240 million to help cover the costs of the tire recalls, which amounted to $2 billion.
This Day in Automotive History 10/31/1901: Packard used its famous ‘Ask the man who owns one’ slogan in their advertising for the first time. 1902: Wilbur Shaw, Indy 500 three-time winner ('37, '39, '40), born. 1910: The Panama Canal Zone required all automobiles to be registered. 1920: Walter O Bentley resigned from Bentley and Bentley Ltd to devote full time to his position as Chief Engineer for Bentley Motors Ltd. 1957: Toyota establishes its US headquarters in an old Rambler dealership in Hollywood, CA. Toyota executives hoped to saturate the American second-car market with their small and relatively inexpensive Toyopet Crown sedans. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. sold its first Toyopet at the beginning of 1958; by the end of the year, it had sold 286 more, along with one behemoth Land Cruiser. 1958: The 1959 Ford Edsel line was introduced to the public. 1967: The first official Baja 1000 off-road race started in Tijuana, Baja California. 1988: Ford agreed to provide approximately $300 million in financing for acquisition of Budget Rent a Car by Breech Holdings Corp. 2019: Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot owner PSA said they plan to join forces in a 50-50 share merger to create the world's fourth-largest automaker, seeking scale to cope with costly new technologies and slowing global demand.
This Day in Automotive History 10/30/1893: Last day of Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition, a great fair that celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the New World and offered fair goers a chance to see the first gas-powered motorcar in the United States: the Daimler quadricycle. 1911: The Little Motor Car Company is formed. 1956: The 1957 Dodge cars and four-wheel-drive trucks were introduced, with the cars featuring torsion-bar front suspension. 1963: The 350 GTV, Lamborghini's first prototype design and forerunner of the later 350GT, the marque's first production model, was unveiled at the Turin Auto Show. 1996: Proton acquired an 80% stake in Lotus Group International Limited, valued at £51 million. 1998: Saturn was the first company to manufacture a coupe with a third door. To the critics' surprise, the design proved to be a hit with buyers.
This Day in Automotive History 10/29/1904: Barney Oldfield, driving the Peerless Green Dragon at Yonkers, NY, won the so-called 'World's Championship' by defeating three European cars in a match race. 1908: General Motor purchased Buick Motors for $4,000,000. 1926: The first joint Daimler-Benz products were presented at the Berlin Automobile Show 4 months after the two companies had merged, including the newly created Typ 200 and Typ 300. 1954: The last true Hudson left the assembly line on this day in 1954 following the May 1, 1954 merger with Nash to form American Motors. 1959: The Valiant compact car was introduced by the Chrysler Corporation. 1962: The Chrysler Corporation began its Consumer Delivery Program as a public hands-on test of the semi-production Chrysler Turbine Car. 1971: Duane Allman, a slide guitarist and the leader of the Allman Brothers Band, is killed when he loses control of his motorcycle and drives into the side of a flatbed truck in Macon, GA. 1991: The 30,000,000th Pontiac was produced, a white Bonneville SSei built at the Wentzville Assembly Centre in Missouri. 2006: Mercedes-Benz World was opened at the famous Brooklands race circuit in Surrey.
This Day in Automotive History 10/28/1908: The Rolls Royce 40/50 hp Balloon Car, known within the company as "The Cookie", was delivered to the Hon Charles Rolls in Derby, England. 1918: The Nesselsdorf Wagenbau automotive manufacturing company changed its name to Tatra. 1942: Utah imposed a statewide war time speed limit of 35 mph. This was done to save fuel and because new tires were not available due to war time efforts and those that were already on cars were becoming unsafe. 1954: Chevrolet introduces the small-block V-8. Arguably the greatest engine ever made and still used in Chevrolets today. 1971: Ferrari 365GT4 Berlinetta Boxer was unveiled at the Turin Motor Show. 1981: The 1982 Pontiac Phoenix and T100 compacts were introduced. 1983: Tokyo Motor Show opened its doors to the public on this day of that year, presenting the theme “Vehicles: Past, Present, and Future.” Toyota displayed 51 vehicles in total that year, which was the shows 25th anniversary. 1992: Duluth, MN mayor Gary Doty cuts the ribbon at the mouth of the brand-new, 1,480-foot–long Leif Erickson Tunnel on Interstate 35. With the opening of the tunnel, that highway—which stretches 1,593 miles, from Mexico to Canada—was finished at last. As a result, the federal government announced, the Interstate Highway System itself was 99.7 percent complete.
This Day in Automotive History 10/27/1911: Packard was issued with a US patent for its first special radiator cap. 1927: Production of the new Ford Model A, successor to the Model T, began at the Rouge assembly plant in Dearborn, MI. Prices for the Model A ranged from $385 for a roadster to $1400 for the top-of-the-line Town Car. 1937: The 1938 Cadillac Series 90 was introduced featuring a totally redesigned 135-degree V16. 1945: Ferdinand Porsche was arrested by U.S. military officials for his pro-Nazi activities, and was sent to France where he was held for two years before being released. 1957: Buck Baker becomes first consecutive NASCAR champion. 2006: The last Ford Taurus rolls off the assembly line in Hapeville, GA. The keys to the silver car went to 85-year-old Truett Cathy, the founder of the Chick-fil-A fast-food franchise, who took it straight to his company’s headquarters in Atlanta and added it to an elaborate display that included 19 other cars, including one of the earliest Fords. “I do have this disease of collecting cars,” Cathy told a reporter. 2007: The Bush administration and New York State cut a deal to create a new generation of super-secure driver’s licenses.
This Day in Automotive History 10/26/1908: Albert C. Champion organized the Champion Ignition Company in Flint, MI, which evolved into the AC Spark Plug Division of GM. 1909: General Motors buys Cartercar. 1926: The Auburn Automobile Company acquired Duesenberg Automobile & Motors Corp. 1929: It was announced that all buses would be red in London, as trials with yellow-and-red buses had proved unpopular. 1955: Sammy Swindell, who becomes a star in the outlaw sport of sprint-car racing, is born in Germantown, TN. 1966: The Nissan Sunny and Toyota Corolla were unveiled at the 13th Tokyo Motor Show. 1970: California became the first US state to offer vanity license plates as Governor Ronald Reagan presented the special plate 'AMIGO' to Mr and Mrs Robert E Klees of Fullerton. 1998: The Maserati 3200GT was officially introduced at the Paris Motor Show. 2004: Two Dutch policemen were embarrassed when a burglar stole their patrol car as they chased his getaway driver on foot. 2007: A judge in Los Angeles ruled that Britney Spears was no longer facing hit-and-run charges after she compensated the other car's driver.
This Day in Automotive History 10/25/1864: John Dodge born, Niles, MI. 1873: John Willys born, Canandaigua, NY. 1882: Karl Benz formed his first automotive venture, Gasmotorenfabrik Mannheim AG, but the firm would dissolve within three months. 1910: Barney Oldfield defeats boxer Jack Johnson in Brooklyn auto race. 1917: Dodge began full-scale truck production. 1931: George Washington Bridge opens to traffic. 1954: George Romney named AMC's chairman and CEO. 1956: The 1957 Hudsons, destined to be the last of the marque, were introduced. 1972: The 3 millionth Mini was built. A version of the original Mini design remained in production until 2000. 1975: Evel Knievel’s longest jump, 133 feet over 14 Greyhound buses on this day in 1975 at Kings Island, near Cincinnati, OH. 1986: Dire Straits guitarist, singer Mark Knopfler broke his collarbone after crashing in a celebrity car race before the Australian Grand Prix. 1999: Comedian Rowan Atkinson crashed his £650,000 McLaren F1 supercar £650,000, bought to celebrate the success of his movie in the role of Mr Bean.
This Day in Automotive History 10/24/1900: The Ohio Automobile Company, manufacturers of the Packard, held its first board meeting and elected James W Packard as President, George L Weiss as Vice President, and William D Packard as Treasurer. 1908: Locomobile's "Old 16" wins the Vanderbilt Cup, becoming the first American car to win an international race. 1931: Eight months ahead of schedule, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River. The 4,760-foot–long suspension bridge, the longest in the world at the time, connected Fort Lee, New Jersey with Washington Heights in New York City. 1951: Michelin & Cie were issued with a French patent for its radial tires. 1975: DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) founded. 1983: NBC News correspondent and anchorwoman Jessica Savitch (36) drowned when the car she was riding in went into a canal and flipped over making it impossible for her to escape. 2007: The Subaru Impreza WRX STI was introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show.
This Day in Automotive History 10/23/1868: Frederick William Lanchester, who patented disc brakes, born. 1896: William Jennings Bryan, riding in a Mueller-Benz provided by local dealer and manufacturer Henry Mueller, became the first US presidential candidate to campaign in an automobile during a stop in Decatur, IL. 1911: Ford Motor Company began intercontinental production when the first Model Ts left a factory in Trafford Park, Manchester, England, the first Ford assembly plant outside of North America. 1938: The Mercury was previewed for the press in Dearborn, MI, where it was announced that the new marque would be officially be called 'Mercury', not the 'Ford-Mercury' as originally suggested by Edsel Ford. 1946: Rolls Royce Ltd., completed their first post World War II car, a Bentley Mark VI standard saloon. 1983: U.S. Embassy in Beirut hit by massive car bomb. 1994: With a narrow victory over Rick Mast in the 500-miler at Rockingham, Dale Earnhardt won a record-tying seventh NASCAR Winston Cup championship. 2007: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., announced the launch of the Nissan GT-R.
This Day in Automotive History 10/22/1903: The Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM) sued the Ford Motor Company for violating the George Selden 'automobile' Patent. 1928: The Pep Auto Supply Company changed its corporate name to Pep Boys - Manny Moe & Jack. 1936: The Volkswagen Type 1 prototype was taken out for its first test drive. 1945: The first post-World War II Plymouth, a P15S Deluxe saloon, was produced. 1947: The Renault 4CV was released at the Paris Motor Show, signaling new energy in small car design. 1954: Ford Thunderbird sales begin. 1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Highway Beautification Act, which attempts to limit billboards and other forms of outdoor advertising, as well as with junkyards and other unsightly roadside messes, along America’s interstate highways. 1969: The Datsun 240Z sportscar was introduced. The first draft of the Datsun 240Z was created by German car designer Dr. Albrecht Graf von Goertz, a man who co-designed both the BMW 507 and the Porsche 911. 1980: Production ceased of the MGB, Britain's best-selling sports car. 1988: Jaguar XJ220 made its public debut as a concept car at the Birmingham Motor Show, England. 2003: Ferrari announced the official name for its all-new 2+2 model – the 612 Scaglietti.
This Day in Automotive History 10/21/1897: The oldest existing automotive manufacturer in the Western Hemisphere was founded. Louis Clark recruited his brothers John and James, his father Charles, and friend William Morgan to help him start the Pittsburg Motor Vehicle Company. Two years later the company moved from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Ardmore, changing its name to Autocar Company, as it is known today. 1927: First Model A Ford built. 1929: The 50th birthday of the incandescent light bulb, Henry Ford throws a big party to celebrate the dedication of his new Thomas Edison Institute in Dearborn, MI. 1955: The 1956 Pontiacs were introduced. For 1956, the engines were bumped to 5.2 litres (316 cubic inches) and the horsepower up to as high as 227. 1963: Honda imports first car to US. 1978: The Duesenberg II, a fiberglass bodied replica of the original 1930's Dusenberg Model J boat-tail speedster, was introduced in Elroy, Wisconsin by the Elite Heritage Motors Corporation. 1980: The last International Scout was produced, bringing the total to 532,674 over a 20 year run. 2010: Toyota recalled 1.53 million Lexus, Avalon and other models, mostly in the US and Japan, for brake fluid and fuel pump problems, the latest in a string of quality lapses for the world's No. 1 automaker.
This Day in Automotive History 10/20/1915: It was announced in London that women could apply for licenses to become bus and tram conductors. 1926: Francis W. Davis publicly demonstrated power steering in Detroit. 1954: The first General Motors fully-automated assembly line began producing Pontiac's new Strato Streak V-8 engine. 1965: The very last PV-series Volvo drives off the assembly line in Lundby, Sweden. The car, a zippy black Sport PV544 with red interior trim, went straight to the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg. PV-series Volvos had been in production, first as the PV444 and then as the PV544, since 1947 and 440,000 sold in all. 2017: The last car rolled of the production line of Australian automaker Holden. The company first started in the saddlery business in 1856 and made Australia's first mass-produced car in 1948.
This Day in Automotive History 10/19/1915: American actress Anita King, backed by Jesse L Lasky, the studio boss of Paramount Pictures, became the first female to drive alone across the US. 1924: Count Louis Vorow Zborowski (29), of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fame, died in wreck during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. 1945: Packard introduced its first post-World War II cars, the Clipper Eight Standard and Clipper Eight Deluxe. 1955: Aston Martin DB2/4 Mark II (1955 - 1957) was unveiled at the London Motor Show. 1962: The 6,000,000th Volkswagen was produced. 1965: MGB GT goes on sale. 1970: BP announced the discovery of major oilfields under the North Sea in the British sector. 1982: John Z. DeLorean is arrested and charged with conspiracy to obtain and distribute 55 pounds of cocaine. DeLorean was acquitted of the drug charges in August 1984, but his legal woes were only beginning. He soon went on trial for fraud and over the next two decades was forced to pay millions of dollars to creditors and lawyers.
This Day in Automotive History 10/18/1919: Rolls-Royce America, Inc., was established, and their luxurious motor cars would prove a favorite means of transport for America's elite during the roaring 1920s. 1933: R. Buckminster Fuller applied for a patent for his Dymaxion Car. The name Dymaxion was another Fuller invention: a combination of "dynamic," "maximum," and "ion". It was a three-wheeled, 20-foot-long, pod-shaped automobile that could carry 11 passengers and travel as fast as 120 miles per hour. It got 30 miles to the gallon, could U-turn in a distance equal to its length and could parallel park just by pivoting its wheels toward the curb and zipping sideways into its parking space. 1934: Oscar H. Banker, an Armenian-American inventor born in 1895, filed for a patent for a new type of automatic transmission. 1950: The new Consul and Zephyr launched at the Olympia Motor Show were the first Fords with monocoque body/chassis construction and the first cars in the world with MacPherson Strut front suspension, now an industry standard. 1982: The British government closed the DeLorean factory in Northern Ireland. 2017: Royal Dutch Shell opened its first electric vehicle recharging points at three petrol stations in Britain, part of the oil giant's efforts to respond to a global push toward zero-emission vehicles.
This Day in Automotive History 10/17/1902: The first Cadillac, a single-cylinder lightweight vehicle, was given its maiden test drive. Cadillac displayed the vehicle at the New York Auto Show in January 1903, where the vehicles impressed the crowds enough to gather over 2,000 firm orders. 1935: The first car to carry the Jaguar name – the Jaguar SS90 – was launched to tremendous acclaim at the London Motor Show. 1962: The Triumph Spitfire was launched at the London Motor Show. 1967: The movie "Bullitt" starring Steve McQueen was released in the US. Many critics consider "Bullitt" to be one of the greatest action movies ever made, not because of its script or special effects but because of one excellent seven-minute car chase through the streets of San Francisco, CA, US. 1973: The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) implements what it calls “oil diplomacy”. 1994: Taxicab driver Jeremy Levine returned to London from a round-trip journey to Cape Town, South Africa. Passengers Mark Aylett and Carlos Aresse had paid £40,000 for the 21,691-mile trip, setting a world record for the longest-known taxicab ride.
This Day in Automotive History 10/16/1903: Napier Cars announced a 6-cylinder car for 1904, thereby becoming the first to make a commercially successful ‘six’, described as a ‘remarkably smooth and flexible’ 18-bhp, 4.9-litre engine with 3-speed gearbox and chain drive. 1932: Ford Britain launched the Ford Model Y 'Popular'. It was the first Ford automobile specifically designed for markets outside the United States, replacing the Model A in Europe. 1958: Chevrolet begins to sell a car-truck hybrid that it calls the El Camino. Inspired by the Ford Ranchero, which had already been on the market for two years, the El Camino was a combination sedan-pickup truck built on the Impala body, with the same “cat’s eye” taillights and dramatic rear fins. 1974: Cars introduced at the opening of the London Motor Show included the Aston Martin Lagonda (long wheel-base, four-door version of the Aston Martin V8), Lotus Esprit (Worldwide launch), Lotus Eclat (2+2) (Worldwide launch), Panther De Ville (Worldwide launch - one of the most expensive cars being displayed at the time) and the Toyota 1100. 2002: Volvo XC90 received Motor Trend’s 2003 Sport Utility of the Year award.
This Day in Automotive History 10/15/1895: The first British Motor Show, the 1895 Horseless Carriage Exhibition. 1904: The first Reo was completed and taken for its initial test drive by Ransom E Olds. 1908: The Detroit Fire Department received its first motorized fire truck. 1924: Lee Iacocca born, Allentown, Pennsylvania. 1945: Oldsmobile resumes post-war production. 1945: The US Automotive Council for War Production, created in April 1942 to facilitate the sharing of resources, expertise, and manpower in defense production contracting, was deactivated. 1951: The 1952 Dodge Power Wagons were introduced. 1957: The Lotus Elite (Type 14) with its highly innovative fiberglass monocoque construction, made its debut at the 1957 London Motor Show, Earls Court. 1959: The 1960 Edsel models were introduced to the public. 1966: The US Department of Transportation was established as a cabinet level agency with Alan S Boyd appointed as its first Secretary of Transportation by President Lyndon B Johnson. 1976: The US Congress passed legislation establishing the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requiring all new automobiles manufactured to have an average fuel consumption of at least 18 mpg. 2004: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rules that hearse manufacturers no longer have to install anchors for child-safety seats in their vehicles.
This Day in Automotive History 10/14/1857: Elwood Haynes, “Grandsire of Gasoline Cars,” is born. 1897: Emil Jellinek of Nice, France took delivery of a belt-driven Daimler, leading to his association with the marque and its name change to Mercedes. 1899: The Literary Digest declared that ‘the ordinary horseless carriage is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as a bicycle’. 1938: The first contracts were awarded for construction of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. 1965: Oldsmobile debuts the front-wheel drive Toronado. It goes on to win Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award for 1966 as well as Car & Driver’s best all-around car award and Car Life’s Engineering Excellence award. 1968: One of the most expensive cars ever built, the US Presidential 1969 Lincoln Convertible Executive, was delivered to the US Secret Service. 1969: The government of Japan allowed foreign investment up to 50% in Japanese automobile companies. 1973: Jackie Stewart announced his retirement from motor racing. 1985: 27 students crammed into a Ford Sierra at the University of Nottingham to establish a new world record. 1992: The original US Interstate Highway system was proclaimed to be complete with the opening of I-70 through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado. 1997: Toyota launched the Prius, a hybrid-powertrain vehicle combining a 1.5-litre petrol engine with a generator that halved emissions, cut smog chemicals by up to 90% and went twice as far as a standard car on one gallon of fuel.
This Day in Automotive History 10/13/1902: Ohio Automobile Co. becomes Packard Motor Car Co. 1916: General Motors Corporation was incorporated under Delaware law and acquired all stock of General Motors Company. 1933: The last Invicta car was produced. 1953: The "Artmobile," the world's first mobile art gallery, began touring Virginia with an exhibition of art objects, making its first stop in Fredericksburg. The Artmobile was an all-aluminum trailer, measuring over 30 feet in length with an interior height of nearly 80 feet. The mini museum sought to bring items from the VMFA’s collection to far-flung areas of the state. 1954: The first Hudson Rambler was produced at the Kenosha, WI factory. 1957: The Edsel Show, a one-hour TV special to promote the Ford Edsel range of cars, hosted by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong and Rosemary Clooney was aired on CBS. 1963: Custom car designer Chip Foose is born. 1964: Craig Breedlove drove his "Spirit of America" on the Bonneville Salt Flats to a new World Land Speed Record of 468.719 mph.
This Day in Automotive History 10/12/1868: August Horch, Audi founder is born
in Winningen, Rhenish Prussia. 1903: The National Automobile & Motor Company of Oshkosh, WI, was liquidated. 1920: Construction of the Holland Tunnel began. 1935: Regular production of the Rolls Royce Phantom II ceased. 1940: Cowboy-movie star Tom Mix is killed when he loses control of his speeding Cord Phaeton convertible and rolls into a dry wash (now called the Tom Mix Wash) near Florence, AZ. 1948: The first Morris Minor car in Britain went on sale, costing £382 including taxes. 1950: 500,000th Kaiser-Frazer built. 1950: Society of Motion Picture Art Directors hails 1951 Packard as "the most beautiful car of the year". 1977: The US Supreme Court ruled that communities have a right to prevent commuters from parking in residential neighborhoods. 1993: A decade after it was first introduced, the one-millionth Camry rolled off a Toyota assembly line. 2005: Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire agreed to pay $240 million to the Ford Motor Company to settle claims related to the tiremaker’s 2000 recall of defective tires. 2014: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., often abbreviated as FCA, the world's eighth largest auto maker was founded by merging Fiat and Chrysler into a new holding company.
in Winningen, Rhenish Prussia. 1903: The National Automobile & Motor Company of Oshkosh, WI, was liquidated. 1920: Construction of the Holland Tunnel began. 1935: Regular production of the Rolls Royce Phantom II ceased. 1940: Cowboy-movie star Tom Mix is killed when he loses control of his speeding Cord Phaeton convertible and rolls into a dry wash (now called the Tom Mix Wash) near Florence, AZ. 1948: The first Morris Minor car in Britain went on sale, costing £382 including taxes. 1950: 500,000th Kaiser-Frazer built. 1950: Society of Motion Picture Art Directors hails 1951 Packard as "the most beautiful car of the year". 1977: The US Supreme Court ruled that communities have a right to prevent commuters from parking in residential neighborhoods. 1993: A decade after it was first introduced, the one-millionth Camry rolled off a Toyota assembly line. 2005: Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire agreed to pay $240 million to the Ford Motor Company to settle claims related to the tiremaker’s 2000 recall of defective tires. 2014: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., often abbreviated as FCA, the world's eighth largest auto maker was founded by merging Fiat and Chrysler into a new holding company.
This Day in Automotive History 10/11/1901: A White steamer driven by Robin H White won the 5 and 10 mile races in Detroit, Michigan, often cited as the first 'serious' track races in the US. 1928: The MG M-type (also known as the MG Midget) made its debut at the London Motor Show opened at Olympia. 1932: The Mack trucks "Bulldog" mascot was patented by designer A F Masury. 1954: The first Jeep CJ-5 was produced. A total of 603,303 CJ-5s were produced between 1954 and 1983. 1966: Jensen presented its latest models, the FF and Interceptor. The Jensen Interceptor was one of the biggest and best British GTs ever built. In 1966 it catapulted Jensen into the upper echelons of the supercar manufacturers. 2005: The new Bugatti Veyron 16.4 was presented in Madonie in Sicily 2008: A man from Belgium named Luc Costermans sets a new world speed record for blind drivers: 192 mph. Costermans set the record in a borrowed Lamborghini Gallardo on a long, straight stretch of airstrip near Marseilles, France. He was accompanied by a carload of sophisticated navigational equipment as well as a human co-pilot, who gave directions from the Lamborghini’s passenger seat. 2010: George Michael was released from Highpoint Prison in Suffolk, England after serving four of an eight week sentence for driving under the influence of drugs.
This Day in Automotive History 10/10/1900: The first Packard magazine advertisement appeared. 1919: The legendary Hispano-Suiza H6 luxury car was introduced at the Paris Motor Show. 1958: The 5th Tokyo Motor Show was opened. Many innovative models were exhibited. A midget car, "Subaru 360" attracted much attention amid the people’s car boom. 1974: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is born. 1987: The song “Here I Go Again” by English hard-rock group Whitesnake tops the Billboard pop singles chart in the United States. Today, what most people remember about the song is its saucy video: The actress Tawny Kitaen spends a great deal of it in a white negligee, writhing and cartwheeling across the hoods of two Jaguars parked next to one another. It is one of the most iconic music videos of the 1980s, and it features two of the most famous cars in pop-culture history. 1988: The first 1989 Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar were produced at the Ford Motor Company's Lorain, Ohio factory. 2002: Ford and GM announced a partnership to develop all-new fuel-efficient transmission. 2012: Toyota recalled 7.43 million cars, trucks and SUVs worldwide to fix faulty power window switches that can cause fires. This was the largest recall in Toyota's 75-year history.
This Day in Automotive History 10/9/1899: The first regular petrol motor-bus service in Great Britain began in London. 1959: The first phone call between a car and airplane took place. 1962: The 1,000,000th Volkswagen Transporter was produced. 1972: Emerson Fittipaldi became the youngest driver to win the Formula 1 World Championship and the first Brazilian ever to do so. 1992: 18-year-old Michelle Knapp is watching television in her parents’ living room in Peekskill, New York when she hears a thunderous crash in the driveway. Alarmed, Knapp ran outside to investigate. What she found was startling, to say the least: a sizeable hole in the rear end of her car, an orange 1980 Chevy Malibu; a matching hole in the gravel driveway underneath the car; and in the hole, the culprit: what looked like an ordinary, bowling-ball–sized rock. It was extremely heavy for its size (it weighed about 28 pounds), shaped like a football and warm to the touch; also, it smelled vaguely of rotten eggs. The next day, a curator from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City confirmed that the object was a genuine meteorite. 1997: The Alfa Romeo 156 was launched in Lisbon. 2005: A driverless Volkswagen won the $2-million Pentagon-sponsored race across the rugged Nevada Desert, beating four other robot-guided vehicles. One of the aims of the race was to develop technology to make warfare safer for humans.
This Day in Automotive History 10/8/1869: J. Frank Duryea born, Washburn, IL. 1890: Edward Rickenbacker born, Columbus, OH. 1904: New York's first Vanderbilt Cup Race is held. 1917: The first Fordson tractor went in sale in the US. 1931: The last Oakland, a Series 301 sedan, was produced when the brand was dropped by General Motors in favor of the division's Pontiac make. 1933: Galvin Manufacturing Corporated, under the direction of Paul V. Galvin and Joseph E. Glavin invest and install the first car radio. 1938: Mercury production begins. 1949: The British military government placed the trusteeship of the Volkswagen factory in German hands. 1958: Ray Lemke opened the first independent Datsun dealership in the US in San Diego, CA 1959: Ford debuts Falcon. 1961: First running of the U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. 1977: Ford Fairmont and Mercury Zephyr were introduced. 1983: Motorsports racer X Games champion Travis Pastrana is born.
This Day in Automotive History 10/7/1913: In attempting to find ways to lower the cost of the automobile and make it more affordable to ordinary Americans, Henry Ford took note of the work of efficiency experts like Frederick Taylor, the "father of scientific management." The result was the assembly line that reduced the time it took to manufacture a car, from 12 hours to 93 minutes. 1937: The Renault Juvaquatre, a small family car, was showcased at the Paris Motor Show and put on sale the following year. 1945: The first post-war Cadillac comes off the production line. 1948: Citroen debuts 2CV. 1960: CBS broadcasts the premiere episode of "Route 66". The program had a simple premise: It followed two young men, Buz Murdock and Tod Stiles, as they drove across the country in an inherited Corvette (Chevrolet was one of the show’s sponsors). 1964: Art Arfons driving the Green Monster on Bonneville Salt Flats, UT established a World Land Speed Record of 434.022 mph (664.694 km/h). 2016: Ford Motor Co. ended 91 years of car manufacturing in Australia.
This Day in Automotive History 10/6/1910: Orazio Satta Puliga, a winning Alfa Romeo designer of the 158/159 Alfetta race cars that raced in 54 Grand Prix races and won 47 of them, is born. 1926: Duesenberg was incorporated into the Auburn-Cord company. Two years later, Cord introduced the Duesenberg Model J to the American public. 1931: The 1931 Oldsmobile 'Eagle' mascot was patented by designer William Schnell. 1938: The Mercury marque was launched by Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford as market entry-level luxury cars slotted between Ford-branded regular models and Lincoln-branded luxury vehicles. 1955: Lincoln Continental MK II introduced at Paris Auto Show. 1966: Cadillac debuts the front wheel drive Eldorado. 1993: The last segment of the Natchez Trace Parkway’s Double Arch Bridge is put into place. The $11 million, 1,572-foot–long bridge carries the parkway over Route 96 near Franklin, Tennessee. It was the first precast segmental concrete arch bridge to be built in the United States.
.This Day in Automotive History 10/5/1900: The prototype Black steamer was taken for its first test drive in West Chester, Pennsylvania, US by designer Stephen C Black. 1919: Enzo Ferrari takes part in his first car race, a hill climb in Parma, Italy. He finished fourth. Ferrari was a good driver, but not a great one: In all, he won just 13 of the 47 races he entered. 1926: The Dort Motor Car Company was officially dissolved. 1940: The DeSoto S-8 series was introduced, featuring 'Rocket' bodies. 1954: Agreement signed to build Kaiser-Frazers in Argentina. 1955: After 18 years of development in secret as the successor to the Traction Avant, the Citroën DS19 caused a sensation on its launch at the Paris Motor Show 1964: Limo JFK was shot in returns to presidential service. 1967: Jaguar announced a revised E-type, known retrospectively as the Series 1½. 1981: The six year production run of the Triumph TR7 ended as the last of 111.648 cars was completed. 1999: Using its famed muscle cars, interactive exhibits and a head-turning concept car tower, DaimlerChrysler unveiled its American heritage to the world at the opening of the Walter P. Chrysler Museum. 2005: Toyota Motor Corporation announced it had agreed to buy an 8.7 per cent stake in rival Japanese carmaker Fuji Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru cars, from General Motors for about $315 million.
This Day in Automotive History 10/4/1916: The Henry Ford Trade School officially opened in Highfield Park, MI. The school trained teen-aged boys in a variety of skilled, industrial trade work -- machining, metallurgy, drafting, and engine design among others. The boys created useful components for local factories in hands-on lab and shop classes. 1934: The Citroen 22CV, a vehicle with a V8 3,822 cm3 engine developing 100 bhp, was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show. 1937: Blues singer Bessie Smith, killed in Mississippi car wreck, is buried. 1951: The first Willys Aero was produced. 1962: Buick debuts Riviera. 1973: GM premiered the stunning mid-engined Corvette four-rotor and two rotor prototypes at the Paris Motor Show. Both used rotary engines based on Wankel technology. 2000: After 41 years the Rover Mini finally ended production. 2010: The VW Passat Bluemotion broke the Guinness World Record by covering 1,531 miles – the distance from London to Malaga in Spain – without stopping to refuel.
This Day in Automotive History 10/3/1894: Edward J Pennington of Cleveland, OH, applied for a patent for his 'motor vehicle', notable for its balloon tires. He is sometimes credited with having invented the word "motorcycle"; he used the term as early as 1893. Pennington built and demonstrated his original motorcycle design in Milwaukee in 1895. 1928: The Ford Motor Company announced its entry into the bus business. 1935: Peugeot introduces the 402. 1939: The Lincoln Continental was introduced. 1945: Chevrolet manufactures its first post war vehicle. 1961: The United Auto Workers (UAW) union goes on strike at Ford plants across the country to win higher wages and better benefits for its members. 1967: The Triumph TR5 was launched. 1968: Peugeot displayed the 504 at the Paris Motor Show, which would be elected Car of the Year in 1969. 2014: Bridgestone showed off a second-generation prototype of its Air Free tire.
This Day in Automotive History 10/2/1902: The Ohio Automobile Company became Packard Motor Car Company. 1912: William S. "Bunkie" Knudsen born. 1936: The first Kenworth cab-over-engine truck was produced. 1945: BMW’s assets were seized and the US Army declared it subject to reparations. 1948: Checkered flag waves at first postwar US road race in Watkins Glen, NY. 1954: The 100,000th Volkswagen Transporter was produced. 1959: Chevrolet debuts Corvair. 1975: The Pininfarina-styled Ferrari 308 GTB was introduced at Paris as a supplement to the odd Bertone-shaped Dino 308 GT4 and a replacement for the 246 Dino. 1978: The first Yugo 45 was handmade. 1978: Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the DeLorean Motor Car Company factory in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. 1994: Oscar De Vita (Italy) driving the Bertone ZER (Zero Emission Record) prototype at the Nardo Circuit, Italy recorded the greatest distance covered in 1 hour by an electric car - 124.2 miles. The streamlined car was also the first electric vehicle to break the 300 km/h (186 mph) barrier. 2019: The US National Transportation Safety Board recommended that new vehicles that are stretched into limousines should have safety belts for all seats and seats that better protect passengers in a crash.
This Day in Automotive History10/1/1847: The world's first sale of pneumatic tires was made to Lord Lorane of Albany Park, Guilford, England. 1903: The Ford Motor Company was immediately profitable. Less than 4 months after its formation it announced profits of almost $37,000 and a dividend of 10%. 1908: The Ford Model T, the first car for millions of Americans, hit the market. Each car cost $825. Over 15 million Model Ts were eventually sold, all of them black. The model was discontinued in 1927. 1939: Buses began replacing trams in Sydney, Australia and heralded the end of the tram network. 1940: The Pennsylvania Turnpike, America's first example of a toll superhighway, officially opened for service. 1954: Packard purchased Studebaker, creating the Studebaker-Packard Corporation. 1963: The Pontiac GTO was introduced as an option package for the deluxe Tempest, available with the two-door coupe, hardtop, and convertible body styles. 1964: Ferrari introduced the 275 GTB at the Paris Motor Show. 1974: Last Imperial introduced. 1979: Henry Ford II stepped down as Ford’s chairman and CEO and was succeeded by Philip Caldwell.
This Day in Automotive History 9/30/1901: Compulsory car registration for all vehicles capable of driving over 18mph (29 km/h) took effect throughout France. 1935: William Lyons announced that SS Cars would launch a new SS Jaguar touring saloon. 1955: James Dean is killed in Cholame, California, when the Porsche he is driving hits a Ford Tudor sedan at an intersection. The driver of the other car, 23-year-old California Polytechnic State University student Donald Turnupseed, was dazed but mostly uninjured; Dean’s passenger, German Porsche mechanic Rolf Wütherich was badly injured but survived. Only one of Dean’s movies, “East of Eden,” had been released at the time of his death (“Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant” opened shortly afterward), but he was already on his way to superstardom–and the crash made him a legend. 1959: The Ford Motor Company announced plans to produce the compact 'Comet'. 1966: Mercury Cougar was introduced as "America's first luxury/sports car at a popular price." 1986: The first British-built Nissan, a Bluebird was completed and presented to H R H Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. 1996: The 90 millionth Toyota, as silver Aristo 3.0V, was produced. 2000: Ferrari introduced a convertible version of the 550 at the Paris Motor Show. 2009: The Penske Automotive Group Inc. announced it is walking away from a deal to acquire the Saturn brand from GM.
This Day in Automotive History 9/29/1888: Car enthusiast William Steinway (of Steinway piano fame) concluded licensing negotiations with Gottlieb Daimler, gaining permission to manufacture Daimler cars in the US. 1908: General Motors purchased the Buick Motor Company for about $3,750,000, in effect a sale from and to William Durant to become the cornerstone of the new corporation. 1913: Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the engine that bears his name, disappears from the steamship Dresden while traveling from Antwerp, Belgium to Harwick, England. 1929: The Packard 734 Speedster Eight was introduced. Intended as Packard’s driver’s car, the 734 Speedster was a powerful, robust car that outperformed is luxurious counterparts in the Packard range. 1953: The automotive press got their hands on the Chevrolet Corvette for test and review, as the Corvette was officially released. 1965: Aston Martin launched the 150 mph DB6. 1966: The first-generation Chevrolet Camaro appeared in dealerships for the 1967 model year on a brand-new rear-wheel drive GM F-body platform. 2018: It was announced that Tesla and CEO Elon Musk had agreed to pay a total of $40 million and made a series of concessions to settle an SEC lawsuit alleging Musk had duped investors with misleading statements about a proposed buyout of the company.
This Day in Automotive History 9/28/1923: BMW exhibited the R32 to the public for the first time. It had a 500 cc air-cooled horizontally-opposed engine. 1926: A Ford sales branch opened in Alexandria, Egypt. 1938: Charles Duryea dies in Philadelphia at the age of 76. 1948: Henry Ford II told his Forward Product Planning Committee to begin research on production of a new medium-priced car, that eventually resulted in the Edsel. 1949: The stunning Jowett Jupiter, the Bradford company’s only sports car, first appeared at the London Motor Show. 1950: The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation officially introduced the Henry J as a new marque. 1957: American Motors formally announced the termination of the Hudson and Nash marques. 1962: The 1963 Chevrolet cars and trucks were introduced on the same day that the 48,000,000th Chevrolet was produced. 2002: The British-built Mini Cooper was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show. 2011: Cuba legalized the sale and purchase of automobiles for all citizens. Before this date only cars that were in Cuba before the 1959 revolution could be freely bought and sold, which is why there are so many US-made vintage 1950s cars on the streets.
This Day in Automotive History 9/27/1900: Packard's first magazine advertisement appeared in The Motor Review. 1904: The R E Olds Company changed its name to the Reo Car Company (later amended to the Reo Motor Car Company) to avoid a legal confrontation with the Olds Motor Works. 1908: The first factory-built Ford Model T was completed. 1925: Construction began on the infamous Nürburgring racing circuit. 1928: The first cornerstone of the Henry Ford Museum was laid in Dearborn, MI. 1940: The Ford Econoline trucks were introduced. 1967: A French television network begins to broadcast the first (and only) season of the American sitcom “My Mother, The Car,” the first TV show to star a talking automobile. 1972: Mack Trucks, Inc. contributed $1 million to establish the American Truck Museum and Library in Allentown, PA. 1986: Metallica Bassist Cliff Burton dies in bus crash. 2007: The Alfa 8C Competizione supercar and film star Scarlett Johansson came top of a poll, carried out by the Prestige and Performance Motor Show MPH ’07 and the 4Car website, to find the ‘perfect car and passenger of our dreams’.
This Day in Automotive History 9/26/1903: The trade name "Mercedes" was legally registered by Emil Jellinek. He used the his daughter's name for a line of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft cars, beginning with the Mercedes 35 hp model of 1901. 1909: Bill France (the founder of NASCAR) born, Washington, DC. 1928: Work begins at Chicago’s new Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. (The company had officially incorporated the day before.) In 1930, Galvin would introduce the Motorola radio, the first mass-produced commercial car radio. (The name had two parts: “motor” evoked cars and motion, while “ola” derived from “Victrola” and was supposed to make people think of music.) 1957: French scooter company ACMA introduced the Vespa 400 microcar in Monaco. 1962: The Ford Motor Company announced a two-year, 24,000 mile warranty on all of its 1963 cars and trucks 1967: AMC's Javelin debuts. 1982: The first episode of the television show Knight Rider aired. The real star of the show was "KITT," a modified Pontiac Firebird. 2005: Bentley announced the introduction of the W12 561hp convertible Continental GTC. 2015: Switzerland temporarily banned the sale of Volkswagen (VW) diesel-engine models which could have devices capable of tricking emission tests.
This Day in Automotive History 9/25/1897: The first gas-powered bus service in Great Britain was started in Bradford by J E Tuke of the Yorkshire Motor Car Company Ltd. 1913: Ford signed a contract signed to sell the Model T in China. 1926: Henry Ford announced the 8-hour, 5-day working week. 1962: GM announced a two-year, 24,000-mile blanket warranty on all of its 1963 cars and trucks. 1963: First ads run for Chevrolet Chevelle. 1975: Brinklin Canada Ltd declared itself bankrupt, ending production after a two year run of 2,872 cars. 1987: Ray Harroun's place in history was sealed when the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp featuring the famous racing champion. 2000: The Neiman Marcus Edition of the model year 2002 Ford Thunderbird set a world record for any vehicle offered through the Neiman catalogue. The 200 vehicles [intended to be collectors' items] were completely sold out within 2 hours and 15 minutes after the phone lines opened. 2004: Chinese officials gather at the brand-new Shanghai International Circuit racetrack in anticipation of the next day’s inaugural Formula One Chinese Grand Prix.
This Day in Automotive History 9/24/1892: Daimler Motoren-Gesellschaft took delivery of its first magneto ignition system as designed by Gottlob Honold and Robert Bosch. 1909: Virgil Exner born, Ann Arbor, MI. 1917: Australia introduced driving tests. The first person to pass was Herbert H Klinberg. 1921: The first race at the Avus circuit in Germany was won by Fritz Von Opel driving an Opel. 1948: Motorcycle builder Soichiro Honda incorporates the Honda Motor Company in Hamamatsu, Japan. In the 1960s, the company achieved worldwide fame for its motorcycles (in particular, its C100 Super Cub, which became the world’s best-selling vehicle); in the 1970s, it achieved worldwide fame for its affordable, fuel-efficient cars. 1949: Trolley buses replaced trams in Auckland, the first New Zealand city to do so. By 1964, the last tram ran in Wellington. 1954: The iconic Routemaster bus was first revealed to the public by London Transport at the Commercial Motor Show in Earl's Court. 1998: Jaguar’s Heritage Museum opened. The purpose-built centre boasts a large display of Jaguars, Daimlers, Lanchesters and Swallows which date back to 1897. 2007: More than 73,000 General Motors Corp workers walked off the job after marathon contract talks between the United Auto Workers Union and General Motors stalled and the union called the first national strike since 1970 against the top U.S. automaker.
This Day in Automotive History 9/23/1861: Robert Bosch born, Albeck, Germany. 1915: William C Durant incorporated the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware as a holding company with the eventual goal of allowing the new firm to purchase a controlling interest in General Motors. 1921: The Maybach W3 was unveiled at the Berlin Motor Show and immediately attracted considerable attention due to its advanced technology. 1933: Standard Oil geologists arrive in Saudi Arabia. 1940: The American Bantam Car Company completed the first Jeep prototype and delivered it to US government testers at Camp Holabird, MD. 1968: The Triumph GT6 MkII was launched. 1969: Dodge Challenger debuts. 1972: Crystal Palace Park in south London, England, saw its final professional race. Club events would continue through 1974 before the track closed indefinitely. The circuit opened in 1927 with a motorcycle race on May 21. 2018: Sports car maker Porsche said it would become the first German auto giant to abandon the diesel engine, reacting to parent company Volkswagen's emissions cheating scandal and urban driving bans.
This Day in Automotive History 9/22/1893: Duryea Brothers test first car. 1903: The new Packard Motor Company factory in Detroit opened. 1953: The first four-level (or “stack”) interchange in the world opens in Los Angeles, California, at the intersection of the Harbor, Hollywood, Pasadena, and Santa Ana freeways. It was, as The Saturday Evening Post wrote, “a mad motorist’s dream”: 32 lanes of traffic weaving in eight directions at once. 1955: The BMW 507 was launched at the 1955 Frankfurt Motor Show. Initially intended to be exported to the United States at a rate of thousands per year, it ended up being too expensive, resulting in a total production figure of 252 cars and heavy losses for BMW. 1999: First European "Pilot Car Free Day” was held. 66 French towns participated in "En ville, sans ma voiture ?", while in parallel 92 Italian towns organized the first Italian National Car Free Day, "In città senza la mia auto". 2001: Toronto became first Canadian and North American city to officially host a Car Free Day. 2003: California signed into law a privacy bill, effective Jul 1, 2004, that prevents use of vehicle recorded data without the consent of the owner. GM began installing data boxes in the 1970s.
This Day in Automotive History 9/21/1895: Duryea Motor Wagon Company founded. 1903: Preston Tucker born, Capac, Michigan. 1935: The Cord 810 was previewed to dealers. The styling of the Cord 810 was the work of designer Gordon M. Buehrig and his team of stylists, which included young Vince Gardner and Alex Tremulis. 1945: Henry Ford II named president of Ford. 1959: The first Plymouth Valiant was produced in Michigan, although it was not known by that name until 1961. 1965: BP became the first company to strike oil under the North Sea. 1973: The Ford Mustang II was introduced, two months before the first 1973 oil crisis, and its reduced size allowed it to compete against imported sports coupés such as the Japanese Toyota Celica and the European Ford Capri. 1993: The two millionth Citroen AX rolled off the production line at the Aulnay-sous-bois site. 1998: Ford and NASA bought artificial intelligence to vehicles courtesy of a new neural network computer chip that mimiced the human mind. The new intelligent chip reduced vehicle emissions and improved fuel economy by monitoring fuel combustion. 2002: Nils Bohlin, inventor of the three-point seatbelt, dies at 82. 2014: California Governor Jerry Brown signed several legislations to encourage the electric car market in the state, which accounted for 40 percent of all electric vehicles sold in the United States.
This Day in Automotive History 9/20/1896: The first known motorcycle race took place when 8 riders raced the 139 miles from Paris to Nantes and back. 1937: The Packard Sixteenth Series Sixes, Eights, and Super Eights are introduced. 1940: Continental was designated as a marque separate from Lincoln by the Ford Motor Company. 1945: Packard ended its World War II military production program with the completion of the 55,523rd and last Rolls Royce Merlin engine. 1947: Buick registers its stylized stencil "BUICK" logo as a trademark. 1960: California hot rodder Mickey Thompson takes another shot at the world land-speed record. A few weeks earlier, Thompson reached 406.6 mph. 1962: The MGB was launched. 1979: Lee Iacocca elected chairman of Chrysler. 1984: Twelve people were killed when a suicide car bomber attacked the US embassy complex in Beirut, Lebanon. 2007: Automobili Lamborghini presented the new Lamborghini Reventón, whose exterior styling was inspired by "the fastest airplanes".
This Day in Automotive History 9/19/1887: Dr. Graham Edgar, developer of the octane rating system, was born in Fayetteville, AR. 1895: A patent application for an "electrical bicycle" was filed by Ogden Bolton Jr. of Canton OH. 1938: Lower Austria switched from driving on the left hand side to the right hand side of the road. 1953: Auto Union launched a new 24hp 896 cc 3-cylinder model, “3=6 Sonderklasse” (DWK 3=6), at the Frankfurt Motor Show. 1960: Three hundred and forty-four parking tickets (each carrying a £2 fine) were issued in London on the first day of parking meters and traffic wardens. 1973: 26-year-old musician Gram Parsons dies of “multiple drug use” (morphine and tequila) in a California motel room. His death inspired one of the more bizarre automobile-related crimes on record: Two of his friends stashed his body in a borrowed hearse and drove it into the middle of the Joshua Tree National Park, where they doused it with gasoline and set it on fire. 1975: Ford Motor Company announced plans to purchase Jaguar. 1999: The first National Car-Free Sunday was held in the Netherlands.
This Day in Automotive History 9/18/1886: Powel Crosley Jr. born, Cincinnati, OH. 1900: Andrew L Riker, driving a Riker electric racer, covered one mile in 1 minute 46 seconds, at Guttenberg, NJ to set a US speed record of 33.962 mph. 1955: The Ford Motor Company produced its 2 millionth V8 engine, 23 years after the first was manufactured. 1964: The final episode of the TV show Route 66 was broadcast, bringing to an end to the roadside adventures of Buz and Tod in Tod's Corvette. 1981: The 20,000-car parking lot at Canada’s West Edmonton Mall makes the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest parking lot in the world. The mall has held other records, too: At one time or another it’s been the World’s Largest Shopping Mall, the World’s Largest Indoor Amusement Park and the World’s Largest Indoor Water Park. 1998: The US Postal Service awarded a $206.4 million contract to Ford for 10,000 alternative fuel delivery vehicles to replace aging postal vehicles used for daily delivery to city and business customers. 2004: The BMW 1 Series was launched with five doors, four engine sizes and three trim levels, but just one aim – ‘to set a new standard for compact hatchbacks through unique BMW design and engineering solutions’.
This Day in Automotive History 9/17/1854: David Buick born, Arbroath, Scotland. 1919: Henry, Clara and Edsel Ford became sole owners of Ford Motor Company. 1940: The Packard Custom Super Eight 180 was introduced. 1965: Four adventurous Englishmen arrive at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany after crossing the English Channel by Amphicar, the world’s only mass-produced amphibious passenger car. 1971: The Lincoln Continental Mark IV was introduced. 1981: The Porsche 911 4WD concept car was shown at Frankfurt Motor Show. 1986: Bentley Turbo R broke 16 records for speed and endurance at the Millbrook high-speed circuit in Bedfordshire.
This Day in Automotive History 9/16/1888: W.O. Bentley born, Hampstead, England. 1903: Frederick Henry Royce, of Rolls-Royce Ltd., successfully tested his first petrol engine. 1908: Buick Motor Company head William Crapo Durant spends $2,000 to incorporate General Motors in New Jersey. Durant, a high-school dropout, had made his fortune building horse-drawn carriages, and in fact he hated cars–he thought they were noisy, smelly, and dangerous. 1938: George E T Eyston set a world land speed record of 357.5 mph driving the Thunderbolt powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce R-type V-12 aero engines. 1947: The Cisitalia 202 Gran Sport coupe with a trend-setting body designed by Carrozzeria Pininfarina was introduced at the Fiera de Milano, Italy. 1964: The James Bond movie "Goldfinger," which featured the suave British super-spy driving an Aston Martin Silver Birch DB5 sports car, was premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London.
This Day in Automotive History 9/15/1881: Ettore Bugatti born, Milan, Italy. 1909: Charles F. Kettering of Detroit, Michigan, applied for a patent on his ignition system. 1916: Tanks were first used in battle - by the British at the Battle of the Somme. 1938: British racing driver John Cobb, in the twin Napier Lion W-12 aero-engined Railton Special, established a new land-speed record (353.30 mph) and became the first driver to break the 350-mph barrier. 1965: The 10,000,000th Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the production line. 1976: Volkswagen AG purchased Chrysler Corporation's assembly plant in Westmoreland, PA. 1991: The Bugatti EB110, an exclusive supercar from Bugatti Automobili SpA, was unveiled in France exactly 110 years after Ettore Bugatti's birth. 2001: Italian racing driver Alex Zanardi suffered a huge crash while racing in the CART series in Germany. Lucky to survive the crash, Zanardi had to have both his legs amputated. Astonishingly, he was back racing again within two years. 2005: The Porsche Cayman S had its public launch at the Frankfurt Motor Show During prototype testing, rally legend Walter Röhrl reportedly lapped the Nürburgring track faster than the 911 Carrera's time of 8 minutes, 15 seconds.
This Day in Automotive History 9/14/1908: The Republic Rubber Company of Youngstown, Ohio was issued a United States patent for its tire tread pattern marketed as 'Staggard'. Republic Rubber was later bought out by Goodyear Tire. 1913: The Lincoln Highway Association announced the route of the Lincoln Highway. Its leaders, particularly Henry Joy, President of the Packard Motor Car Company, decided on as straight a route as possible and that decision dictated the course. That initial line was 3,389 miles long. 1920: The first Lincoln automobile was completed, a 7-Passenger Touring. 1927: Dancer Isadora Duncan is strangled in Nice, France, when the enormous silk scarf she is wearing gets tangled in the rear hubcaps of her open car. 1959: Full-scale production began of the 1960 model Edsel. 1960: The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was established. 1969: Dodge Charger Daytona makes NASCAR debut, wins at Talladega. 1982: Princess Grace of Monaco (52), also known as Grace Kelly, died of injuries sustained in a car crash. 1995: The Audi TT was first shown as a concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
This Day in Automotive History 9/13/1899: The first reported fatal car accident in the US was when Henry H. Bliss, a "real estate dealer" was hit by an electric taxi as he exited a trolley on West 74th Street and Central Park West. 1915: Durant incorporated Chevrolet Motor Co. of Delaware. 1925: General Motors dropped its planned purchase of the Austin Car Company. 1945: First post-war Pontiac built. 1961: The first Ford Thunderbird Sports Roadster, a 1962 model, was produced. 1973: The Chevrolet Corvette XP-897GT, designed by General Motor's in-house studio and built by Pininfarina in Italy, made its debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show. The XP-897GT featured a mid-mounted 180bhp two-rotor Wankel engine mounted transversely, driving a new automatic transaxle being developed for the forthcoming X-body Chevrolet Citation. The car was built in 6 months on a modified Porsche 914 chassis. 1977: General Motors introduced 1st US diesel auto (Oldsmobile 88). 2004: TV talk-show host Oprah Winfrey gives a brand-new Pontiac G-6 sedan, worth $28,500, to everyone in her studio audience: a total of 276 cars in all. 2006: A pink 1961 Cadillac once owned by Elvis Presley was sold at auction for £21,000. 2018: Volkswagen announced it would end production of its iconic "Beetle" cars in 2019 after adding a pair of final editions of the bug-shaped vehicles.
This Day in Automotive History 9/12/1912: The United States Motor Company was forced into receivership. 1913: Eiji Toyoda born, Nagoya, Japan. 1963: The first production car in the world to be powered by a Wankel rotary engine, the open two-seater NSU Wankel Spider, was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. 1966: The press meets the Chevrolet Camaro. 1991: Audi presented the Audi Quattro Spyder. 1993: The rebuilt Lacey V. Murrow Bridge over Lake Washington opens in Seattle. The new bridge, which was actually the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90, connects the city and its eastern suburbs. 1995: Possibly the world’s most advanced sports car for its time was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show – the new Lotus Elise. 2005: At the IAA Motor Show in Frankfurt, Bentley Motors revealed the production version of the new 168 mph Azure.
This Day in Automotive History 9/11/1903: The directors of the Flint Wagon Works announced that they had bought the Buick Motor Company. 1903: The oldest major speedway in the world, the Milwaukee Mile, opened in Wisconsin. 1915: Collier’s magazine publishes the second in a series of three essays on automobile travel by a not-yet-well-known writer named Emily Post. The series, called “By Motor to the Fair,” told the story of Post’s 27-day drive from New York City to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. 1946: The 1st mobile long-distance car-to-car telephone conversation. 1952: VW took first step in the process of internationalizing the company's operations, with the establishment of "Volkswagen Canada Ltd." in Toronto, Ontario. 1967: Peter Monteverdi introduced his first automobile, the Monteverdi 375 S High Speed, at the Frankfurt Automobile Show. 1970: The $1830 Ford Pinto designed to compete with compact imports, was introduced. 1987: BMW officially presented the 2.5 liter Z1 two-seater roadster at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
This Day in Automotive History 9/10/1897: London cabdriver named George Smith slams his taxi into a building and is the first person to be arrested for drunk driving. He plead guilty and was fined 25 shillings. 1921: The Avus Autobahn near Berlin, the world's first controlled-access highway and part of Germany's Bundesautobahn system, opened. 1942: Gas rationing for WWII begins in U.S. 1950: The Cummins Diesel Special No.61 driven by Jimmy Jackson set a land speed record for diesel-powered cars of 165.23 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats, UT. 1961: By winning the Italian Grand Prix, Phil Hill becomes the first American-born F1 champion. 1962: The Ford Motor Company authorized production of the Ford Mustang as designed by Joe Oros, Gail Halderman and L David Ash. 1970: Chevrolet Vega goes on sale. 1979: British Leyland (BL) announced it was to end production of all MG models. 2007: Guinness World Records verified that the Shelby SuperCars (SSC) Ultimate Aero was officially the ‘Fastest Production Car’ in the world. 2013: The Jaguar C-X17, a concept crossover SUV designed by Jaguar Land Rover, was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
This Day in Automotive History 9/9/1901: The American Car Association (ACA) sponsored its first hill climb, a contest at Nelson Hill, near Peekskill, New York, US. The event was won by a steam-powered Grout Stanhope. 1906: A Buick Model F arrived in San Francisco, US, completing the first trans-United States trip by a touring car. 1935: Pennsylvania RR transports 163 Studebakers to N.Y.C. dock, to be sold in London. 1949: The Volvo PV445, basically a PV444 chassis on which a specialty body could be mounted, was introduced. 1954: The first Ford Thunderbird, the ‘personal luxury car’, came off the Dearborn assembly lines in Michigan. 1966: President Lyndon Johnson signs the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act into law. Immediately afterward, he signed the Highway Safety Act. The two bills made the federal government responsible for setting and enforcing safety standards for cars and roads. 1982: Henry Ford II announced he would remove himself from any involvement at the Ford Motor Company.
This Day in Automotive History 9/8/1923: The Daniels Motor Car Company was declared bankrupt. 1925: The 2,000,000th Chevrolet was produced, a Superior Series K2-door Coach. 1945: A bus equipped with a two-way radio was put into service for the first time -- in Washington, DC. 1953: Continental Trailways offered the first transcontinental express bus service in the US. 1966: The first four level motorway interchange opened, the M4/M5 Almondsbury Interchange on the fringes of Bristol. 1974: Evel Knievel attempted and failed to jump the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in a steam-powered, rocket-like motorcycle. 1986: British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Yutaka Kume, the president of the Nissan Motor Company, officially open Nissan’s first European manufacturing plant in Sunderland, Britain. 2004: The one thousandth Rolls-Royce Phantom was built to customer order at the company’s manufacturing plant in Goodwood, England. 2009: Samoa became the first country since the 1970s to change the side of the road on which cars are driven. At 0600 local time (1700 GMT) sirens sounded and drivers were told to move from the right side to the left.
This Day in Automotive History 9/7/1896: An electric car built by the Riker Electric Motor Company wins the first auto race in the US, at the Narragansett Trotting Park–a mile-long dirt oval at the state fairgrounds that was normally used for horse racing–in Cranston, RI. 1912: The Blitzen Benz made its racing debut, as Bob Burman set a track record at Brighton Beach Speedway, NY. 1928: Mr J. K. Robertson, an engineer, successfully completed a 25,000-mile trial of his invention that automatically changed a car’s gears, thus eliminating the clutch pedal. 1946: John Cooper, driving a 500 cc prototype Cooper, won the 850-cc class at the first post-World War II Brighton Speed Trials, the first victory for the marque. 1951: The first Allard J2X was sold. 1954: Thunderbird starts production. 1979: The Chrysler Corporation petitioned the United States government for $1.5 billion in loan guarantees to avoid bankruptcy. 1987: Ford acquires 75 percent of Aston Martin Lagonda, Ltd. 1993: The Chrysler Corporation introduced its new Neon at the Frankfurt Auto Show.
This Day in Automotive History 9/6/1891: The Peugeot Type 3 quadricycle was introduced, the company's first product marketed to the public. 1892: The first gasoline tractor to be sold in the US was shipped by its builder, John Froelich. 1907: A Stearns 30-60 with seven passengers on board becomes the first motor vehicle to reach the summit of Pikes Peak, Colorado, US under its own power for the entire distance. 1915: The first tank prototype, developed by William Foster & Company for the British army, was completed and given its first test drive. 1938: Dr Ing. Ferdinand Porsche was awarded the National Culture Prize for his design of a German 'people's car'. 1949: VW is returned to German control. 1951: The BMW 501, the first motor car to be manufactured and sold by BMW after the Second World War, was introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show. 1967: UAW launched a Ford company-wide strike. It ended on 22 October. 1971: The 10,000,000th Opel was produced, a Rekord L6 sedan. 2007: Volkswagen of America announces that it is moving its headquarters from Auburn Hills, Michigan to Herndon, VA. 2017: Nissan unveiled its latest Leaf car with a capacity to travel nearly 400km between charges.
This Day in Automotive History 9/5/1885: The first gas pump was installed in Fort Wayne, IN. 1916: Barney Oldfield set a closed-circuit speed record of 112.9 mph at the Chicago board track driving a Christie front-wheel-drive race car. 1928: Figures released showed that an average of three people a day died on London’s roads from April to June in this year. 1948: Ferrari made its Grand Prix debut finishing third at the Italian Grand Prix. 1957: New York Times writer Gilbert Millstein gives a rave review to “On the Road,” the second novel (hardly anyone had read the first) by a 35-year-old Columbia dropout named Jack Kerouac. “Jack went to bed obscure,” Kerouac’s girlfriend told a reporter, “and woke up famous.” 1960: A deadly Southern 500. In the race Bobby Johns crashed into the pits, killing mechanics Paul McDuffie and Charles Sweatland, as well as race official Joe Taylor. 1980: The St. Gothard Tunnel, the world’s second longest highway tunnel, opened. Stretching from Goschenen to Airolo, Switzerland, the 10.14-mile tunnel took ten years to build and cost $417 million. 1991: Lee Iococca announced he would retire as Chairman of the Chrysler Corporation at the end of the year. 2017: Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland plans to phase out new petrol and diesel cars by 2032, eight years earlier than under proposals set out by the London government.
This Day in Automotive History 9/4/1904: Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the first Reo Motor Car Company buildings in Lansing, MI. 1906: Terry Stafford was issued with a US parent for his three-speed progressive transmission. 1917: Henry Ford II born, Detroit, Michigan. 1922: The beginning of Jaguar, when motorcycle enthusiasts William Lyons and William Walmsley founded Swallow Sidecar Company. 1947: The Rover Board sanctioned the production of an ‘all-purpose vehicle on the lines of the Wills-Overland Jeep’ - the Land Rover. 1957: Ford Motor Company unveils the Edsel, the first new automobile brand produced by one of the Big Three car companies since 1938. 1965: The Who had their van stolen containing over £5000 worth of equipment outside the Battersea Dogs Home. The band were inside the home at the time buying a guard dog. 1991: Route 35 Theater in Hazlet, the last drive-in in NJ closed. 1997: The very last tenth-generation Ford Thunderbird rolled off the assembly line. 2005: Kyle Busch (20), became the youngest driver ever to win a NASCAR Cup Series race when he outdueled Greg Biffle in the Sony HD 500 at California Speedway. 2012: Volkswagen AG unveiled the latest version of its mainstay Golf hatchback at a Berlin museum, ahead of its premiere at the Paris Auto Show.
This Day in Automotive History 9/3/1875: Ferdinand Porsche born, Maffersdorf, Bohemia. 1895: Duryea Motor Co. incorporates. 1900: The first car ever made in Flint, Michigan makes its debut in the town’s Labor Day parade. Designed and built by a county judge and weekend tinkerer named Charles H. Wisner, the car was one of the only cars built in Flint that did not end up being produced by General Motors. In the end, only three of the Wisner machines were ever built. 1935: Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first person to drive an automobile over 300 MPH. Campbell drove the Bluebird Special on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah at a speed of 304.331 MPH. 1962: The Trans-Canada highway, 4,800 miles from St John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia, opened to traffic, after the final stretch through Rogers Pass was finally completed. 1967: Chaos reigned as Sweden switched from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right in keeping with the rest of continental Europe. 1976: The Ford Fiesta was formally launched. 1999: The US Postal Service unveiled a 33-cent stamp featuring the 1964 Mustang. 2009: The Ford Motor Co. settled a lawsuit filed by residents of a northern New Jersey town over toxic waste dumped there in the 1960s and '70s.
This Day in Automotive History 9/2/1893: First car built by Frank Duryea driven. 1921: The retail price of new Ford Model T automobiles dropped to $355, its all-time lowest value. 1939: Driving tests in Great Britain were suspended for the duration of World War Two. They resumed on 1 November 1946. 1959: At a news conference broadcast to viewers in 21 cities on closed-circuit television, Henry Ford II introduces his company’s newest car–the 90-horsepower, 30 miles-per-gallon Falcon. The Falcon, dubbed “the small car with the big car feel,” was an overnight success. It went on sale that October 8 and by October 9, dealers had snapped up every one of the 97,000 cars in the first production run. 1992: The Southern California Gas Company purchased the first motor vehicles powered by natural gas. 1994: The National Corvette Museum opened in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where the Chevrolet Corvette is manufactured. 2001: Michael Schumacher broke Alain Prost's record of race wins to become the most successful race winner in the history of Formula One.
This Day in Automotive History 9/1/1902: The city of Chicago issued its first automobile license plate. 1903: Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to issue automobile license plates. 1917: The first Nash automobile was produced. 1941: The 1942 DeSoto was introduced, which featured Air-Foil powered pop up headlights that were hidden when not in use. This was the first mass produced car to feature this power option. 1961: The first Volkswagen 1500 Type-3 was produced. 1989: The first Lexus was sold, launching Toyota's new luxury division. 1998: The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 finally goes into effect. The law required that all cars and light trucks sold in the United States have air bags on both sides of the front seat. Researchers estimate that air bags reduce the risk of dying in a head-on collision by 30 percent, and they agree that the bags have saved more than 20,000 lives since the late 1980s. 2007: All new cars sold in the US from this date required a lap and shoulder belt in the center rear. 2007: The Southern California Gas Company purchased the first motor vehicles powered by natural gas. Spurred on by a new California law promoting the commercialization of alternative fuel vehicles, the company put fifty of the new vehicles into service and began promoting the natural gas vehicles (NGVs) as a viable option for the future.
This Day in Automotive History 8/31/1899: A Stanley Steamer, driven by F.O. Stanley, became the first car to reach the summit of Mount Washington (6,288 ft), NH. 1903: A Packard automobile completed a 52-day journey from San Francisco to New York, becoming the first car to cross the US under its own power. 1952: The Henry Ford Trade School, which specialized in training for industrial careers, closed after 35 years. 1955: William G. Cobb of GM demonstrates his 15-inch-long “Sunmobile,” the world’s first solar-powered automobile, at the GM Powerama auto show held in Chicago, IL. 1956: The Oldsmobile Golden Rocket show car debuted. 2003: Drunk driver Dr William Faenza from New York was clocked by police driving his Lamborghini Diablo at 182 mph in a 55 mph zone on State Road 443. 2018: Ford announced that the Focus Active would not go on sale in North America because of the tariffs placed on vehicles built overseas, as the Focus Active was built in China.
This Day in Automotive History 8/30/1898: Henry Ford received a US patent for a carburetor (fuel injector) especially designed for use in connection with gas or vapor engines. 1932: The earliest known patent related to power steering was filed by American engineer Francis W. Davis. 1945: Hudson produced its first post WWII vehicle, a green Super Six coupe. 1956: Lake Pontchartrain Causeway opened, connecting New Orleans with its north shore suburbs. At 24 miles it was the world’s longest over-water highway bridge. 1980: Willie Nelson's classic "On the Road Again" entered the US chart. The song would eventually reach number one and become an American classic. 2002: The last ever Rolls-Royce built at the Crewe factory in Cheshire, the home of Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Cars since 1946, rolled off the production line. 2006: California State Senate passes Assembly Bill (AB) 32, otherwise known as the Global Warming Solutions Act. The law made California the first state in America to place caps on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, including those found in automobile emissions.
This Day in Automotive History 8/29/1876: Charles Franklin Kettering, the American engineer and longtime director of research for General Motors Corp. (GM), is born, in Loudonville, Ohio. Of the 140 patents Kettering obtained over the course of his lifetime, perhaps the most notable was his electric self-starter for the automobile, patented in 1915. 1885: The world’s first motorcycle, the Reitwagen ("riding car") or Einspur ("single track"), was patented. It was essentially a wooden bicycle, with foot pedals removed and powered by a single-cylinder, Otto-cycle engine. This invention is a key milestone in automobile history, as engines up until this point had only been used on stationary machines. 1898: Goodyear Tire & Rubber incorporated. 1917: The Lincoln Motor Company was founded. 1957: The precursor to the modern breathalyzer, the Drunkometer, was first tested by US law enforcement officials. 1987: Henry Ford II, longtime chairman of Ford Motor Company, died in Detroit at age 70. 2017: Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, said it had halted auto production at its plants in China as tensions between Seoul and Beijing over a US anti-missile system hurt its sales and left it unable to pay a supplier.
This Day in Automotive History 8/28/1877: Charles Stewart Rolls, the pioneering British motorist, aviator and co-founder (with Henry Royce) of the Rolls-Royce Ltd. luxury automobile company, is born. 1899: The Pittsburgh Motor Vehicle Company reorganized as the Autocar Company. 1934: Rolls-Royce of America, Inc. was reorganized as the Springfield Manufacturing Company to avoid involving the Rolls-Royce name in bankruptcy proceedings. 1937: Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. is officially established. The company was a branch of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. 1944: Hot rod builder Boyd Coddington is born. 1951: The 1,000th Porsche was produced. 1957: Pontiac staged its 50th Anniversary celebrations, based on the founding of the division's original car, the Oakland. 1972: General Motors announced that it would market a Wankel rotary engine as an optional power unit for the Chevrolet Vega within two years. 2008: Phil Hill dies at the age of 81.
This Day in Automotive History 8/27/1859: Edwin Drake struck oil at a depth of 69 feet near Titusville, PA, the world's first successful oil well. 1904: Newport, RI, imposed the first jail sentence in the US for a speeding violation. 1910: The first American LaFrance motorized fire truck was sold to Lenox, MA Fire Department and is still owned by the department. 1918: United States Fuel Administration banned Sunday driving east of the Mississippi. 1937: Captain George E. T. Eyston breaks his own automobile land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, raising the mark to 345.49 mph. 1957: Press event launches Edsel with stunt show. 1963: Ford introduced the fiberglass Allegro sport coupe, a one-off styling exercise that would greatly influence the Mustang. 1987: A.J. Foyt drove a Oldsmobile Aerotech to a new closed-course speed record of 257.123 mph on the 7.71 mile oval test track at Fort Stockton, TX. 1993: The one-millionth Ford Explorer was produced.
This Day in Automotive History 8/26/1913: Henry B Joy presented the chosen route for the Lincoln Highway to the Conference of West and Middle West Governors at their meeting in Colorado Springs, CO. 1929: The first Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental was completed. 1940: The last LaSalle, manufactured by Cadillac, was built. 1957: A formal press conference introduced the Edsel. 1959: British Motor Corporation (BMC) launches its newest car, the small, affordable–at a price tag of less than $800–Mark I Mini. The diminutive Mini went on to become one of the best-selling British cars in history. 1985: The Yugo, manufactured in Yugoslavia, was first introduced to the US market. 1993: General Motors sold its Group Lotus subsidiary to Bugatti International SAH, the new Bugatti group's financial holding company headquartered in Luxembourg.
This Day in Automotive History 8/25/1819: James Watt (83), the principle inventor of the modern steam engine, died at Heathfield Hall, near Birmingham, England. 1910: Walden W. Shaw and John D. Hertz formed the Walden W. Shaw Livery Company, which later became the Yellow Cab Company. 1921: "Six Cylinder Love," first full-length play about the automobile, opens, NYC. 1927: Lucy O'Reilly Schell finished 12th, driving a Bugatti in the Baule Grand Prix in France. She was the first, and only, American woman to drive in a Grand Prix. 1931: The 8,000,000th Chevrolet was produced. 1949: The 100,000th Volvo car - a black PV444 - came off the assembly line. 1959: The 3,000,000th Volkswagen was produced. 1965: First production of the Iso Grifo GL, powered by American Chevrolet Corvette small-block 327 (5.4 L) V8s fitted to Borg-Warner 4-speed manual transmissions, began. 1991: German race car driver Michael Schumacher makes his Formula One debut in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps. 2018: 1962 Ferrari becomes most expensive car ever sold at auction selling for $48 million.
This Day in Automotive History 8/24/1881: Vicenzo Lancia born, Fobello, Piedmont, Italy. 1911: A Packard 3-ton truck driven by Walter T Fishleigh, E L Burnett, and Arnold Haener reached San Francisco, California 46 days after leaving New York City, finishing the first trans-United States trip by a motor truck made completely under its own power. 1945: The last Cadillac-built M-24 tank was produced, ending the company’s World War Two effort. 1958: Maria Teresa de Filippis–the first woman ever to compete in Formula One racing–drives a Maserati in the Portuguese Grand Prix at Oporto. 1993: Construction of the Homestead-Miami Speedway, began in Homestead, FL. 2001: Bridgestone/Firestone agreed to pay $7.5 million to the family of Marisa Rodriguez, who was paralyzed in a Ford Explorer crash in 2000. Ford settled before the trial for $6 million. 2008: In India about 40,000 protesters surrounded the Tata Motors factory selected to produce the Nano, the world's cheapest car, alleging land for the site was forcibly taken from local farmers. 2009: The US government 'cash for clunkers' program ended. 2010: George Michael pleaded guilty at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court in London to driving under the influence of drugs.
This Day in Automotive History 8/23/1617: The first one-way streets were established in London. 1904: Harold D. Weed is issued U.S. Patent No. 768,495 for his “Grip-Tread for Pneumatic Tires,” a non-skid tire chain. 1913: For the first time motor vehicles were legally allowed to enter Yosemite National Park, CA. 1922: Count Louis Zborowski drove his car, Chitty Bang Bang, to victory at the Southsea Speed Carnival in England. The vehicle was built by Zborowski with help from his engineer, Clive Gallop. It and three later cars by the same name, would inspire a book, movie and musical all by the name Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 1966: Jaguar's Browns Lane plant produced the first 420 (pronounced "four-twenty"). 1967: Enjoying a wild birthday party Keith Moon drummer with The Who drove his Lincoln car into a Holiday Inn swimming pool, in Flint, MI. 1998: The record for the longest ramp jump by a car, with the car landing on its wheels and driving on afterwards, was set at 72.24 m (237 ft) by Australian stunt man Ray Baumann at Ravenswood International Raceway in Perth, Western Australia. 2006: JCB Dieselmax car broke its own FIA diesel engine land speed record, achieving a speed of 350.092 mph (563.418 km/h) over a distance of 1 mile on the Bonneville Salt Flats, UT.
This Day in Automotive History 8/22/1902: The Cadillac Company formed from the Henry Ford Co. when Henry Ford left. Ford formed the Ford Motor Co. in 1903. 1902: President Theodore Roosevelt became the first US chief executive to ride in a car. 1954: American Motors and the Packard Motor Car Company signed a reciprocal accord whereby Packard would apply AMC with V-8 engine, and AMC would supply automobile bodies to Packard. 1962: President Charles De Gaulle of France survives one of several assassination attempts against him thanks to the superior performance of the presidential automobile: The sleek, aerodynamic Citroen DS 19, known as “La Deesse” (The Goddess). 1967: The front-engine, rear wheel drive, two-door hardtop AMC Javelin made its debut and the new models were offered for sale from September 26, 1967 with prices starting at $2,743. 1969: Richard Petty drove a Ford Torino to victory in the NASCAR stockcar race at Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This was his 100th career win. 1984: VW plant at Westmoreland, PA, produced its last Volkswagen Rabbit.
This Day in Automotive History 8/21/1897: Ransom Eli Olds of Lansing, Michigan, founds Olds Motors Works–which will later become Oldsmobile. 1900: The first Pierce steam vehicle was tested without success - subsequent problems led the company to abandon steam power in favor of gasoline. 1903: SF to NYC Packard trip ends. 1947: Ettore Bugatti, the Italian-born and naturalized-French car manufacturer, died at the age of 65. 1947: San Francisco’s first parking meter was installed at Bush and Polk streets. 1968: The Mazda Cosmo 110S, featuring a Wankel rotary engine, made its racing debut at the Nurburgring. 1991: Al Teague in Spirit of ’76 achieved the highest speed by a wheel driven car, with a peak speed of 432.692 mph (696.331 kmph) at Bonneville Salt Flats, UT. 1997: Ford sells the first taxicabs run on natural gas to New York City. 2002: Porsche rolled out its new Cayenne SUV, the 1st non-sports car in the company’s 54-year history. 2005: A 1967 Ferrari 275 GTS/4 NART Spyder was sold by Gooding & Company at Pebble Beach, California for $4.0 million.
This Day in Automotive History 8/20/1902: Alexander Y Malcolmson, a Detroit coal dealer and friend Henry Ford agreed to a partnership with Ford for the purpose of building a prototype automobile that would attract other investors. 1931: The first cloverleaf interchange in the US, opened at Watson Road and Lindbergh Boulevard near St. Louis, Missouri as part of an upgrade of US 66. 1941: Ford produced its last British private car until after the war. 1948: NASCAR was forced to cancel a number of scheduled events due to an outbreak of polio in North Carolina. 1960: Dodge doubles sales figures over 1959 with help from Dart. 1962: The first 1963 Ford Thunderbird was produced. 1991: The Mazda Motor Corporation of Japan announced it planned to enter the luxury car market in 1994 with the Amati. 2000: The Saleen S7, American’s first production supercar debuted at the Monterey Historic Races. 2004: 83 tow trucks roll through the streets of Wenatchee, Washington, in an event arranged by the Washington Tow Truck Association (WTTA). “The Guinness Book of World Records” dubbed it the world’s largest parade of tow trucks. 2014: The Guinness World Record for the most cars pulled by an individual of 13 was set by Zsolt Sinka, in Budapest, Hungary.
This Day in Automotive History 8/19/1909: The first race is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, now the home of the world’s most famous motor racing competition, the Indianapolis 500. In that first five-mile race, 12,000 spectators watched Austrian engineer Louis Schwitzer win with an average speed of 57.4 miles per hour. The track’s surface of crushed rock and tar proved a disaster. The surface was soon replaced with 3.2 million paving bricks, dubbed “The Brickyard,” the speedway reopened in December 1909. 1927: Ford Model T production ended in England. 1934: The First All American Soap Box Derby. 1958: Production of the Packard, the classic American luxury car with the famously enigmatic slogan “Ask the Man Who Owns One” came to a halt. 2000: A 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe was sold for $4.4 million, whilst a 1964 Ferrari 330 P3 reached $5.6 million at an auction in California. 2009: Germany launched a campaign to put a million electric cars on the road by 2020, making battery research a priority as the country tried to position itself as a market leader.
This Day in Automotive History 8/18/1905: Cadillac crest is trademarked. 1925: Ford Motor Co. Aktiengesellschaft was founded in Berlin for the import of cars and tractors. 1939: Founder/Chairman of Goodguys Rod & Custom Association, Gary Meadors, born. 1940: Walter Percy Chrysler, the founder of the American automotive corporation that bears his name, dies. 1955: The Saab 93 was announced. 1959: The first pictures of BMC’s new compact four-seater Mini, designed by Alec Issigonis, were revealed to the press. 2014: China's government reported that Mercedes-Benz had violated anti-monopoly law and charged excessive prices for parts, adding to a growing number of global automakers snared in an investigation of the industry.
This Day in Automotive History 8/17/1896: Bridget Driscoll unfortunately made her way into the history books by becoming the first pedestrian to be hit and killed by a car in the United Kingdom. 1904: The Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd. was established near Windsor, Ontario. 1915: Charles F. Kettering, co-founder of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO) in Dayton, Ohio, is issued U.S. Patent No. 1,150,523 for his “engine-starting device”–the first electric ignition device for automobiles. 1925: The stockholders of the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company approved a merger with General Motors. 1937: Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was founded. 1956: The 6,000,000th Pontiac was produced, a 1956 Star Chief Custom Catalina. 1959: Sodium road lighting was tested in the UK for the first time. Because of their efficiency (measured in lumens per watt) and the ability of their yellow light to penetrate fog they became widely used. 1964: The first Ford Mustang 2+2 GT fastback was produced. 1976: Jensen Motors Ltd ceased trading after 42 years. 2006: Several large Californian auto insurers said they would set premiums based on driving records rather than ZIP Codes, and that doing so would reduce rates for most motorists.
This Day in Automotive History 8/16/1904: The R E Olds Company, builders of Reo cars and trucks, was incorporated in Lansing, MI. 1906: The first Mason Motor Car rolled off a Des Moines, Iowa assembly line. 1937: Harvard is first school to have courses in traffic engineering and administration. 1955: Fiat Motors ordered the 1st private atomic reactor. 1981: Porsche began wind tunnel testing of the 956 at the University of Stuttgart's Institute for Driver and Motor Vehicle Research in West Germany. 1984: After close to 30 hours of deliberation, a jury of six men and six women unanimously acquits the former automaker John Z. DeLorean of eight counts of drug trafficking in Los Angeles, CA. 1985: The last episode of the television show Dukes of Hazzard was aired in the US concluding a successful five-year run. 2002: The last Ferrari Testa Rossa built, which was raced by Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien to outright victory at Le Mans in 1962, was sold by RM Auctions at Monterey, CA, US for $6.5 million. 2004: General Motors started making Cadillacs in China, joining the race by foreign luxury car brands to sell to the country's newly rich elite. 2016: Ford CEO Mark Fields committed his company to mass-produce a fully autonomous vehicle in 2021.
This Day in Automotive History 8/15/1899: Henry Ford (36) quit his job with the Edison Illuminating Company. He soon found backers and started the Detroit Automobile Company, with himself as chief engineer. 1927: Backed by a group of Detroit investors, Eddie Rickenbacker - America's most successful fighter ace in World War I - purchased the Indianapolis Speedway for $700,000. 1928: The Studebaker Corporation and the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company agreed to merge. 1938: Nicola Romeo of ALFA Romeo dies. 1945: World War II gasoline rationing ended in the US. 1947: Ferrari made its racing debut in Pescara, Italy, finishing second. 1956: Packard ceases Detroit operations. 2004: A 1935 Duesenberg SJ Speedster was sold at auction in Pebble Beach, CA for $4.5 million. Built to set land-speed records, it had averaged 135.47 mph when raced by ‘Ab’ Jenkins over 24 hours around a 10-mile circuit marked by a black line around the Bonneville Salt Flats.
This Day in Automotive History: 8/14/1870: Harry Jewett who ran Paige Auto, born, Elmira, New York. 1877: Nicholas Otto's four-cycle combustion engine patented in the US. 1893: World's first license plate issued, Paris. 1912: The first double-decker bus appeared on the streets of New York, travelling up and down Broadway. 1935: Mrs. M.S. Morrow of Whitestone, NY, had the last U.S.-built Rolls-Royce Phantom I delivered to her home. 1956: NASCAR racer Rusty Wallace is born. 1971: Georg von Opel (59), German auto manufacturer, died. 1988: Enzo Ferrari (b.1898), Italian sportscar manufacturer (Ferrari), died. 1998: As part of a yearlong celebration of its 100th anniversary, a redesigned version of the Michelin Man–the corporate symbol of one of the world’s largest tire manufacturers, makes an appearance at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races in Monterey, CA. 2009: In Germany shares in Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, plunged after it approved a takeover of luxury auto manufacturer Porsche to create a sector giant.
This Day in Automotive History 8/13/1898: James Packard buys a Winton, dislikes it, and starts Packard. 1902: German engineer Felix Wankel, inventor of a rotary engine that will be used in race cars and way later in Mazdas, is born in Lahr, Germany. 1904: The first production Buick was sold to Dr. Herbert H Hills of Flint, MI. 1907: The first metered taxicab took to the streets of New York City. 1930: Charles Creighton and James Hargis completed an epic journey of 3,340 miles from New York to Los Angeles by driving their 1929 Ford Model A roadster without once stopping its engine, in reverse! 1941: The "Soybean Car", a plastic-bodied car, was unveiled by Henry Ford at Dearborn Days, an annual community festival. The frame, made of tubular steel, had 14 plastic panels attached to it. 2003: The Ford SVT F-150 Lightning earned the title ‘World’s Fastest Production Pickup’, according to Guinness World Records, after reaching 147 mph at the Michigan Proving Grounds of the Ford Motor Company.
This Day in Automotive History 8/12/1908: Henry Ford's first Model T rolled off the assembly line. 1916: The first Pike’s Peak hillclimb contest in the Rocky Mountains was held. 1947: The most famous Renault of the early post-war years, the 4-cylinder, 760cc 4 hp Renault 4CV, was launched. 1953: A fire destroys GM's Livonia Hydra-Matic transmission plant. 1981: Isuzu, Suzuki, and General Motors signed an agreement in Tokyo to share information on the development of small four-wheeled vehicles. 1988: Director Francis Ford Coppola’s critically acclaimed biopic “Tucker: The Man & His Dream” premieres in U.S. theaters, starring Jeff Bridges as the brash Chicago businessman-turned-car-designer Preston Tucker who shook up 1940s-era Detroit with his streamlined, affordable “Car of Tomorrow.” 2011: General Motors recalled 16,198 Chevrolet Impala and Buick LaCrosse cars in the United States and Canada to address sensor and power-steering problems. 2018: Rider Shigeru Yamashita with an unofficial team of Kawasaki employees (known as Team 38) set a 202.743 mph (326.28 km/h) speed record on a street legal Kawasaki Ninja H2.
This Day in Automotive History 8/11/1896: Ransom E Olds tested his first gasoline-powered automobile in Lansing, MI. 1914: The first motor-vehicle speed trials were held on the Bonneville Salt Flats in UT. 1946: The Buick Super convertible is introduced. 1955: The 4,000,000th Pontiac was produced, a Catalina hardtop coupe. 1966: Chevrolet debuts Camaro. 1970: The Ford Pinto, a subcompact car was introduced. 1973: "American Graffiti" released. 1980: Singer Frank Sinatra drives the first 1981 Imperial off the line at Chrysler’s Windsor, Ontario. Sinatra was joined by his wife, Barbara, and Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca. Sinatra, a friend of Iacocca’s, had agreed to help promote the Imperial for free as part of Chrysler's turnaround following the company's federal rescue. In return, the singer was given the keys to the first 1981 Imperial. 2009: General Motors reported that its Chevrolet Volt Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (or E-REV) was capable of 230 mpg in city driving, more than four times the mileage of the current champion, the Toyota Prius.
This Day in Automotive History 8/10/1872: The British Government passed the first legislation clamping down on drunk-drivers. 1893: Rudolf Diesel’s first prototype diesel compression-ignition engine, a single 10-foot iron cylinder with a flywheel at its base, ran on its own power for the first time. 1913: President Woodrow Wilson, a strong supporter of improved roads, purchased Membership Certificate No. 1 in the Lincoln Highway Association. Known as the first road across America, the Lincoln Highway runs from New York City to San Francisco. 1937: The first 1937 Pontiac Deluxe Eight was produced. 1954: Workers at the Studebaker auto plant in South Bend, Indiana (US) agreed to take pay cuts from $20 to $12per week in an attempt to help the faltering automaker. 1965: The Ford Bronco, intended to compete against Jeep's CJ-5 and International Harvester's Scout, was introduced. 1978: Three teenage girls die after their 1973 Ford Pinto is rammed from behind by a van and bursts into flames on an Indiana highway. The fatal crash was one of a series of Pinto accidents that caused a national scandal during the 1970s. 1990: The final section of coast-to-coast Interstate 10 (Santa Monica, California, to Jacksonville, Florida) was dedicated, the Papago Freeway Tunnel (Deck Park Tunnel) under downtown Phoenix, AZ. 2004: Founder of the French automotive brand Alpine, Jean Rédélé (84), died.
This Day in Automotive History 8/9/1917: Barney Oldfield drove a streamlined Miller with fully enclosed cockpit, called the "Golden Sub", to new one mile (80 mph), five mile (77.2 mph), 25 mile (75.4 mph), and 50 mile (73.5 mph) speed records. 1919: Following the lead of other countries across the world, the US government ordered automobile manufacturers to halt car production by 1 January 1919 and convert to military production. 1962: The Chrysler Corporation set an industry milestone by announcing (for 1963) a 5-year, 50,000-mile warranty covering all of its cars and trucks. 1996: Frank Whittle, the inventor of the jet engine dies. 2000: Tire manufacturer Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. announces that it is recalling 6.5 million of its model ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires; the move comes two days after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration linked hundreds of accidents and at least 46 deaths to problems with the tread on the tires. 2007: Nissan North America produced its 3 millionth Altima – 15 years after the first Altima rolled off the line at the Smyrna Plant. 2010: Honda Motor Co recalled more than 428,000 vehicles in the United States and Canada because of a defect that could cause the cars to roll away if parked incorrectly.
This Day in Automotive History 8/8/1907: The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost with a 4-speed overdrive gearbox passed its 15,000-mile RAC-observed trial with top marks. It was this trial that made the Ghost’s reputation and gave it the accolade of ‘Best Car in the World’. 1934: The 1,000,000th Plymouth, a DeLuxe 4-Door Sedan, was produced. 1938: Ford Motor Company registered Mercury as a trademark. 1955: First successful test of a solar-powered car. 1963: The 15 thieves involved in the Great Train Robbery, one of the most famous heists of all time, escape in an ex-British Army truck and two stolen Land Rover four-wheel drive all-terrain vehicles, making off with some $7 million in stolen loot. 1975: The last original Fiat 500 was built. 1986: The last episode of the TV show Knight Rider aired in the United States. 2018: Ten millionth Ford Mustang rolls off the assembly line.
This Day in Automotive History 8/7/1906: The Cadillac crest was granted registered trademark status. 1926: The first British Grand Prix was held at Brooklands in Surrey, over a distance of 110 laps (287 miles). 1927: The last Dodge Convertible Cabriolet was produced. The Cabriolet was in production for only four months after its debut. 1937: The Auburn Automobile Company, produced its last car, a 1937 Cord. 1938: Giorgetto Giugiaro born, Piedmont, Italy. 1944: Under the threat of Allied bombing during World War II, the German car manufacturer Volkswagen halts production of the “Beetle.” 1959: The first 1960 Edsel pre-production (Pilot) cars were built. 2001: Ford and Navistar joined forces to create the Blue Diamond Truck Company to build medium commercial trucks. 2004: The Midnight Sun solar car team left the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, on a journey of 15,070 km (9,364 miles) through Canada and the United States. 2009: President Obama signed into law a measure tripling the budget of the $1 billion incentive “cash for clunkers” program.
This Day in Automotive History 8/6/1907: The Imperial Motor Car Company was founded in Jackson, Michigan, US by brothers Theodore A and George N Campbell, producing cars until 1916. 1909: Twenty-two year old housewife Alice Huyler Ramsey became the first woman to drive across the US from coast to coast, in a green Maxwell 30. 1932: Richard Hollingshead Jr. of Camden, New jersey, US first registered his patent for the drive-in movie theater. 1959: The Chevrolet Corporation registered the Corvair name for its new rear-engine compact car. 1980: The first Chrysler Corporation 'K' car, a Plymouth Reliant, was produced at the Jefferson Assembly Plant in Detroit. 1991: Peugeot says au revoir to U.S. car market. In a letter to around 150 of its United States franchisees, the French automaker Peugeot (manufacturer of both Peugeot and Citroen cars) announces that it will stop producing cars for the U.S. market as of the following September after five years of steadily decreasing sales.
This Day in Automotive History 8/5/1899: Henry Ford starts his first car comapny, the Detroit Automobile Company. 1914: The world’s first electric traffic signal is put into place on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, OH. Based on a design by James Hoge, who received U.S. patent 1,251,666 for his “Municipal Traffic Control System” in 1918, it consisted of four pairs of red and green lights that served as stop-go indicators, each mounted on a corner post. 1947: Ferdinand Porsche released from French prison. 1955: The 1,000,000th Volkswagen, a standard Beetle painted gold to commemorate the occasion, was produced. 1963: Craig Breedlove drove the "Spirit of America" on the Bonneville Salt Flats to a new Land Speed Record of 407.45 mph. 1973: Jackie Stewart won his 27th and last Grand Prix victory in Germany. 1987: Chrysler Corporation purchased the American Motors Corporation from Renault, recreating ii as the Jeep-Eagle Division of Chrysler. 2010: The US Export-Import Bank unveiled a loan guarantee for Ford Motor Co that would finance $3.1 billion in exports of cars and trucks to customers in Canada and Mexico.
This Day in Automotive History 8/4/1877: Nikolaus A Otto was issued German Patent #532 for his four-stroke engine. 1923: The American LaFrance Fire Engine Company of Elmira, New York registered its stylized name with a Maltese Cross as a trademark. 1928: The De Soto marque was founded by Walter P. Chrysler, and introduced for the 1929 model year. It was named after the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. 1956: Wilhelm Herz rode the NSU Delphin III streamliner motorcycle to 211.4 miles per hour (340.2 km/h) at Bonneville Speedway in Utah, to break 200 mph (320 km/h) for the first time. 1975: Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant and his wife were both badly injured when the hire car he was driving spun off the road and crashed on the Greek island of Rhodes. 1988: Hertz car rental agreed to pay out $23 million in a consumer fraud case. 2006: “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” an irreverent comedy based in the outlandish (fictionalized) world of American stock car racing, premieres in movie theaters around the US.
This Day in Automotive History 8/3/1900: The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company was established in Akron, OH. Thirty-one-year-old inventor and entrepreneur Harvey S. Firestone seized on a new way of making carriage tires and began production with only 12 employees. 1926: London’s first set of traffic lights, a manually operated set of red, amber and green lights came into operation at the junction of St James and Piccadilly. 1941: Although the United States had not yet entered World War II at this time, petrol rationing began in parts of the eastern US. 1955: Automobile Association of America ends support of auto racing. 1977: “The Spy Who Loved Me,” starring Roger Moore as the suave super spy James Bond, known for his love of fast cars and dangerous women, is released in theaters across America. The film features one of the most memorable Bond cars of all time–a sleek, powerful Lotus Esprit sports car that does double duty as a submarine. 1993: E-ZPass, the electronic toll-collection system used on most toll bridges and roads in the north-eastern US, was first deployed on the New York Thruway at the Spring Valley toll plaza. 2007: Carmaker DaimlerChrysler completed a deal to sell a majority stake (80%) of its ailing US Chrysler division to the private equity company Cerberus Capital Management for 7.4bn euros ($10.1bn; £5bn).
This Day in Automotive History 8/2/1941: The summary of an FBI probe of GM senior executives with links to Adolph Hitler found collusion with Germany by James D. Mooney, president of GM Overseas Corp., but no evidence of any disloyalty to America. 1950: The Ford Motor Company created its Defense Products Division in order to handle the large number of government contracts related to the Korean War. 1964: The first grand prix car with a transversely mounted twelve-cylinder engine, the 1.5 litre Honda RA271, made its debut, at the 1964 German Grand Prix. The Honda RA271 was Honda's second Formula One racing car, and its first to actually enter a race. 1967: The Saab 96 V4, with a four-cylinder four-stroke engine, was introduced. 1985: The 100,000th Rolls Royce was produced, a royal blue Silver Spur saloon. 1987: In the fastest race in Indy car racing at the time, 24-year-old Michael Andretti wins the Marlboro 500 at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, with an average speed of 171.490 miles per hour. 2019: Bugatti test driver Andy Wallace reached 490.48 km/h (304.77 mph) in a modified near production ready Chiron prototype at Volkswagen's test facility in Ehra-Lessien.
This Day in Automotive History 8/1/1872: Gottlieb Daimler joined Deutz AG to work with Nikolaus A Otto and Eugen Langen in the design and construction of gasoline engines. 1910: North America’s first driver-licensing law came into effect in the state of New York, though it initially applied only to professional chauffeurs. 1929: The first prototype Ruxton front-wheel-drive car was completed. 1947: Ferdinand Porsche, arrested for war crimes 2 years earlier, was released from a French prison after his children Ferry and Louise paid 1,000 francs to the French government. 1957: The first Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia convertible was produced. 1964: "Big Daddy" Don Garlits became the first drag racer to run the 1/4 mile at over 200 mph. 1977: Patricia Montgomery was named Cadillac's Director of Public Relations, the first woman to hold such a position in any General Motors Division. 2007: Citibank opens China’s first drive-through automated teller machine (ATM) at the Upper East Side Central Plaza in Beijing. 2007: I-35 bridge collapses during rush hour in Minneapolis, MN.
This Day in Automotive History 7/31/1890: PF Olds & Sons, Inc., manufacturers of gasoline engines, was established in Lansing, MI. 1911: First automotive stock listed on N.Y. Stock Exchange: GM. 1916: The future racing legend Louise Smith, who will become the first woman inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, is born. 1928: The Chrysler Corporation acquired Dodge Brothers from Dillon Read for $170 million. 1960: Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) opened as a standard 1.5 mile (2.4 km) oval track. 1971: David R Scott and James B Irwin during the Apollo 15 mission drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LVR) 17.2 miles to the edge of Hadley Rille on the surface of the Moon, the first time that an 'automobile' had been driven in an alien world. 1981: The last of 695,124 Chevrolet Corvettes was produced at the St Louis, MO, factory as production was transferred to the new plant in Bowling Green, KY. 2005: The Hungarian Grand Prix saw the beginning of the end of tobacco advertising in F1 due to the Europe-wide ban.
This Day in Automotive History 7/30/1863: Henry Ford born, Greenfield Village, MI. 1898: Scientific American carried the first magazine motor-vehicle advertisement. The Winton Motor Car Company of Cleveland, OH invited readers to ‘dispense with a horse’. 1908: The Thomas Flyer and George Schuster win the NY to Paris Race after 169 days and 22,000 miles. 1952: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the world’s largest continuous over-water steel structure, opened, linking Maryland’s eastern and western shores of the bay. 1990: GM’s first Saturn car rolled off the line at Spring Hill, Tennessee. In the fall, GM introduced its all-new Saturn cars to compete against the imports in the small car market. Roger Smith, GM’s CEO, announced the secret Saturn project in 1985 in order to "leap-frog" the Japanese car makers. 2003: The last of 21,529,464 Volkswagen Beetles built since World War II rolls off the production line at Volkswagen’s plant in Puebla, Mexico.
This Day in Automotive History 7/29/1899: The Automobile Company of America officially adopted 'Locomobile' as its tradename. 1909: The newly formed General Motors Corporation (GM) acquires the country’s leading luxury automaker, the Cadillac Automobile Company, for $4.5 million. 1916: Nash Motors Company formed. 1956: The British Jaguar team of Ninian Sanderson and Ron Flockhart won the Le Mans 24 hour race, driving a 3.4 litre Jaguar D, for the new Ecurie Ecosse team. 2002: The 10 millionth North American-made Toyota rolled off the line at Toyota's Kentucky plant. 2010: American car maker Tesla Motors began trading shares in an IPO offered at $17. Trading closed at $23.89. 2011: President Barack Obama and automobile manufacturers announced a deal designed to save American drivers money at the pump and dramatically cut heat-trapping gases coming from tailpipes. The agreement requires that car and light trucks achieve an average fuel economy of 54.5 mpg by 2025, up from 35.5 mandated by 2016.
This Day in Automotive History 7/28/1909: David Maclean Parry established the Parry Automobile Company in Indianapolis. 1922: William C Durant acquired a controlling interest in Locomobile. 1935: Italian race car driver Tazio Nuvolari wins the greatest victory of his career in the Grosser Preis von Deutschland (German Grand Prix) held on the Nurburgring racetrack in Nurburg, Germany. Tazio won on the last lap beating more powerful and heavily favored German competition in his under-powered Alfa Romeo. 1973: Bonnie and Clyde’s bullet-riddled 1934 Ford V8 was sold at auction for $175,000 to Peter Simon of Jean, Nevada. 1998: The strike by UAW workers at two key General Motors plants in Flint, that had shut down GM North American vehicle production since 5th June was finally resolved. 2017: Tesla launched its Model 3 at its Fremont, California (US), plant. Elon Musk planned to produce 500,000 such vehicles in 2018.
This Day in Automotive History 7/27/1888: American inventor Philip W. Pratt demonstrated the first electric automobile in Boston, a tricycle powered by six Electrical Accumulator Company cells. 1904: Dr. Herbert Hills of Flint, Michigan, purchased the first Buick car, the Model B, ever to be sold. 1948: British auto racer “Bentley Boy” Woolf Barnato passed away at the age of 52. Barnato began his racing career in 1921. 1950: The 5,000,000th Oldsmobile was produced, a Holiday 4-door hardtop. 1956: Studebaker-Packard enters joint management agreement with Curtiss-Wright. 1990: The last Citroen 2CV, known as the “Tin Snail” for its distinctive shape, rolls off the production line at the company’s plant in Mangualde, Portugal. Since its debut in 1948, a total of 5,114,959 2CVs had been produced worldwide. 2005: German sports and luxury carmaker Porsche announced the investment of 1bn euros (£691m; $1.2bn) for the development of a four-door coupe (Panamera) that would be on the roads by 2009.
This Day in Automotive History 7/26/1858: Peugeot Freres registered its "lion with or without arrows" trademark, a logo widely used in later years on its automobiles. 1916: The Studebaker Series 18 was introduced. 1930: Charles Creighton and James Hargis left New York City driving their Ford Model A 1929 roadster 3340 miles in reverse, arriving in Los Angeles 17 days later without once stopping the engine. They arrived back in New York on the 5th September so completing 7,180 miles in 42 days. 1955: Lancia quit racing and gave all their racing cars and equipment to Ferrari. 1998: The US 500, the most prestigious race in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series, dissolves into tragedy when three fans are killed and six others wounded by flying debris from a car at Michigan Speedway in Brooklyn, MI. 2005: The Lexus (Luxury Edition for the United States) marque was introduced to the Japanese market, becoming the first Japanese premium car marque to launch in its country of origin. 2010: China’s Geely Holding Group received final government approval to acquire Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Co. in a $1.8 billion deal. 2013: The last vehicle was produced at Ford's Southampton motor vehicle assembly plant, ending Ford's 100 plus year vehicle assembly history in the UK
This Day in Automotive History 7/25/1903: Barney Oldfield made his final appearance with the Ford '999' and raised the closed-course speed record to 65.0 mph at the Empire City track in Yonkers, NY. 1924: Engineer Gustaf Larson and SKF sales manager Assar Gabrielsson met by chance over a plate of crayfish, and after enjoying their meal agreed to start up production of 'The Swedish Car', ie Volvo. 1941: Henry Ford sits down at his desk in Dearborn, Michigan and writes a letter to the Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The letter effusively praises Gandhi and his campaign of civil disobedience aimed at forcing the British colonial government out of India. 1945: The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was organized with Henry J Kaiser as Chairman of the Board and Joseph W Frazer as President and General Manager. 1959: A hovercraft crosses the English Channel. 2006: Italian car maker Fiat and India’s Tata Motors announced they had signed an agreement for a joint-venture in India to make passenger vehicles, engines and transmissions for Indian and overseas markets.
This Day in Automotive History 7/24/1878: The Green Bay-Madison steam automobile race in Wisconsin, concluded after six days elapsed time, but just 33 hours, 27 minutes of actual running time for an average of 6 mph. 1902: Robert Schwenke was issued with a German patent for his front-wheel-drive system for cars. 1929: Two-millionth Model A Ford built. 1998: South Korea’s government opens the bidding for the Kia Motors Corporation, the country’s third-largest car company, which went bankrupt during an economic crisis that gripped much of Asia. 1998: An agreement between the shareholders of Lamborghini and Audi was signed in London for the complete take-over of the Company. 2000: Fourth generation Dodge Caravan begins production. 2008: The Ford Motor Company posted the worst quarterly performance in its history, losing $8.67 billion in its second quarter.
This Day in Automotive History 7/23/1901: Ransom E. Olds issued design patent for his Curved-Dash Oldsmobile. 1903: Ford delivers its first car, a two-cylinder Model A, sold to Dr. Ernest Pfenning of Chicago, IL for $850. 1927: The Studebaker Model ES Big Six Custom Sedan was introduced - the car was marketed as the 'President', the marque's first usage of this name. 1950: The first races were held at Elkhart Lake, WI. 2006: The 654-foot Singapore-flagged Cougar Ace, a cargo ship carrying 4,813 cars from Japan to Canada, began tilting to its port side late at night hundreds of miles off Alaska's Aleutian Islands. 4,703 of the cars were new Mazdas valued at about $100 million. After a year of planning Mazda scheduled all the cars for complete reduction to scrap in Portland, OR. 2007: Honda Motor Company Ltd. produces its 6 millionth Civic in North America.
This Day in Automotive History 7/22/1894: First Auto Race is held running between Paris and Rouen, France. 1904: The first gasoline-driven Studebaker car was produced in South Bend, Indiana, US and driven into the street. 1908: Albert Fisher and his nephews, Frederic and Charles Fisher, established the Fisher Body Company to manufacture carriage and automobile bodies. 1934: Car loving crook John Dillinger shot dead in Chicago. 1947: Gary Davis, President of the Davis Motor Car Company of Van Nuys, California, US introduced the prototype Davis D-2 three-wheeled automobile. It was largely based upon "The Californian", a custom three-wheeled roadster built by future Indianapolis 500 racing car designer Frank Kurtis for Southern Californian millionaire and racer Joel Thorne. 1948: The Willys-Overland Company introduced the Jeepster, a sporty variant of the standard Jeep designed by Brooks Stevens. 2002: Over the strenuous opposition of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the auto industry, Governor Gray Davis of California signs a stringent law regulating emissions from automobiles. 2008: The Lotus Evora was unveiled.
This Day in Automotive History 7/21/1904: Louis Rigolly, driving a 15-litre Gobron-Brillie on the Ostend-Newport road in Belgium, became the first man to break the 100 mph barrier in a car by raising the land-speed record to 103.55 mph. 1925: Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first man to break the 150 mph land barrier at Pendine Sands in Wales. 1930: The Lincoln and Continental Divisions of the Ford Motor Company were consolidated. 1949: The first Jaguar XK120 released for public sale (serial #660002) was shipped to Sydney, Australia. 1960: The German government passes the “Law Concerning the Transfer of the Share Rights in Volkswagenwerk Limited Liability Company into Private Hands,” known informally as the “Volkswagen Law.” On October 23, 2007, the European Court of Justice formally struck down the Volkswagen Law, ruling that its protectionism illegally restricted the free movement of capital in European markets. 1974: The last Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia was produced 1987: The Ferrari F40 was unveiled at the factory in Maranello, Italy by Enzo Ferrari, in a ceremony commemorating his company's 40th year. 1993: The new Saab 900 was launched in Trollhättan, Sweden. 2002: Michael Schumacher secured his 5th World Drivers' Championship title at the French Grand Prix, equaling Juan Manuel Fangio's record set over 40 years before
This Day in Automotive History 7/20/1872: Bertha Benz (née Ringer), the first person to drive a motor car over a long distance, married inventor Karl Benz. 1894: E.L. Cord born, Warrensburg, MO. 1909: The Ford Motor Company registered its "Ford" script logo as a trademark 1923: The 1924 Nash range of automobiles was introduced, featuring the industry's first electric dashboard clock as an option. 1940: The British Government banned the buying or selling of new cars for the duration of WWII. 1967: The last Panhard, a blue Model 24b coupe, was completed to end 78 years of automobile production. Panhard & Levassor was one of the oldest car manufacturers in the world. 1972: The results of a two-year study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation are released; the study concludes that 1960-63 Chevrolet Corvair models are at least as safe as comparable models of other cars sold in the same period, directly contradicting charges made by the leading consumer advocate Ralph Nader. 2007: Rolls-Royce delivered the first five customer Phantom Drophead Coupés ($443,000).
This Day in Automotive History 7/19/1927: The Mercedes-Benz Type S made its racing debut at the Eifel race at the Nurburgring, with Rudolf Caracciola winning the sports-car class. 1934: Patent filed for retractable headlights for Cord. 1942: Agricultural chemist George Washington Carver, head of Alabama’s famed Tuskegee Institute, arrives in Dearborn, Michigan at the invitation of Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company. In 1942, Ford would showcase a car with a lightweight plastic body made from soybeans. 1955: The first Volvo 445PH estate car was produced. 1964: Lee Petty ran his last NASCAR race, at Watkins Glen, NY. 1973: Clarence White of The Byrds (1965 US & UK No.1 single 'Mr Tambourine Man') was killed by a drunk driver. 1997: Edsel.com went live online.
This Day in Automotive History 7/18/1936: The first “Wienermobile”, an automobile shaped like a hot dog used to advertise Oscar Mayer products, created by Oscar’s nephew, Carl G. Mayer, rolled out of General Body Company’s factory in Chicago, IL. The cost of the promotional vehicle was $5,000. 1948: Juan Manuel Fangio–the Argentine race car driver dubbed “the Maestro”–makes his European racing debut at the Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France in Reims, France. 1958: Lee Petty welcomed his son to the big leagues, knocking Richard Petty out of the way in his Cup debut to win at Canadian National Exposition Speedway in Toronto. 1969: Shortly after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, MA, Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy drove an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond. Kennedy escaped the submerged car, but his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not. 1975: Graham Hill, twice World Driving Champion, with BRM in 1962 and with Lotus in 1968, announced his retirement. He is the only driver ever to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport—the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Indianapolis 500 and the Formula One World Drivers' Championship.
This Day in Automotive History 7/17/1914: Dodge Brothers Inc was organized with John F Dodge as President and Horace E Dodge as Vice-President. 1920: Nils Bohlin, the Swedish engineer and inventor responsible for the three-point lap and shoulder seatbelt–considered one of the most important innovations in automobile safety–is born. 1928: The Plymouth Division of the Chrysler Corporation was created.to compete in what was then described as the "low-priced" market segment dominated by Chevrolet and Ford. 1945: The first Jeep CJ-2A was produced. 1950: The Volkswagen was officially introduced into the United States as New York City imported car dealer Max Hoffman unveiled his first shipment of 20 cars in his showroom at 487 Park Avenue. 1951: General Motors previewed its Le Sabre show-car, a two-seat roadster capable of 180 mph, at the Milford, MI, proving grounds. 1985: The first Ford Aerostar van, built at St. Louis (Missouri) Assembly Plant, rolled off the production line. 2007: The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster was unveiled to the press. 2019: Brazilian police stated that they had shut down a clandestine factory producing fake Ferraris and sham Lamborghinis in the southern state of Catarina.
This Day in Automotive History 7/16/1878: The Green Bay to Madison race in Wisconsin, began with two competitors, the Oshkosh steamer built by Frank A Shomer, A M Farrand, A Gallinger and O F Morse in that city and the Green Bay steamer built by Edward P Cowls of Wequiock, Wisconsin. 1935: The first parking meters were installed, in Oklahoma City. Carlton Magee's automatic meter, the "Park-O-Meter" was installed by the Dual Parking Meter Company in Oklahoma City. The parking meters were divided by 20-foot spaces painted on the pavement and accepted nickels. 1965: The seven-mile Mont Blanc road tunnel linking Courmayeur and the Italian Val d’Aoste with the French valley of Chamonix was inaugurated by the French president, Charles de Gaulle, and the Italian President, Giuseppe Saragat. 1971: The 15,000,000th Pontiac was produced. 1981: After 23 years of familiarity with the name, Datsun, executives of Nissan, the Japanese car manufacturer, changed the name of their cars to Nissan. 1981: Harry Chapin (38), US singer, songwriter was killed when a tractor-trailer crashed into the car he was driving on the Long Island Expressway in New York. 2007: New York State legislature shelved proposals to bring road-congestion pricing to Manhattan.
This Day in Automotive History 7/15/1903: Ford Motor Company takes its first order from Chicago dentist Ernst Pfenning: an $850 two-cylinder Model A automobile with a tonneau (or backseat). The car, produced at Ford’s plant on Mack Street (now Mack Avenue) in Detroit, was delivered to Dr. Pfenning just over a week later. 1908: The first Model T was sold. 1914: Dodge Brothers, Inc. was incorporated to manufacture Dodge Brothers automobiles with an initial sale of $5 million in shares of common stock 1922: The Bugatti Type 30 made its racing debut. 1957: Full-scale production of the Ford Edsel began. 1959: The first Jaguar Mark 2 saloon was produced. 1993: The last Cadillac Allante was produced. 1996: The one millionth Porsche rolled off the assembly line, a Carrera for the Swabian police force. 2013: Nissan launched a new Datsun in India, three decades after shelving the brand that helped win Western acceptance of Japanese autos. 2014: A Toyota GT86 set the world record for the longest drift. Germany’s Harald Müller spent an incredible 89.55 miles sideways in Samsun, Turkey.
This Day in Automotive History 7/14/1903: British Parliament discussed new legislation to regulate motor vehicles and motorists. 1915: The Chevrolet Motor Company purchased the Mason Motor Company. 1943: General Motors announced plans to acquire the assets of the Yellow Truck & Coach Manufacturing Company. 1955: Volkswagen introduced the Karmann-Ghia coupe at the Kasino Hotel in Westfalia, Germany. 1969: Easy Rider, an American independent road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper was released by Columbia Pictures. 1986: Raymond Loewy, the hugely influential industrial designer who put his mark on the American automobile industry with groundbreaking vehicles such as the Studebaker Champion, Starliner and Avanti, dies at his home in Monte Carlo at the age of 92. 2010: New York City unveiled its first electric car charging station.
This Day in Automotive History 7/13/1897: Harry A Knox filed a US Patent application for his 2-cylinder gasoline engine. 1922: Production of the Rolls Royce 20 hp began. Built between 1922 and 1929 it was Rolls-Royce's "small car". 1927: The Hudson Motor Car Company announced a new one day production record of 1,831 cars. 1940: The last Hupmobile was produced. 1968: The Mazda R100 was introduced, the world's first volume-production car powered by a Wankel rotary engine. 1978: Lee Iacocca was fired as president of Ford Motor Co. by chairman Henry Ford II. Iacocca later joined Chrysler as its president. 1980: Chrysler under Lee Iacocca paid off the last of its guaranteed loans totaling $1.2 billion, 7 years ahead of schedule. 1987: A Federal judge threw out Bette Midler's $10 million suit against Ford Motor Co, who used a sound alike voice for their TV commercials. 1989: The Honda Motor Car Company Ltd announced plans to build a factory in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. 1993: Rolls Royce opened its first show room in Russia (Moscow). 2017: Jaguar E-Pace, a compact SUV, was officially revealed.
This Day in Automotive History 7/12/1910: Charles Steward Rolls (32), pioneer aviator and co-founder of Rolls Royce, was killed when the tail of his plane snapped off in mid-air during a flying exhibition in Bournemouth, England. 1922: First Checker automobile built. 1933: The first three-wheeled, multi-directional Dymaxion car–designed by the architect, engineer and philosopher Buckminster Fuller–is manufactured in Bridgeport, CT. 1943: Plans were unveiled for London that included a ring road around the city. The London County Council tasked JH Forshaw, its resident architect, and Patrick Abercrombie with drawing up a comprehensive plan for the old County of London. 1982: The last of the distinctive-looking Checker taxicabs rolled off the assembly line in Kalamazoo, MI. The Checker, particularly the 1956–1982 A8/Marathon, remains the most famous taxicab vehicle in the US. 1998: The largest number of Triumph motorcycles in a single parade, 313, for the “Rally of the Tigers” was established at Chislehurst, Kent, England.
This Day in Automotive History 7/11/1899: Giovanni Agnelli purchased the Welleyes prototype, the patents held by Giovanni Battista Ceirano and the services of Artistide Faccioli, leading to the founding of the Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Fiat). 1907: Texas required the registration of all automobiles with county clerks. 1916: After being the first sitting President to visit an automobile factory, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Aid Road Act, the first grant-in-aid enacted by Congress to help states build roads. 1960: Two unique stainless steel 1960 Ford Thunderbirds were completed at the Ford Motor Company factory in Wixom, Michigan, US in collaboration with the Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation and The Budd Company. 1984: The US government announced that cars produced after 1 April 1989 would be required to have driver-side airbags or automatic seat belts. Airbags were not mandatory on trucks until 1995. 1997: The first Mercedes M-Class, the pioneer among premium SUVs, rolled off the production line. 1998: The world's fastest fire truck is the jet-powered Hawaiian Eagle, owned by Shannen Seydel, of Navarre, FL, which attained the speed of 655 km/h (407 mph) in Ontario, Canada. 2005: Ford's new gas-electric hybrid SUV, the Mercury Mariner, goes on sale. It costs $4,000 more than the gas-only version and has the endorsement of the Sierra Club.
This Day in Automotive History 7/10/1883: The Long steam tricycle was patented in the US by George A. Long. One example was built, which after some years of use was dismantled and the parts dispersed. 1907: A post office - a sign of permanent settlement--was established at the north end of Tampa Bay, Florida, serving a settlement that would become Oldsmar, Florida, a planned community financed by Oldsmobile icon Ransom Eli Olds. 1916: Woodrow Wilson toured the Highland Part, Michigan plant of the Ford Motor Company, marking the first time that a sitting President had visited an automobile factory. 1950: New York City imported car dealer Max Hoffman received a shipment of twenty Volkswagens, the first to be imported into the United States. 1962: The US Patent Office issues the Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin a patent for his three-point automobile safety belt “for use in vehicles, especially road vehicles”. Four years earlier, Sweden’s Volvo Car Corporation had hired Bohlin, who had previously worked in the Swedish aviation industry, as the company’s first chief safety engineer. 1969: The one millionth Citroen DS rolled off the production line: a DS 21 with gold bodywork. 1972: The first-generation Honda Civic was introduced, but sold as a 1973 model in Japan. 2003: Rover built its five-millionth car since production began in 1904. 2018: Germany-based BMW Group and the biggest Chinese SUV brand, Great Wall Motor, announced a partnership to produce electric MINI vehicles in China as global automakers ramped up development under pressure from Beijing.
This Day in Automotive History 7/9/1889: Gottlieb Daimler was issued with a German patent for his V-2 gasoline engine. 1929: BMW announced in full-page advertisements that it had started business as a car manufacturer. 1933: The ground breaking ceremony was held for the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. 1955: Austin celebrated its Golden Jubilee. 1956: Mettoy introduced Corgi Toys model cars, manufactured in South Wales. 1982: Checker Motors Corporation of Kalamazoo, MI, announced they were withdrawing from automobile production after 60 years. 2006: The Fiat 500 Club Italia, an organization formed in appreciation of the iconic 500–“Cinquecento” in Italian–car produced by the automaker Fiat (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino), holds what the Guinness Book of World Records will call the world’s largest parade of Fiat cars, between Villanova d’Albenga and Garlenda, Italy.
This Day in Automotive History 7/8/1838: Ferdinand Von Zeppelin born, Kostantz, Germany. 1901: The speed limit for cars in towns in France was set at 10 km/h (6 mph). 1907: George Romney born, Chihuahua, Mexico. 1909: First Hudson automobile built. 1936: Ford offered an optional "Deluxe Package" for all of its pickups and light trucks. 1968: The Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), which consisted of black auto workers, went on a wildcat strike to protest working conditions at Dodge’s Hamtramck assembly plant. 1980: The Bentley Mulsanne was introduced in Paris. 2001: The BMW Mini went on sale in the UK. By 10:00 am the 148 dealerships had taken more than 3,000 orders. 2004: Suzuki Motor Corporation and Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, agreed a settlement after an eight-year-long lawsuit in which the automaker accused Consumer Reports of damaging its reputation with claims that its Samurai sport utility vehicle (SUV) was prone to rolling over.
This Day in Automotive History 7/7/1876: The White Sewing Machine Company was organized. The firm as it evolved would later make White cars and trucks. 1919: The Ford Motor Company was reorganized as a Delaware corporation with Edsel Ford as company president. 1947: The Tucker 48 was shown in an exclusive preview at the Hotel Statler in Washington DC. 1953: Fuji Heavy Industries Co., Ltd (FHI) established the Subaru brand, which is the name given to the Pleiades star cluster shown on the Subaru logo. The six stars represent the six companies that merged together to create FHI. 1956: National Highway Act passed. 2000: Stock car driver Kenny Irwin Jr. dies in crash. 2007: Officials with Sprint-Nextel and NASCAR announced that the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series would be renamed the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2008. Nextel was acquired by Sprint in late 2004. 2015: Honda set a new Guinness World Record for ‘Lowest fuel consumption – all 24 contiguous EU countries (all cars),’ recording an average 2.82 liters per 100km (100.31mpg) over 13,498km (8,387 miles), in a 25 day drive across all 24 EU contiguous countries.
This Day in Automotive History 7/6/1851: The inventor of the battery powered electric motor, Thomas Davenport, passed away. 1899: Chicago authorized a Board of Examiners of Operators of Automobiles, whose task was to determine the qualifications of individuals seeking driving licenses. 1914: Dodge Brothers, Inc. granted its first retail franchise. 1958: The great Argentine race car driver Juan Manuel Fangio, winner of five Formula One driver’s world championships, competes in his last Grand Prix race–the French Grand Prix held outside Reims, France. 1961: The last Renault 4CV, the first French car to sell over a million units, was built. 1971: The 15,000,000th Pontiac automobile was produced, a black Grand Ville 4-door hardtop. 1975: Rolling Stone Keith Richards was arrested by the highway patrol in Arkansas on charges of reckless driving and possessing an offensive weapon, a seven-inch hunting knife. 1996: John Force became the first NHRA Funny Car driver to cover the 1/4-mile in less than 4.9 seconds, when he ran 4.889 in Topeka, KS.
This Day in Automotive History 7/5/1866: Father George A. Belcourt of Rusticoville, Prince Edward Island, Canada displayed the Ware Steam Car built by Elijah Ware of Bayonne, New Jersey that he had recently purchased - this was the first automobile on the island and is often cited as the first US-built automobile to be exported. 1933: Fritz Todt was appointed Inspector General for German Roadways. His primary assignment: to build a comprehensive autobahn system. 1942: Edsel Ford of Detroit was disappointed to discover that because of strict wartime auto rationing, he was unable to get a car until his application had been approved by the government 1990: Amos Neyhart, an engineering professor who established the first driver education courses in the US in the 1930s, dies in a Pennsylvania nursing home at the age of 91.
This Day in Automotive History 7/4/1894: Elwood Haynes successfully tested one of 1st US autos at 6 MPH in Kokomo, IN. 1902: The first motorcycle race in America was held from Boston to New York. 1903: Dorothy Levitt became the first British woman reported in the press to compete in an automobile motor race. Driving a 12 horsepower Gladiator, Levitt took first place in her class at the Southport Speed Trials. 1908: The world's largest electric sign, 'CITROEN". debuted on the sides of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. 1957: The Italian automaker Fiat (short for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino) debuts the “Nuova Cinquecento,” a redesigned version of a model that it first released in 1936. 1961: The Japanese government ratified a contract between the Toyo Kogyo Company Ltd, and the Wankel GmbH of Germany, giving the manufacturer of the Mazda the rights to the Wankel rotary engine. 1984: Richard Petty, the king of stock car racing, won his 200th career victory at the Firecracker 400 race in Daytona, Florida, in front of a record crowd that included NASCAR's first presidential patron, Ronald Reagan. Petty's record for wins will very likely never be broken. 2007: 50 years to the day after Giacosa’s famous car debuted, the redesigned Fiat 500 was introduced in Turin, with 250,000 people in attendance.
This Day in Automotive History 7/3/1898: Donald Healey born, Perranporth, Cornwall, England. 1909: The first Hudson car was driven out of a small factory in Detroit. 1945: The first post-war car is produced: a white Ford Super DeLuxe Tudor sedan that goes to President Harry Truman. 1952: The last Crosley automobile was produced at their Marion factory in Indiana. 1971: The Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania staged the first event on its 2.5 mile circuit. 1985: The blockbuster action-comedy “Back to the Future”–in which John DeLorean’s iconic concept car is memorably transformed into a time-travel device–is released in theaters across the US. 2002: BMW revealed the first official pictures of the new BMW Z4 roadster. 2012: Sergio Pininfarina (85), former head of Pininfarina SpA, died. The family company was known for its designs of sleek Ferraris and other cars.
This Day in Automotive History 7/2/1899: The first motorized mail service in the US began in Buffalo, NY, with Dr. Truman J Martin supplying his own 1898 Columbia Electric 1909: The Hudson Motor Car Company produced its first car. 1928: The Chrysler Corporation acquired Dodge Brothers, Inc. 1937: Richard Petty born, Randleman, NC. 1962: Ford produced its 30,000,000th V8 engine. 1964: Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, biggest NASCAR money winner, died in crash. 1973: Swede Savage died from injuries at Indianapolis 500. 1985:GM announced that it was installing electronic road maps as an option on some of its higher-priced car models. The system used a dashboard computer and maps stored on cassette tapes. 1992: The 1 millionth Corvette, a white LT1 roadster with a red interior and a black roof–the same colors as the original 1953 model–rolled off the assembly line in Bowling Green, KY. 2019: Lee Iacocca (94), father of the Ford Mustang and rescuer of Chrysler Corp, died.
This Day in Automotive History 7/1/1899: Mme Labrousse, believed to be the first woman to compete in an automotive speed event, finished fifth in the Paris-Spa race. 1904: The first Rover prototype 8hp was completed. 1908: Briscoe, Brush and Maxwell form United Motors. 1911: Charles Kettering announced his invention of the self-starter for automobiles. 1920: The 500,000th Dodge automobile was produced. 1931: First Canadian-built Graham Prosperity Six produced. 1946: The Master Tire and Rubber Company changed its name to the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company. 1956: Pontiac names "Bunkie" Knudsen general manager. 1959: The Chrysler Corporation reorganized into three automotive divisions - Chrysler-Imperial, Dodge and Plymouth-DeSoto. 1981: Rushton Moreve, bass player with Steppenwolf was killed in a car crash in Los Angeles. 1992: Ford buys 50 percent of Mazda Motor Manufacturing and changes that company's name to AutoAlliance International. 1997: Ferrari acquired 50% of Maserati and total managerial control. 2005: Last Thunderbird, Ford Motor Company’s iconic sports car, emerges from a Ford factory in Wixom, Michigan. 2009: US federal “cash for clunkers" scheme went into effect providing incentives for car buyers. 2019: Paris banned all diesel vehicles aged 13 years or over from the city center, the latest move in a campaign to tackle pollution on the city's streets.
This Day in Automotive History 6/30/1908: An around the world automobile race ended in Paris. The American Thomas Speedway Flyer, was declared the winner over teams from Germany and Italy. 1937: The 25,000th car produced by Volvo, a dark blue PV52. 1950: The first four-seat Triumph Mayflower, noted for its razor-edge styling, rolled off the production line. 1953: The first production Corvette is built at the General Motors facility in Flint, Michigan. Tony Kleiber, a worker on the assembly line, is given the privilege of driving the now-historic car off the line. 1966: Irvin Gordon bought his P1800 at a neighborhood Volvo dealership for $4,150 and has driven the vehicle over 2 million miles. He has held the Guinness World Records mark for High Mileage Vehicle since 2002 and was the first person to hold that record. 1969: The last of 4,204,925 Ramblers rolls off assembly line. 1995: Toyota corporate officials approved the development of a hybrid vehicle. 2000: Ford officially took ownership of Land Rover from the BMW Group. 2010: The San Francisco fiscal year ended. Parking meter revenue generated $38 million for the fiscal year. Revenue from expired meter fines added almost $29 million.
This Day in Automotive History 6/29/1932: The four Saxon motor-vehicle brands Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer joined forces to create Auto Union AG, which had its head office in Chemnitz, Germany. The new company’s logo was four interlinked rings, one for each of the founder companies. 1956: President Eisenhower signs the Federal Aid Highway Act. 1967: Actress Jayne Mansfield dies in car crash. 1978: Rock star Peter Frampton broke his arm and cracked several ribs when he was involved in a car crash in the Bahamas. 1985: Jim Pattison purchased the custom-painted Rolls-Royce Phantom V limousine that had belonged to John Lennon for $2,229,000. Lennon had purchased the car in 1966 and asked a friend to paint the car with a period-typical psychedelic design pattern. The auction sale price was 10 times Sotheby's initial estimate. 2001: Daimler-Chrysler kills the Plymouth brand. 2006: Japan’s government required all new cars to be able to run on a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline by 2010.
This Day in Automotive History 6/28/1897:A German-built Benz Velo, appearing at the Grand Forks parade to promote cigars, became the first automobile to be driven in North Dakota. 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, while riding in an Austro-Daimler that was chauffeured by Otto Merz, a Mercedes team driver. The assassination resulted in the outbreak of World War I. 1945: The last B-24 Liberator bomber built at Ford’s Willow Run Plant. 1953: Workers at a Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan, assemble the first Corvette, a two-seater sports car that would become an American icon. The first completed production car rolled off the assembly line two days later, one of just 300 Corvettes made that year. 1966: At a press conference in Detroit’s Statler-Hilton Hotel, Chevrolet’s Pete Estes announced a new car line, the Camaro. 2001: The last Plymouth automobile, a silver Neon, rolled off the assembly line. 2006: DaimlerChrysler announces Smart's arrival in United States.
This Day in Automotive History 6/27/1905: Howard C. Marmon was issued a United State patent for his friction braking system with internal brake shoes. 1909: Mercedes introduced its iconic three-pointed star symbol, designed by technical Director Gottlieb Daimler. 1955: 1st automobile seat belt legislation was enacted in Illinois. 1957: The Chevrolet Division of General Motors registered the "Impala" name as a trademark. 1958: The Mackinac Bridge connecting the two Michigan (US) peninsulas was dedicated. The first cars to officially cross the bridge were 83 white 1959 Oldsmobile 98 convertibles carrying beauty queens representing each of Michigan's counties 1964: Production of the Sunbeam Tiger, a high-performance V8 version of the British Rootes Group's Sunbeam Alpine roadster, began.. 1985: The iconic Route 66 enters the realm of history, when the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials decertifies the road and votes to remove all its highway signs. 1990: Paramount released 'Days of Thunder'. 2018: The first Rwandan-made Volkswagen car rolled off the assembly line on at the country's first auto factory in Kigali.
This Day in Automotive History 6/26/1888: Karl Benz of Germany received a US patent for a gasoline-driven automobile. 1903: Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson of Vermont and his mechanic Sewell Croker arrived in New York City completing the first cross-country automobile trip in 63 days after leaving San Francisco. 1906: The first French Grand Prix. 1930: Frederick Henry Royce pioneering car manufacturer, who with Charles Stewart Rolls founded the Rolls-Royce company, was knighted by King George V. 1953: The last Henry J was produced. 1956: U.S. Congress approves the Federal Highway Act, which allocates more than $30 billion for the construction of some 41,000 miles of interstate highways; it is the largest public construction project in U.S. history to that date. 1958: First Datsuns (Nissan) exported to US. 2007: Paris Hilton was released from a California jail after serving around half of a 45-day sentence for violating probation on a driving ban.
This Day in Automotive History 6/25/1929: The 6,000,000th Chevrolet was produced. 1940: Henry Ford was awarded the James Watt International Medal by the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 1949: The first Le Mans 24 hours was held following the end of World War II. 1953: A full-sized clay model of the proposed Lincoln Continental Mark II was completed. 1956: The last Packard–the classic American luxury car with the famously enigmatic slogan “Ask the Man Who Owns One”–rolls off the production line at Packard’s plant in Detroit. 1974: The Bricklin SV-1 was introduced to the public in Livonia, MI. 1999: General Motors celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the automatic transmission. 2002: VW celebrated a very special milestone with the production of the 21,517,415th Golf at the Wolfsburg factory in Germany. With this car, production of the Golf exceeded that of the original Beetle, to become Volkswagen's highest production model. 2020: California became the first state to force trucks to go electric.
This Day in Automotive History 6/24/1900: Oliver Lippincott became the first motorist in Yosemite National Park, when he drove there in his Locomobile steamer. 1910: Alfa Romeo leaves Darracq and becomes its own company. 1951: Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead in their works-entered Jaguar C-type, claimed the first Le Mans win for the marque. 1954: The first section of the New York State Thruway - a system of limited-access highways located within the state of New York - between Utica and Rochester, opened. 1966: The United States Senate votes 76-0 for the passage of what will become the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson the following September, the act created the nation’s first mandatory federal safety standards for motor vehicles. 1986: The first unleaded petrol to be available in the United Kingdom went on sale. 1988: Molly Brennan, driving the General Motors Sunraycer at Mesa, AZ established the record for the highest speed attained in a solely solar-powered land vehicle (78.39 km/h / 48.71 mph).
This Day in Automotive History 6/23/1902: German automaker Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) first registers “Mercedes” as a brand name; the name will gain full legal protection the next September. 1909: A Ford Model T crossed the finish line in the NYC to Seattle Automobile Race after 22 days and 55 minutes to claim the Guggenheim Cup and a $2,000 first prize. A Shamut came in 17 hours later to win the 2nd-place prize of $1500. An Acme car came in on June 29 to claim a $1000 3rd prize. The Ford was later disqualified for having switched engines in route. 1945: The Ford Motor Company ended operations at its Willow Run factory. 1971: "Le Mans" starring Steve McQueen opens in theaters. 1991: Bertrand Gachot, Johnny Herbert, and Volker Wiedler won the 24-Hours of Le Mans driving a Mazda. 2003: The City of Cape Town, South Africa, erected the world’s first ‘Penguin Crossing’ sign on Simon’s Town main road to reduce penguin fatalities. During the breeding season the flightless birds cross the roads in search of suitable nesting areas. 2007: The Ferrari around the world relay comes to an end at their headquarters in Italy. The marketing ploy was in celebration of Ferrari's 60th anniversary. The relay started on January 28 in Abu Dhabi and traveled through 50 countries. Thousands of Ferrari owners participated all over the world carrying a symbolic baton that represented the company.
This Day in Automotive History 6/22/1915: 'Volvo', which means 'I roll' in Latin, an appropriate name for the ball bearings from Swedish company, Svenska Kullagerfabriken (SKF), was officially registered as a brand name in Stockholm. 1934: Hitler contracts Ferdinand Porsche to build cars, resulting in Volkswagen. 1951: The Porsche 356 scored its first international success in motor racing, winning the 1100-cc category in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 1954: Packard and Studebaker merger agreement signed. 1970: Filming of staged racing sequences for the movie "Le Mans" began. 1972: The 1,000,000th Ford Thunderbird was produced. 2001: Blockbuster hit movie “The Fast and the Furious” released. 2012: Tesla Motors delivered its first all electric sedan, the Model S, from is plant in Fremont, CA.
This Day in Automotive History 6/21/1907: The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost began its 15,000 Miles Official Trial. 1929: The last MG 14/40 Mk IV was completed. 1945: The Ford Motor Company of Great Britain commenced post war production of private cars. 1947: After an interim of seven years, during which World War II wreaked havoc across the European continent, the first post-war Mille Miglia auto race is held in Brescia, Italy. 1959: Santa Ana Drags dragstrip, the first drag strip in the United States, closed. 1978: The Aston Martin Volante, the marque's first 8-cylinder convertible, made its long awaited appearance, almost nine years after the launch of the DBS V8. 1992: A Jaguar XJ220 driven by British Formula One driver Martin Brundle at the Nardò test track in Italy achieved a speed of 217.1 mph and established a new speed record for a standard production car. 1996: The last Corvette of the fourth-generation "C4" body style (used since 1984) was produced. 2006: Three Aston Martin DBSs, which weren’t even yet on sale at the time, were smashed up in one afternoon by the film crew of Casino Royale, the twenty-first Bond film. 2007: The new Maserati GranTurismo was officially unveiled in Britain at London’s Royal Horticultural Halls.
This Day in Automotive History 6/20/1902: American Barney Oldfield broke 60 mph with the Henry Ford-built ‘999’ at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds dirt oval. 1903: Tom Fetch left San Francisco driving a one-cylinder, 12-hp engine 1902 Packard Model F runabout, arriving in New York in 61 days later. 1925: The 12,000,000th Ford was produced. 1941: After a long and bitter struggle on the part of Henry Ford against cooperation with organized labor unions, Ford Motor Company signs its first contract with the United Automobile Workers of America and Congress of Industrial Organizations (UAW-CIO). 1957: Pontiac announced plans to sell British-made Vauxhall cars through its dealer network. 1965: Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory drove a North American Racing Team Ferrari 250LM to victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 1993: Ford opens its first dealerships in China. 2007: Bosch manufactured its ten billionth spark plug.
This Day in Automotive History 6/19/1902: The first Franklin automobile was produced. It holds the distinction of being the first four-cylinder automobile produced in the US. 1911: The General Motors Export Company was founded to coordinate international sales of GM products. 1934: The 1,000,000th Ford V-8 was produced. 1947: Tucker premieres in Chicago. 1966: Ford GT40's took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the 24 Hours at Le Mans - the first time an American car manufacturer won the classic 24-hour race. 1969: Four-millionth Cadillac built. 1981: "The Cannonball Run" starring Burt Reynolds opens in theaters. 2005: After 14 Formula One race car drivers withdraw due to safety concerns over the Michelin-made tires on their vehicles, German driver Michael Schumacher wins a less-than-satisfying victory at the United States Grand Prix. The race, held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana, will go down one of the most controversial Formula One racing events in history. 2007: The Vatican issued a set of "Ten Commandments" for drivers, telling motorists not to kill, not to drink and drive, and to help fellow travelers in case of accidents.
This Day in Automotive History 6/18/1923: The first Checker Cab rolls off the line at the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 1934: US Highway planning surveys nationwide were authorized. 1935: The Rolls Royce trademark was registered in the U.S. 1943: Tom Gale, Chrysler car designer whose most notable creation was the 1992 Dodge Viper, born. 1950: Santa Ana Drags dragstrip, the first drag strip in the United States, opened. 1956: Driving a Fiat Abarth 750, with bodywork by Bertyone, Carlo Abarth set a whole series of speed and endurance records on the Monza Track. 1966: Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, driving a Ford GT40 Mk2, won the Le Mans 24-hour race, becoming the first to exceed 3,000 total miles during the event. 2007: US Supreme Court justices ruled 9-0 that car passengers had the same right as drivers to challenge the legality of police stops of vehicles in which they were riding.
This Day in Automotive History 6/17/1907: Brooklands, the first purpose-built banked motor race circuit in the world. officially opened. 1929: The Cord Corporation was organized in Chicago. 1946: The first mobile telephone call is placed from a car in St. Louis. 1947: Sir Edward Holden (61) the Australian vehicle manufacturer, ‘the father of the Australian car industry’, died. 1994: Viewers across the nation are glued to their television screens watching as a fleet of black-and-white police cars pursues a white Ford Bronco along Interstate-405 in Los Angeles, California in an agonizing slow-speed chase. Inside the Bronco is Orenthal James “O.J.” Simpson, a former professional football player, actor and sports commentator whom police suspected of involvement in the recent murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. 2007: The History Channel began to air Ice Road Truckers.
This Day in Automotive History 6/16/1896: Jean Peugeot born, Paris, France. 1903: At 9:30 in the morning, Henry Ford and other prospective stockholders in the Ford Motor Company meet in Detroit to sign the official paperwork required to create a new corporation. 1917: American Harry Miller completed the Golden Submarine, a new kind of car with a metal roll cage inside the driver’s compartment, for renowned US racer Barney Oldfield. Aerodynamically advanced and wind-tunnel tested, the streamlined racer was years ahead of its time. 1929: Bentleys swept the first four places at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 1935: At the Florence - Lucca autostrada, Tazio Nuvolari driving an Alfa Romeo 6.3L became the first to break the 200 mph barrier road speed record. 1945: The Willys Universal, the first civilian Jeep, was introduced. 1953: Ford introduces Master Guide power steering. 1964: The 8,000,000th Volkswagen was produced. 2003: Ford Motor Company celebrated its centenary. Chairman and CEO Bill Ford, grandson of founder Henry Ford, led the celebrations in Detroit. The Ford GT was released to mark the occasion. 2008: FCX Clarity, Honda's new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car, rolled off a Japanese production line and headed to Southern California, where Hollywood is already abuzz over the latest splash in green motoring.
This Day in Automotive History 6/15/1901: Cleveland issued the first automobile license in Ohio to C E Burke. 1903: Barney Oldfield drove a Ford 999 at a record mile per minute. 1909: Crane & Breed of Cincinnati introduced the first motorized hearse. 1936: Fiat's Topolino (‘little mouse’ in Italian), referred as "the five hundred", was officially presented to the public under the slogan "the smallest automobile in the world". 1952: Mercedes-Benz 300SLs finished 1-2 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 1969: Jackie Ickx and Jackie Oliver drove a Ford GT40 to victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 1986: Driving legend Richard Petty makes the 1,000th start of his National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) career, in the Miller American 400 in Brooklyn, Michigan. He became the first driver in NASCAR history to log 1,000 career starts.
This Day in Automotive History 6/14/1832: Nikolaus Otto (invented the first internal combustion engine) born, Holzhausen, Germany. 1916: An International Model F truck became the first commercial vehicle to reach the summit of Pikes Peak, CO. 1917: The 2,000,000th Ford Model T was produced. 1959: The Disneyland Monorail System opened at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, during the rededication of Tomorrowland. The original trains, the Mark I Red and Blue, were each three cars long. In 1961 the Disneyland Hotel station was lengthened in order to connect with the monorail track so that it could accommodate a new four car train, the Mark II, improving ridership and usability of the system as transportation to and from the park. 1961: The UK government announced the introduction of push-button controlled pedestrian crossings. 2002: In one of the most memorable scenes in the film “The Bourne Identity,” released on this day in 2002, the amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) drives a vintage Austin Mini Cooper through the traffic-heavy streets of Paris to evade his police and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) pursuers.
This Day in Automotive History 6/13/1896: Emile Levassor drives a Panhard et Levassor car with a two-cylinder, 750-rpm, four-horsepower Daimler Phoenix engine over the finish line in the world’s first real automobile race. Levassor completed the 732-mile course, from Paris to Bordeaux and back, in just under 49 hours, at a then-impressive speed of about 15 miles per hour. 1953: The highlight of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 21st Grand Prix of Endurance was the introduction, by Jaguar Cars, of disc brakes on all four wheels of each C-type car, which gave Jaguar 1st, 2nd, and 4th place finishes. 1978: Lee Iacocca was fired as President of the Ford Motor Company by Chairman Henry Ford II. 1996: Friedrich Geiger, responsible for some of Mercedes’ most memorable cars, including the gull wing SL, passed away. 2003: The Ford GT was officially 'reborn. 2006: Chinese civil servants were ordered not to drive cars, use elevators or switch on air conditioning for a day, as part of an energy-saving awareness campaign. Each day an estimated 1,000 new cars were appearing on the streets of Beijing, causing nitrogen dioxide levels to exceed WHO clean-air guidelines by 78 per cent. 2008: Petty Enterprises sold majority interest in the family-owned race team to Boston Ventures, a private equity firm.
This Day in Automotive History 6/12/1901: The first Peerless automobile was introduced. 1909: The first races sanctioned by the American Automobile Association (AAA), which were also the first races staged at the Portland Road Course (OR), were run. 1914: The Kentucky General Assembly required automobile license plates to be issued annually. 1920: The General Motors Research Corporation was created with Charles F Kettering as its first General Manager. 1940: Edsel Ford agrees to manufacture Rolls-Royce engines for war effort. 1952: Maurice Olley, Chevrolet's chief engineer, completed his chassis, code-named ‘Opel’, which would eventually become the chassis for the 1953 Corvette. 1954: Packard offers tubeless tires. 1971: The last Lincoln Mark III is produced. 1975: Chrysler Imperial production ends. 1998: Jan Lammers. Johnny Dumfries, and Andy Wallace in a Jaguar XJR-9LM covered a record breaking 3313.150 miles, in winning the Le Mans 24-hour race.
This Day in Automotive History 6/11/1895: The first US patent for a gasoline-driven automobile by a US inventor was issued to Charles E. Duryea. 1928: The first Plymouth automobile came off the production line. 1950: The Dodge Diplomat two-door hardtop was introduced as a mid-year model. 1955: In Le Mans, France, a Mercedes-Benz racer crashed killing its driver and some 81 spectators. 1958: The 39 millionth Chevrolet car was built, a 1958 Corvette. 1968: Perhaps one of the most popular and recognizable post-war British limousines, the Daimler DS420, was officially launched. 1985: The USPS issued a 11-cent stamp in Baton Rouge, LA designed by Ken Dallison and picturing a 1933 Stutz (Super) Bearcat. 1986: “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” stars the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California, a custom-built car revered by auto collectors.
This Day in Automotive History 6/10/1907: In China 11 men in five cars set out from the French embassy in Beijing on a race to Paris. Prince Scipione Borghese of Italy was the first to arrive in the French capital two months later. The 62-day race was won by an Italian built Itala. 1911: The first American LaFrance rotary gear pumping engine fire truck was sold to the San Antonio Fire Department. 1927: Graham Brothers acquire control of Paige-Detroit Motor Car Co. 1947: Swedish airplane manufacturer Saab AB introduced their first prototype automobile to the press at the company’s headquarters. 1951: Jaguar wins Le Mans for the first time. 1979: Paul Newman, the blue-eyed movie star-turned-race car driver, accomplishes the greatest feat of his racing career on this day in 1979, roaring into second place in the 47th 24 Hours of Le Mans, the famous endurance race held annually in Le Mans, France. 1994: Ford Japan introduced the U.S.-built Ford Probe GT and Japanese-built Ford Laser. 2007: Having started in pole position, British driver Lewis Hamilton won his first F1 race in an incident-strewn Canadian Grand Prix.
This Day in Automotive History 6/9/1898: Luigi Fagioli, the oldest driver to ever win a Formula One race, was born in Osimo, Italy. 1921: General Motors established a 'pricing ladder' for their car lines to ensure complete coverage of the market. 1930: The second generation Ford Model A commercial vehicles were introduced. 1997: The new Saab 9-5 was presented in Trollhättan, Sweden. 2006: The animated feature film “Cars,” produced by Pixar Animation Studios, roars into theaters across the United States. For “Cars,” which won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Pixar’s animators created an alternate America inhabited by vehicles instead of humans. 2007: The record for the largest parade of Ferrari cars, 385, was achieved by Ferrari GB at the Silverstone Race Circuit, UK. 2010: The Nissan Juke was launched in Japan.
This Day in Automotive History 6/8/1896: The 1st car was stolen. 1912: W. O. Bentley competed in his first motor-car competition, the Aston Clinton Hill Climb in Buckinghamshire. 1938: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1938, which called for a report on the feasibility of a system of transcontinental toll roads. 1948: A hand-built aluminum prototype labeled “No. 1″ becomes the first vehicle to bear the name of one of the world’s leading performance car manufacturers: Porsche. There is no substitute. 1958: The 1,000,000th Plymouth V-8 engine is produced. 1970: Rock band, Deep Purple had their van and equipment impounded by East German police while on an European tour, after mistakenly driving too close to the border. 1983: The Corvette plant produced a new 1984 model Corvette, with build order "DE 9163 ZORA 1". 1986: Volkswagenwerk AG obtained a majority interest in "Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo, SA" (SEAT), initially with 51 % of the share capital. 2007: George Michael was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and banned from driving for two years at Brent Magistrates court, north London.
This Day in Automotive History 6/7/1906: The New York Times reported on an early implementation of what might be considered speed bumps in the US town of Chatham, NJ, which planned to raise its crosswalks five inches above the road level. 1928: First Plymouth automobile built. 1954: The Ford Motor Company formed a styling team to design an entirely new car that would later be named the Edsel. 1962: The banking institution Credit Suisse–then known as Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKA)–opens the first drive-through bank in Switzerland at St. Peter-Strasse 17, near Paradeplatz (Parade Square) in downtown Zurich. 1998: The first sub-7 second 1/4 mile run by a NMCA Pro-Street street legal car. 2002: Bill France Sr. dies at the age of 82. 2002: The 163-bhp Mini Cooper S with a 6-speed gearbox, capable of 0 to 60 mph in 7 seconds and a top speed of 135 mph, went on sale in the UK. 2005: General Motors announced plans to close plants and eliminate some 25,000 manufacturing jobs in the US by 2008. 2008: The record of the largest parade of Ford Mustang cars of 620 was set between St-Eulalie and Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada. 2010: Chrysler Group LLC recalled nearly 600,000 minivans and Jeep Wranglers because of brake or wiring problems that could become safety issues.
This Day in Automotive History 6/6/1907: Construction began on the Long Island Motor Parkway, the first first limited-access roadway in the world. 1921: King George V opened the Southwark Bridge in London. 1925: Walter P. Chrysler incorporates Chrysler Corporation. 1928: The first Dodge Victory Six Sport Roadster was produced. 1932: US Federal gas tax was enacted. 1933: Eager motorists park their automobiles on the grounds of Park-In Theaters, the first-ever drive-in movie theater, located on Crescent Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey. 1941: Swiss-born American Louis Chevrolet, founder of the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911 and later the Frontenac Motor Corporation which made racing parts for Ford’s Model T, died at the age of 62. 1948: Charles W. Nash (84), co-founder of Buick Cars, General Manager of General Motors and the force behind Nash Motors, died. 1968: Richard Petty drove a Plymouth to the 80th win of his career.
This Day in Automotive History 6/5/1909: The first competitive event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway began, a manned gas balloon race, in which the winner was determined by most distance covered from the take off point. 1937: Henry Ford urges a 32-hour work week. 1951: Gordon M. Buehrig was issued a US patent for his "vehicle top with removable panels". The T-top automobile roof has a removable panel on each side of a rigid bar running from the center of one structural bar between pillars to the center of the next structural bar. 1960: Racer Jim Clark made his Formula 1 debut driving a Lotus in the Dutch Grand Prix. 1996: A Car Free Day organized by local government was held in Iceland's capital city. 1998: 3,400 members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union walk out on their jobs at a General Motors (GM) metal-stamping factory in Flint, MI, beginning a strike that will last seven weeks and stall production at GM facilities nationwide. 1998: Volkswagen AG announced it had won the takeover battle for the ownership of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd, beating off competition from BMW AG. 2009: General Motors Corporation announced a tentative deal to sell its Saturn brand to former race car driver and dealership group owner Roger Penske.
This Day in Automotive History 6/4/1896: Henry Ford test-drives the "Quadricycle". At approximately 4:00 a.m., in the shed behind his home on Bagley Avenue in Detroit, Henry Ford unveils the “Quadricycle,” the first automobile he ever designed or drove. 1910: The Scottish made Argyll is the first automobile fitted for four wheel brakes. The front brakes are operated by a foot pedal, while the back brakes are controlled by a hand lever. 1924: The 10,000,000th Ford Model T rolled off the assembly line. 1933: The first recorded organized midget car race was held at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, CA. 1940: The 7,000,000th Ford V-8 was produced. 1946: Michelin & Cie filed a French patent for its new radial tires. In this design, the cord plies are arranged at 90 degrees to the direction of travel, or radially (from the center of the tire). 1957: United States automakers agreed to delete speed and performance references from its advertising and stress safety features. 1959: The American Honda Motor Company was established in Los Angeles, CA, initially to develop a market for Honda motorcycles. 2011: Italy-based Fiat offered $125 million to buy the Canadian government's stake in Chrysler Group LLC as it moved swiftly to strengthen its control of the US automaker.
This Day in Automotive History 6/3/1864: Ransom Olds born, Geneva, OH. 1878: Barney Oldfield born, Wauseon, OH. 1921: Mack adopted the Bulldog as the symbol for Mack trucks. 1925: The 100,000th Chevrolet built at the former Samson factory in Janesville, WI, a Series M 1-ton Utility Express truck chassis, was produced. 1957: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the chemical company E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co. must give up its large stock interest in the Detroit-based automobile company General Motors on the grounds that it constituted a monopoly. 1973: Jackie Stewart won the Monaco Grand Prix driving a Tyrrell-Cosworth 006, equaling the record of 25 Grand Prix victories set by his friend Jim Clark. 2003: Ford installed the World’s Largest Living Roof on its new Dearborn truck plant in Michigan. About 454,000 square feet of assembly plant roofing was covered with sedum and other succulent plants. The roof reduces storm water runoff by holding an inch of rainfall. 2008: Chasing Classic Cars, a US television documentary series, was first broadcast in the US. 2011: The US Treasury reached an agreement to sell the rest of its holdings in Chrysler to Italy’s Fiat.
This Day in Automotive History 6/2/1899: Locomobile Co. founded. 1911: The first Pierce-Arrow truck was sold to the International Brewing Corporation. 1935: The 2,000,000th Ford V-8 was produced. 1952: A plaster model of the original Chevrolet Corvette was completed. 1954: The first Volvo sports car, the two-door, two-seater, open-top P1900, produced for export only, was unveiled. 1970: Race car driver and designer Bruce McLaren dies in crash. 1988: Consumer Reports magazine called for a ban on the Suzuki Samurai, a popular sport utility vehicle that the magazine said tended to roll over in sudden turns; American Suzuki Motor Corporation defended the vehicle as safe. 1990: Construction began on the National Corvette Museum, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. 2008: The sale of Jaguar to Tata was completed at a cost of £1.7 billion.
This Day in Automotive History 6/1/1849: Francis and Freelan Stanley (creators of the Stanley Steamer) born, Kingfield, ME. 1878: C. Harold Wills (Model T, A, B, C and F lead engineer) born, Fort Wayne, IN. 1906: Ohio required all automobile owners to prepare homemade license plates including the letters "OH" and register their cars with the Secretary of State. 1909: President William Howard Taft touched a key in Washington, DC, sending a signal to Seattle, opening the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Expo at the Seattle World’s Fair, as well as a signal to NYC initialing the New York to Seattle Automobile Race. 1916: Ford established Automobiles Ford (France) and announced plans to build an assembly plant in Bordeaux. 1934: Tokyo-based Jidosha-Seizo Kabushiki-Kaisha (Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in English) takes on a new name: Nissan Motor Company. 1973: Harvey Jr. Firestone (b.1898), died in Akron, OH. 1981: Production of Corvettes began at a new plant in Bowling Green, KY and the facility has remained the exclusive home of the Corvette ever since. 1991: The Lexus SC400 was given its public launch at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco. 2009: GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of the Obama administration's plan to shrink the automaker to a sustainable size and give a majority ownership stake to the federal government.
This Day in Automotive History 5/31/1870: Professor Edward Joseph De Smedt of the American Asphalt Pavement Company, New York City, received two patents for his invention known as "French asphalt pavement." 1907: Taxis began running in New York City. 1919: The first Indy 500 win for Goodyear tires and the first playing of the song "Back Home Again in Indiana" at the 500. 1927: Ford builds last Model T. 1929: Ford Motor Company signs a landmark agreement to produce cars in the Soviet Union. 1952: In San Francisco the first Golden Gate Park Road Race was held. A 3.1-mile, eight-turn course was laid out in the western half of the park. 1973: The Audi Fox was introduced. 1977: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) was completed. TAPS includes the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 12 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. 1995: The one-millionth Saturn car was produced, a dark green 1995 SC2.
This Day in Automotive History 5/30/1896: The 1st car accident in NYC occurred when Henry Wells hit cyclist Ebeling Thomas on the "Western Boulevard" (Broadway). 1911: Ray Harroun drives his single-seater Marmon Wasp to victory in the inaugural Indianapolis 500, now one of the world’s most famous motor racing competitions. 1949: On the empty Ostend-Jabbeke motorway in Belgium, a prototype Jaguar XK120 timed by the officials of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium achieved an average of runs in opposing directions of 132.6 mph- a new production car speed record. 1978: The 20,000,000th Oldsmobile was produced. 1999: Nidia and Patricio Leal were killed when their Ford Explorer skidded into a ditch near Brownsville, Texas, US following the unraveling of a Firestone tire. Relatives settled with Bridgestone/Firestone in 2000 in the 1st product liability suit following an August 2000, tire recall. 2021: 2007 Dancing with the Stars Champion Helio Castroneves becomes the 4th four-time Indy 500 winner.
This Day in Automotive History 5/29/1935: The Ford Motor Company pavilion, designed by Walter Dorwin Teague, opened at the California-Pacific Exposition in San Diego. 1946: First Kaiser-Frazer produced. 1950: Preston Tucker's US lawsuit against his former prosecutors was thrown out of court. 1977: Janet Guthrie (b.1938) became the 1st woman to drive in the Indy 500. 1977: A.J. Foyt became the first four-time winner of the Indy 500, driving a Coyote-Foyt of his own design. 2002: Bentley Motors chairman and chief executive Franz-Josef Paefgen presented the new Bentley State Limousine to The Queen at Windsor Castle in recognition of her Golden Jubilee year. 2005: Dan Wheldon became the first Englishman since Graham Hill in 1966 to win the Indianapolis 500, while Danica Patrick stole the headlines by becoming the highest-finishing woman in the history of the Indianapolis 500 by finishing fourth, earning Chase Rookie of the Year honors for her performance. She was also the first woman to lead a lap in the prestigious race. 2016: The 100th running of the greatest spectacle in motor sports, the Indianapolis 500, won by rookie driver Alexander Rossi.
This Day in Automotive History 5/28/1902: The British magazine 'Car Illustrated' first appeared. 1919: The first Citroen car, the Model A went into production. 1928: Fritz von Opel reached 200 kph in an experimental rocket car. 1937: The government of Germany–then under the control of Adolf Hitler of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party–forms a new state-owned automobile company, then known as Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH. Later that year, it was renamed simply Volkswagenwerk, or “The People’s Car Company". 1952: The first Dodge V-8 was produced. 1953: The last Kaiser Dragon was produced. The name, Dragon, came from the vinyl upholstery claimed to resemble dragon skin. 1975: G Elizabeth Carmichael, transsexual promoter of the 3-wheel Dale, was convicted of fraud in Los Angeles 1989: Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil won the Indianapolis 500. 2000: Juan Montoya won the 84th Indianapolis 500, becoming the first rookie champion since Graham Hill in 1966. 2014: Google announced that it would build 100 prototype driverless cars devoid of pedals, steering wheels or controls save an on/off switch. 2017: In Indiana Takuma Sato became the first Japanese driver to win the Indianapolis 500.
This Day in Automotive History 5/27/1901: The Edison Storage Battery Company was founded in New Jersey, primarily to develop a nickel-iron alkaline battery to improve the feasibility of electric automobiles. 1914: The first issue of GMC Truck Talk was published. 1916: Barney Oldfield ran a qualifying lap in his front-wheel-drive Christie at 102.6 mph. It was the first time any driver had rounded the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in excess of 100 mph. 1937: The Golden Gate Bridge, connecting San Francisco with Marin County, officially opens amid citywide celebration. Constructed from January 1933 to May 1937, at the time, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, at 4,200 feet. 1951: Stirling Moss made his Formula One debut at the Swiss Grand Prix held at Bremgarten. 1971: The 250,000th MGB, a MGB GT was produced and given away in a US sweepstake. 1977: ''Smokey and the Bandit,'' starring Burt Reynolds and his Pontiac Trans Am is released. 1997: Arie Luyendyk won the Indianapolis 500 for the second time. 2007: Dario Franchitti wins a rain-abbreviated Indy 500.
This Day in Automotive History 5/26/1903: Marcel Renault, age 31, died without regaining consciousness, 48 hours after crashing on the opening day of the Paris to Madrid race. 1906: Mauri Rose born, Columbus, Ohio, race car driver who won back to back Indy 500s. 1923: The first 24 Hours of Le Mans, organised by the Automobile Club de L’Ouest, began. 1927: Henry Ford and his son Edsel drive the 15 millionth Model T Ford out of their factory, marking the famous automobile’s official last day of production. 1943: Edsel Ford, president (49) of the Ford Motor Company, died. 1952: First Porsche club founded, Westphalia, Germany. 1960: Jaguar Cars Ltd acquired the Daimler Motor Company Ltd of Coventry, England. 1983: Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz models were introduced. 2002: 14 died in the I-40 Bridge disaster on Interstate 40, near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, US when a barge collided with a bridge support, causing a 580-foot section of the bridge to plunge into the Arkansas River. 2004: The £75,000 mid-engined Noble M14 was unveiled at the Birmingham Motor Show in the West Midlands. 2006: "Cars" premieres at Lowes Motor Speedway; Concord, NC. 2014: China's government announced plans to take 6 million older, polluting vehicles off the road in 2014 in an effort to revive stalled progress toward cleaning up smog-choked cities.
This Day in Automotive History 5/25/1898: Elwood Haynes, who built America’s first gasoline-powered car, and Elmer Apperson, founded the Haynes-Apperson Company in Kokomo, Indiana. 1927: Ford Motor Company announced the end of Model T and named its replacement, the Model A. 1950: The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, a toll road in New York City which crosses under the East River at its mouth, connecting the Borough of Brooklyn on Long Island with the Borough of Manhattan, officially opened. 1967: Beatle John Lennon took delivery of his famous psychedelic Rolls-Royce. 1994: The ashes of 71-year-old George Swanson are buried (according to Swanson’s request) in the driver’s seat of his 1984 white Corvette in Hempfield County, PA. http://vimeo.com/55461336 2000: The US government proposed a rating system telling consumers how prone vehicles are to rolling over.
This Day in Automotive History 5/24/1876: Howard C. Marmon born, Richmond, Indiana. 1883: After 14 years and 27 deaths while being constructed, the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River is opened, connecting the great cities of New York and Brooklyn for the first time in history. 1899: The 1st US auto repair shop opened in Boston. 1938: A US patent was issued for a Coin Controlled Parking Meter to Carl C. McGee of Oklahoma City. 1991: The critically acclaimed road movie “Thelma and Louise” debuts in theaters, stunning audiences with a climactic scene in which its two heroines drive off a cliff into the Grand Canyon, in a vintage 1966 green Ford Thunderbird convertible. 1992: Al Unser Jr. became the first second-generation winner of the Indianapolis 500; his father, four-time winner Al Unser, finished third. 2002: Volkswagen unveiled the most powerful production Golf to date, the R32, producing an impressive 240 bhp from its 3.2-litre V6 engine.
This Day in Automotive History 5/23/1875: Alfred Sloan, Jr., born, New Haven, CT. 1905: The first Rolls-Royce 30-hp 6-cylinder was completed. 1934: Wanted outlaws Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker are shot to death by Texas and Louisiana state police officers as they attempt to escape apprehension in a stolen 1934 Ford Deluxe near Bienville Parish, LA. Barrow’s enthusiasm for cars was evident in a letter he wrote earlier in the spring of 1934, addressed to Henry Ford himself: “While I still have got breath in my lungs I will tell you what a dandy car you make." 1971: Maserati went into liquidation. 1982: Don Prudhomme set an NHRA Funny Car top speed record of 250.00 mph in Baton Rouge, LA. 1989: Citroën launched a new flagship model, the XM. Designed by Bertone, the hatchback saloon was the world's first production car to feature a suspension system that combined the intelligence of electronics with the power and flexibility of hydraulics. 2000: BMW Group and Ford Motor Company announced that they had signed a definitive agreement for Ford to buy the Land Rover business from BMW.
This Day in Automotive History 5/22/1899: Plain Dealer reporter Charles Shanks first used the French word "automobile" in a series of articles he wrote about a road trip with car magnate Alexander Winton from Cleveland to New York. The word thereafter became accepted in the US. 1929: Debut flight of the Goodyear Blimp. 1950: The Nash-Kelvinator Corporation registered the 'Rambler' and 'Statesman' names as trademarks. 1969: The legendary actor, philanthropist and automobile enthusiast Paul Newman makes his onscreen racing debut in the action-drama film “Winning.” 1977: Janet Guthrie from Iowa, became the first female to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. 2001: Ford Motor Co. said it planned to spend more than $2 billion to replace up to 13 million Firestone tires on its vehicles because of safety concerns. 2011: Saudi authorities re-arrested activist Manal al-Sherif for defying a ban on female drivers. 2020: Car rental company Hertz filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid the global economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This Day in Automotive History 5/21/1901: Connecticut becomes the first state to pass a law regulating motor vehicles, limiting their speed to 12 mph in cities and 15 mph on country roads. 1906: Louis Henry Perlman of New York City applied for a patent for his invention of the demountable tire-carrying rim, similar to those used on today's cars, but wider. The patent was issued 4 February 1913. 1929: The Ford Model A Fordor sedan, the so-called “Leatherback” model, with a “two-window” roofline without rear quarter windows, covered in pebble-grain artificial leather, was introduced. 1976: The 'last' Jensen was built, although production of the Interceptor would later resume on a limited basis. 1981: The 'Cimarron by Cadillac' was introduced. The front-engine, front-wheel drive four door compact sedan was manufactured and marketed by Cadillac for model years 1982-1988 — over a single generation. 2001: Ford Motor and Bridgestone/Firestone announced the termination of their century old business relationship. 2003: Former racing car driver and founder of the Italian sports car company De Tomaso Automobili in 1959, Alejandro de Tomaso (74), who also built up a substantial business empire, died.
This Day in Automotive History 5/20/1899: Jacob German (26), operator of a taxicab for the Electric Vehicle Company, became the first driver to be arrested for speeding in the US when he was stopped by Bicycle Roundsman Schueller for driving at the "breakneck" speed of 12mph on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. 1927: The first Austin Swallow was completed, becoming the first direct lineal ancestor of what would become known as the Jaguar marque. 1948: The Playboy Motor Car Corporation went public, offering twenty million shares of common stock at $1 per share. 1958: The Austin-Healey ‘Frogeye’ Sprite was announced to the press by BMC in Monte Carlo. 1959: Ford won a battle with Chrysler to call its new car "Falcon." 1964: Enzo Ferrari abruptly pulled out of a near-agreement with the Ford Motor Company for the takeover of his firm, an event often cited as the catalyst through which an angry Henry Ford II authorised Ford's return to racing 1995: President Bill Clinton permanently closes the two-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to all non-pedestrian traffic as a security measure. 2007: The record Le Mans-winning 1962 Ferrari 330 TRI/LM Testa Rosa Spyder was auctioned by RM Auctions and Sotherby’s for €6,875,000.
This Day in Automotive History 5/19/1903: Buick Motor Co. incorporates. 1908: The first automobile race in Russia, a 438 mile run from St Petersburg o Moscow, was won by Victor Emery driving a Benz. 1927: The Dodge Senior Six was introduced. 1935: The Frankfurt-Darmstadt (Germany) Autobahn was opened. 1953: Packard completed two White House fleet cars with air conditioning, a first for the marque - the option would become available to the general public six weeks later. 1966: Fiat announced plans to build a factory in Poland. 1976: The Triumph TR7 was launched in the UK. It was characterized by its ‘wedge’ shape, which was commonly advertised as ‘The Shape of Things to Come’. 1980: The Triumph TR8, an eight-cylinder version of the "wedge-shaped" Triumph TR7 sports car, designed by Harris Mann, and manufactured by British Leyland, was launched in the US. 1991: Willy T. Ribbs became the first African-American driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. 1996: The Monaco Grand Prix was run in wet weather, causing significant attrition and setting a record for the fewest number of cars (3) to be running at the end of a Grand Prix race. 2007: Smart launches U.S. road show to introduce its microcar.
This Day in Automotive History 5/18/1912: Georg von Opel, German auto manufacturer, was born. 1915: Cannon Ball Baker, driving a Stutz Bearcat, arrived in New York City 11 days, 7 hours and 15 minutes after leaving San Diego, California, breaking all existing cross-country records. 1922: The 6,000,000th Ford Model T was produced. 1958: Lotus makes Formula One debut in the Monaco Grand Prix, the opening event of the year’s European racing season. Over the next four decades, Team Lotus will go on to become one of the most successful teams in Formula One history. 1958: Italian Maria Teresa de Filippis became the first woman to drive in a Formula One event when she participated in the Monaco Grand Prix, driving a Maserati. 1966: The Socony Mobil Oil Company Inc changed its name to Mobil Oil Corporation. 1971: German Georg von Opel, in his own Opel GT, established an electric car standing-start kilometre world record of 31.07 seconds. 1990: Orion films released Cadillac Man, starring Robin Williams. The movie follows a day in the life of Joey O'Brien (Williams), a shameless used-car salesman with a weakness for women.
This Day in Automotive History 5/17/1868: Horace Dodge born, Niles, Michigan. 1904: Clement Smith and Terry Stafford were issued with a United States patent for their clutch and planetary transmission design. 1929: Edsel Ford cut the first sod of Ford's new British manufacturing plant in the Dagenham marshes. The first cars at Dagenham were produced in October, 1931. This was Ford’s first expansion outside the US. 1930: Construction began on the new Ford-Werke AG factory in Niehl, Germany, near Cologne. 1962: The last Volvo P2101 chassis was produced. 1994: Al Unser Sr. announced his retirement from auto racing, ending one of the greatest Indy Car careers of all time. 2000: PSA Peugeot Citröen rolled out the 5000th electric car, a white Citroën Saxo. 2005: Toyota Motor Company announces its plans to produce a gasoline-electric hybrid version of its bestselling Camry sedan, the Camry became Toyota’s first hybrid model to be manufactured in the US. 2014: The first British Electric Motorcycle Land Speed Record was set at Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire by Sam Green with Saietta R, a British electric urban sports road motorcycle brand, and in partnership with Darvill Racing team. The average record speed achieved was 100.89 mph. The first record attempt saw Saietta R achieve its top speed of 105 mph.
This Day in Automotive History 5/16/1862: Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir built the first automobile with an internal-combustion engine. 1897: Howard "Dutch" Darrin born, Cranford, New Jersey. 1921: Frank C Clement, driving the second experimental Bentley 3-litre, won the Brookland Whitsun race, the first victory for the marque. 1933: Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr was granted U.S. Patent 1,909,537 for the drive-in theater. 1956: Executives from the Detroit-based automotive giant General Motors (GM) dedicate the new GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. Costing around $100 million–or about half a billion in today’s dollars–to develop, and staffed by around 4,000 scientists, engineers, designers and other personnel, the GM Technical Center was one of the largest industrial research centers in the world. 1982: The Porsche 956 made its race debut in the World Endurance Championship 6-hour race at Silverstone, England, with Jackie Ickx and Derek Bell starting on pole and winning the Group C class. 1992: Lights were installed at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and it became the first non-short track to host night racing.
This Day in Automotive History 5/15/1900: New York City issued its first driver's license; by 1918 all states required license plates. 1909: Minnesota's state-issued license plates were introduced. 1942: Gasoline rationing began in 17 Eastern states as an attempt to help the American war effort during World War II. By the end of the year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ensured that mandatory gasoline rationing was in effect in all 50 states. 1953: Cubmaster Don Murphy organized the first Pinewood Derby in Manhattan Beach, CA. 1962: The semi-production Chrysler Turbine Car, designed by Elwood P Engle and built by Carrozzeria Ghia, was introduced to Chrysler dealers at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. 1981: The 20,000,000th Volkswagen Beetle was produced at the Volkswagen plant in Puebla, Mexico. 1998: John Force became the first National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car driver to exceed 320 mph when his Castrol Ford Mustang reached 323.35 mph at the end of the quarter-mile in Englishtown, NJ. 2004: Traffic police patrolling motorways in southern Italy unveiled the force's first Lamborghini Gallardo in all its blue and white glory, topped with a blue flashing light and marked with the word "Polizia".
This Day in Automotive History 5/14/1909: E.G. "Cannonball" Baker finished a transcontinental motorcycle ride from San Diego to New York, a distance of 3,378 miles. 1924: The House of Lords discussed the introduction of driving tests to curb the rise in the number of road accidents. 1966: The Subaru 1000, the first front wheel drive Subaru produced by Fuji Heavy Industries that was in the Japanese government "compact car" classification, went on sale. 1969: Last Chevrolet Corvair built. 1977: Pole-sitter Tom Sneva turned the first official 200-mph laps at the Indianapolis Speedway. 1991: General Motors ended production of the Buick Reatta, a two-seater sports car that had been introduced in 1988. 2007: The European-American carmaker DaimlerChrysler, created in 1998 in a $36 billion merger, announces that it is selling 80.1 percent of the Chrysler group to the U.S. private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.
This Day in Automotive History 5/13/1897: The Pope Manufacturing Company unveiled its first automobiles in what is often cited as the world's first automotive press preview. 1938: The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company was liquidated. 1958: 'Breathalyser', the brand name for the instrument developed by inventor Robert Frank Borkenstein, for estimating blood alcohol content (BAC) from a breath sample, was registered as a trademark. 1971: Mark Donohue recorded the first sub-50 second lap (49.73 seconds) and first 180 mph lap (180.977 mph) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 1978: Joie Chitwood (1912-1988), Texas-born race car driver, set a world record when he drove a Chevette 5.6 miles on just 2 wheels. 1980: Stockholders vote to appoint Douglas Fraser, president of the United Automobile Workers (UAW), to one of 20 seats on Chrysler’s board of directors. The vote made Fraser the first union representative ever to sit on the board of a major U.S. corporation. 1986: The Jeep Wrangler was introduced as a 1987 model, replacing the Jeep CJ. 1987: The Standard Oil Company of Ohio and BP North America Inc. merged as BP America Inc.
This Day in Automotive History 5/12/1914: A US patent was issued for the Pierce-Arrow fender-mounted headlights. 1925: Treaded pneumatic tires were patented in the US. 1934: The smaller. low-priced Buick Series 40 was introduced. 1936: The 3,000,000th Ford truck was produced. 1957: A.J. Foyt scores his first professional victory, in a USAC midget car race in Kansas City, MO. 1962: Parnelli Jones, driving his Watson Roadster "Old Calhoun" became the first driver to qualify over 150 mph at the Indianapolis 500. 1969: Chevrolet announced that it would discontinue production of the Corvair. 1984: Tom Sneva became the first to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 over 210 mph. 1988: The Ford Probe was introduced. The sports coupe was intended to fill the market niche formerly occupied by the Capri in Europe, and was also considered a possible replacement for the Ford Mustang in the North American market. 2000: Adam Petty, 19, the fourth-generation driver of NASCAR's most famous family, died in a crash during practice for the Busch 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway. 2006: General Motors announced that it would cease production of the original H1 Hummer.
This Day in Automotive History 5/11/1908: Henry Ford informed William C Durant of his terms to add the Ford Motor Company to Durant's General Motors, but lack of cash caused that deal and a similar one with Ransom E Olds of Reo to fall through. 1920: The 4,000,000th Ford Model T was produced. 1947: The B.F. Goodrich Company of Akron, OH, announces it has developed a tubeless tire, a technological innovation that would make automobiles safer and more efficient. 1978: The 2,000,000th Chevrolet Camaro was produced, a gold coupe driven off the Van Nuys, CA, assembly line. 1993: The US Senate approved the so-called "motor voter" bill, designed to make voter registration easier. 2007: Englishman Marek Turowski drove a motorized sofa, designed and built by the Auto Trader TV show presenter Edd China, reaching 92 mph on the 2-mile-long Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome runway in Leicestershire, England. 2017: The one-millionth Porsche 911 model rolled off the production line – a Carrera S in the special colour “Irish Green”, with numerous exclusive features following the original 911 from 1963.
This Day in Automotive History 5/10/1904: A. Horch & Cie. Motorwagen-Werke AG was established in Zwickau, Germany. 1921: Ford in Detroit, produced a record 4,072 cars in one day. 1923: GM names Alfred P. Sloan president. 1927: E. L. Cord purchased the Lexington Motor Company and Arnsted Engineering Company, both located in Connersville, IL. 1980: Government gives Chrysler $1.5 billion loan. 2004: Dutch postage stamps issued included images of Spyker motor cars. 2007: Dale Earnhardt, Jr., announced he was leaving Dale Earnhardt, Inc., the team founded by his father in 1996 and owned by Teresa Earnhardt. 2012: Carroll Shelby, the American automotive designer, racing driver and entrepreneur who gave his name to the famous Shelby Cobra sports car, died at the age of 89. He was one of the nation's longest-living heart transplant recipients, having received a heart on June 7, 1990, from a 34-year-old man who died of an aneurism.
This Day in Automotive History 5/9/1876: After 14 years of research and development Nikolaus A O Otto succeeded in creating the compressed charge internal combustion engine. 1896: The 1st horseless carriage show in London featured 10 models. 1907: Nova Scotia in Canada issued the province's first automobile license plate to W. M. Black of Wolfville. 1950: The Spanish car maker SEAT is formed with a starting capital of 600 million pesetas by the Instituto Nacional de Industria (INI), a state-owned industrial holding company. 1960: The sale of Volkswagenwerk AG stock to the public was authorized, ending 11 years of ownership by the West Germany government. 1962: Ford Motor Company initiated a formal program to develop a small sporty type car - the final result was the 1964 1/2 Mustang. 1980: The southbound span (opened in 1971) of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Tampa, FL was destroyed at 7:33 a.m., when the freighter MV Summit Venture collided with a pier (support column) during a blinding thunderstorm, sending over 1200 feet (366m) of the bridge plummeting into Tampa Bay. 2000: BMW sold the bulk of the Rover Group (the Rover and MG marques) to the Phoenix Consortium, while it retained the rights to the Mini marque, and sold Land Rover to Ford. 2008: “Speed Racer,” the big-budget live-action film version of the 1960s Japanese comic book and television series “MachGoGoGo,” makes its debut in U.S. movie theaters.
This Day in Automotive History 5/8/1879: George Baldwin Selden of Rochester, New York filed the first US patent for an automobile. 1896: The first horseless carriage show was held at London’s Imperial Institute. 1899: Olds Motor Vehicle and Olds Gasoline Engine Works of Lansing merged to form Olds Motor Works. 1933: Radio Engineering Laboratories of Long Island City installed the first police radio system, connecting headquarters to patrol cars and two patrol cars to one another, in Eastchester Township, New York. 1956: Henry Ford II, the namesake and grandson of the legendary automobile pioneer, resigns as chairman of his family’s charitable organization, the Ford Foundation. 1957: The 2,996th and final Lincoln Continental Mark II was produced. 1974: Britain lifts the temporary 50mph (80km/hr) speed limit from all motorways. The limits had been imposed in December 1973 as a response to the 1973 Oil Crisis. 1982: Gilles Villeneuve (32) died in a 140 mph (225 km/h) crash caused by a collision with the March of Jochen Mass during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder.
This Day in Automotive History 5/7/1927: The first DKW production automobile was completed. 1937: Professor Wunibald Kamm introduced his first "K-Car" in Munich, Germany, incorporating many of his theories on automobile streamlining. 1939: The Mercedes-Benz W165 is a racing car designed by Mercedes-Benz to meet voiturette racing regulations, won its only race. 1952: James J. Nance resigned form his position at Hotpoint to become the president and general manager of the Packard Motor Company. 1967: Don Prudhomme, driving a modified Ford, became the first dragster to run the quarter mile in less than seven seconds when he reached 226 mph at the National Hot Rod Association World Series in Carlsbad, CA. 1990: After 19 years and 1,997 cars produced, the Lamborghini Countach model went out of production giving way to the new Diablo model. 1998: The German automobile company Daimler-Benz announces a $36 billion merger with the US-based Chrysler Corporation. 2016: In Florida the first self-driving car fatality took place in Williston, when the driver of a Tesla S sports car, using the vehicle’s automated driving system, died in a collision with the truck.
This Day in Automotive History 5/6/1889: The Benz automobile was exhibited at the Paris World Fair. 1928: Chrysler introduces De Soto. 1939: The Maserati 4CL race car debuted in the Brooklands International Trophy dash in Surrey, England. 1977: A merger between Volvo and Saab was proposed, but failed to materialize. 1984: The Winston 500 held at Talladega Superspeedway, AL set a motorsports record with 75 lead changes in a single race. 1991: 51-year-old race car driver Harry Gant racks up his 12th NASCAR Winston Cup career victory in the Winston 500 in Talladega, Alabama. In doing so, Gant bettered his own record as the oldest man ever to win a NASCAR event. 1994: French President Mitterrand and Queen Elizabeth II jointly opened the Channel Tunnel linking Britain and France underneath the English Channel.
This Day in Automotive History 5/5/1914: Erwin "Cannonball" Baker began the cross-continental motorcycle trip that would influence the way Americans would think of the "big bike" forever more. 1927: The LaSalle was introduced as a companion marque of Cadillac. 1938: The 5,000,000th Ford V-8 was produced. 1944: Bertha Benz, the wife of inventor Karl Benz and the first person to drive an automobile over a long distance, died, in Ladenburg, Germany. 1950: The first La Carrera Panamericana road race began. 1967: The first motorway tunnel in the UK, the 370 meter long M4 twin-bored Crindau (or Brynglas) Tunnel near Newport opened. 1979: In a trial, Dr Hans Liebold lapped the 7.85 mile high speed track at Nardo, Italy in 1 min 52.67 sec in a Mercedes-Benz C111-IV experimental coupe, at an average speed of 250.958 mph – a new record average lap speed on a closed circuit. 1998: Jaguar unveiled its fastest-accelerating production car, the XKR. 2006: The Fiat 500 was announced.
This Day in Automotive History 5/4/1904: Charles Rolls and Henry Royce met for the first time at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, UK. The two men quickly decided they should join forces to produce and market high-class cars – and set the seal on their agreement with a simple handshake. 1923: 1st Le Mans 24-hour race held. 1954: GM Board of Directors authorized the development of an ultra-luxury car, the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. 1977: Dealerships on the planet Tatooine start Landspeeder deliveries. 1984: Bruce Springsteen releases “Pink Cadillac” as a B-side to “Dancing in the Dark,” which will become the first and biggest hit single off “Born in the U.S.A.,” the best-selling album of his career. 2006: Aston Martin unveiled the new DBS which would be driven by James Bond in the next 007 film Casino Royale. 2010: An ordinance authorizing the use of speed cameras in the town of Sykesville, MD was put to a referendum, in which 321 out of 529 voters (60.4%) voted against the cameras.
This Day in Automotive History 5/3/1940: Ford offered two-tone paint schemes as an option for the first time. 1942: The speed limit in the United States was reduced to 40 mph to conserve fuel. 1945: The 31,000,000th Ford was produced, a Model 59C half-ton pickup truck. 1948: Willys Jeepster phaeton debuts. 1949: Packard celebrates 50th Anniversary with a dealer drive away of 2,000 Gold Packards from Utica Proving Grounds. 1952: The Mercedes-Benz W194 "Gullwing" made its race debut in the Mille Miglia, finishing in 2nd and 4th. 1971: The first Cannonball Baker, more popularly known as the Cannonball Run, began in New York City. 1980: 13-year-old Cari Lightner of Fair Oaks, California, is walking along a quiet road on her way to a church carnival when a car swerves out of control, striking and killing her. Cari’s tragic death compelled her mother, Candy Lightner, to found the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which would grow into one of the country’s most influential non-profit organizations.
This Day in Automotive History 5/2/1918: General Motors Corporation (GM), which will become the world’s largest automotive firm, acquires Chevrolet Motor Company founded by William Durant and Louis Chevrolet. 1923: The first Triumph is manufactured. 1925: The Rolls-Royce Phantom I was introduced. 1934: In Germany a Chancellery meeting took place between Adolph Hitler and executives of General Motors Corp. and its German division (Opel). Opel quickly became an essential element in German rearmament. Over the next 4 years GM’s workforce in Germany grew from 17,000 to 27,000. 1975: Production began of the BMW E21 platform, designation for the first BMW 3 Series compact executive car. 1985: The General Motors X-Cars, among the first mainstream front-wheel drive models, rolled off the assembly line for the final time. The cars were a dismal failure. 2000: Ford announced the development of a prototype electric Ka, powered by a new generation of lithium-ion batteries.
This Day in Automotive History 5/1/1898: The first recorded fatality in a motor race occurred. The Marquis de Montignac and two riding mechanics were killed at a race in Périgueux, France. 1911: The gates at Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened for practice for the first Indianapolis 500. 1924: The MG octagon was registered as a trademark by Morris Garages. 1926: Ford Motor Company becomes one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week for workers in its automotive factories. The policy would be extended to Ford’s office workers the following August. 1951: Cadillac discontinued its low priced Series 61, which had replaced the LaSalle in 1941. 1953: Ed Cole hires Zora Arkus-Duntov as the Corvette's first chief engineer. 1954: Nash and Hudson merge to form AMC 1957: A fully-synchronized four-speed transmission was first made available on the 1957 model Corvette, as a US$188.30 option. 1969: The Porsche 917 was formally approved for competition by the FIA. 1984: The Toyo Kogyo Company Ltd, changed its name to the Mazda Motor Corporation. 2013: Electric car maker Coda Holdings Inc. of Los Angeles filed for bankruptcy after selling just 100 cars.
This Day in Automotive History 4/30/1899: The first prototype gasoline-powered Stanley Locomobile was completed at the company's factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut. 1936: The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Park-O-Meter had been recommended by Chief Administrative Officer Alfred Cleary. A trial plan called for 50 meters on Market St. charging 10 cents for 20 minutes. 1948: The Land Rover, a British-made all-terrain vehicle that will earn a reputation for its use in exotic locales, debuts at an auto show in Amsterdam. 1958: The Land Rover Series II was officially released to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the Land Rover launch date. 1962: The 47,000,000th Chevrolet is produced. 1978: The Mazda RX7, featuring a 1,146 cc twin-rotor Wankel rotary engine and a front-midship rear-wheel drive layout, made its US debut. 2000: Dave Hill, Chief Engineer of Corvette, unveiled the 2001 Z06 model Corvette, with new 385 HP LS6 engine. 2009: Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection after overnight talks broke down with a small group of the company's creditors.
This Day in Automotive History 4/29/1908: The US Steel Corporation manufactured the first car wheels made entirely out of steel. 1915: The $490 Chevrolet Model 490 was introduced. 1941: The 29 millionth Ford was produced, a 1941 Super Deluxe Station Wagon that was presented to the American National Red Cross by Edsel Ford. 1951: Dale Earnhardt, one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history, was born. 1959: Ford builds 50,000,000th car, a Galaxie 500 four-door sedan. 1969: A Porsche 917 was driven in public for the first time at the Le Mans test weekend. 1982: Henry Ford II sold the Renaissance Center in Detroit. 1994: Ford acquired 100% of Hertz Corporation, world's largest car rental company. 2004: The last Oldsmobile comes off the assembly line at the Lansing Car Assembly plant in Michigan, signaling the end of the 106-year-old automotive brand, America’s oldest. 2005: Credit card parking meters were introduced in parts of central London. 2008: The videogame “Grand Theft Auto IV,” produced by Take-Two Interactive Software, hit the stores.