thebear's archive of motorsports trivia

[thebear]

Originally Posted by Darren Galpin

Do stock chassis count as stock cars? If so, there was a race at Daytona Beach on the 3rd March 1908.

You you are probably thinking of a "Land Speed Record" attempt conducted ON the beach. There were many in that time period.

[Darren Galpin]

No. On the 3rd-6th March 1908, a series of events were held for a variety of car classes. A summary of the evnts is as follows:


March 3 - 100 mile race (Minneapolis Cup)
March 3 - 150 mile race for stock chassis
March 4 - 125 race - Amateur invitational
March 4 - 1 mile time trial
March 5 - 256 mile, stock chassis free-formula
March 6 - 100 mile race - match race for a $1000 wager!
March 6 - 1 mile time trial

The events were all held on Ormond Beach, on circuits of varying length.

[thebear]

Trivia for April:

1885 - 03 APR - Gottlieb Daimler is granted a patent for his one cylinder water cooled engine design.

1901 - 25 APR - New York becomes the first US state to require license plates on motor vehicles.

1948 - 30 APR - The Land Rover is introduced at the Amsterdam Auto Show

1955 - 19 APR - American Volkswagen opens it's offices in Englewood New Jersey

[thebear]

Trivia for May:

1911 – May 30, Ray Harroun wins the inaugural Indianapolis 500 averaging 74.6mph in the Marmon Wasp.

1920 – May 4, Harry Miller is issued a patent for a race car design that included many features later incorporated during the following decades.

1959 - May 17, Jerry Unser died after crashing 15 days earlier in practice for the Indianapolis 500

1981 – May 15, The 20 millionth original VW beetle is produced at Puebla Mexico.

1996 - May 17 Scott Brayton died in practice for the Indianapolis 500

1987 – May 3, Davey Allison records his first NA$CAR Winston Cup victory

[eclectic]

Hardly trivial, but last weekend was the 50th anniversary of the immortal Mille Miglia win by Stirling moss and DSJ in the Mercedes.

His write up in Motor Sport sets standards rarely achieved by motoring journalists today.

There has been the suggestion that somewhere in the paddock before a race metting we should have a ane minute's noise in his memory!

[thebear]

Originally Posted by eclectic

Hardly trivial, but last weekend was the 50th anniversary of the immortal Mille Miglia win by Stirling moss and DSJ in the Mercedes.

You are right. I shall have my crystal ball re-polished.

[thebear]

Trivia for June:

1844 June 15, Charles Goodyear is granted a patent for vulcanized rubber.

1896 June 4, Henry Ford test drives the “Quadricycle”, the first car he ever designed or drove.

1926 June 29, Daimler Moteren Gesellschaft and Benz & Co. Rheinische Gasmotorenfabrik merge to become Daimler-Benz AG.

1933 June 6, Richard Hollingshead opens the first drive-in movie theater in Camden NJ.

1934 June 1, Jidosha-Seizo Co. Ltd. becomes Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.

1935 June 18, Rolls-Royce is registered as a trademark.

1947 June 10, SAAB introduces it’s first car, the model 92 prototype.

2004 June 6, Former GM chairman and CEO James M. Roche died June 6, at age 97. Roche first joined GM in 1927 and held numerous positions with the automaker, including Cadillac general manager for a period beginning in 1957, and the top GM position from 1967 to 1971. During his tenure, Roche was a precedent-setting executive who took on new levels of community leadership and corporate responsibility.

[thebear]

July Trivia:

1908, JUL 22 Albert Fisher and his nephews establish the Fisher Body Company to manufacture carriage and automobile bodies.

1916, JUL 11 US President Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Road Aid Act, the first grant-in-aid enacted by Congress to help states build roads.

1928, JUL 07 The Chrysler Corporation introduces the Plymouth as it’s newest car.

1949, JUL 25 Henry Kaiser and Joseph Frazer announce plans to form a corporation to manufacture automobiles.

1949, JUL 24 Phil Hill won his first ever car race at Carrell speedway in California, USA, driving a supercharged MG

1956, JUL 01 The US Highway Revenue Act of 1956 creates a fund for the creation of over 42,500 miles of interstate highways.

1985, JUL 30 Saturn Corporation announces its first plant is to be built in Spring Hill Tennesee.

[thebear]

August Anniverseries:

1885 – AUG 29, The world’s first motorcycle, made by Gottlieb Daimler is patented.

1902 – AUG 22, Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first US President to ride in an automobile.

1907 – AUG 13, the first taxicab takes to the streets in New York City.

1909 – AUG 10, the Ford trademark is registered by the Ford Motor Company.

1915 – AUG 17, Charles Kettering patents the electric self starter for automobiles

1937 – AUG 28, The Toyota Motor Company Ltd is established.

1939 – AUG 07, Brooklands circuit in England held it's last racing event

1941 – AUG 01, The first Jeep comes off the assembly line at the Willys truck Co.

1941 – AUG 04, Gasoline rationing begins in parts of the Eastern US, The US has not yet entered WW2.

1945 – AUG 15, WW2 gasoline rationing ends in the US.

1955 – AUG 31, the world’s first solar powered automobile designed by Wm.G. Cobb is demonstrated at General Motors Powerama exhibit in Chicago.

1975 – AUG 09, Mark Donohue set an American closed-course speed record of 221.120 MPH on the oval at Talledega, Alabama, in a Porsche 917/30

1976 - AUG 01, Last Formula One race at the old Nurburgring , Germany

[thebear]

September Trivia:

1916 Walter P. Chrysler was President and General Manager of the Buick Division of General Motors. His annual salary was $500,000 (and NO income taxes).

1922 Bugatti had a straight eight engine with three valves per cylinder operated by one overhead camshaft. Two small intake and one large exhaust valve were and still are contrary to accepted principles.

1951 Chrysler offered the first American production "Hemi" V-8 and in 1953 it offered power steering. Cadillac was one year behind in each instance.

1957 The 1½ liter Coventry Climax racing engine cost £1,000 ($2,400) in lots of 40 engines.

1985 The Monza 1000 sportscar race had to stop after 800km when the frontrunners arrived to find that a very large tree had been blown down across the track and Hans Stuck tried to convince his fellow drivers that they could lift the tree out of the way and get on with the racing.

September Anniversaries:

1897 Sept. 10, George Smith is the first person in England arrested for drunken driving when police observe his vehicle repeatedly swerving.

1950 Sep. 1, Porsche returns to its Zuffenhausen factory and completes the first Porsche car.

1954 SEP 9, The first Thunderbird rolled off the assembly line. The ’57 T-Bird was the last of the classic “Small Birds”, with a redesigned chassis, an extended rear end with flared tailfins, and a new instrument panel surmounted by Ford’s first padded dash. It proved the most popular of all “Early Birds” and stayed in production three months longer than planned.

1955 Sept. 18, Ford Motor Co. builds its 2 millionth V-8 engine, 23 years after the first one was produced.

1973 Sep. 21, Ford dealers introduce the Rodney Dangerfield of Mustangs, the all-new Mustang II. More than 400,000 are sold in the first year, not because they are particularly good but because of the oil embargo. Early unit sales were very slow as the dealers only had "loaded/highly accessorized" expensive models in stock.

1974 Sep. 9, Evel Knievel fails in his attempt to cross the Snake River Canyon in Idaho using a rocket propelled vehicle of his own design. A rear mounted safety parachute deployed prematurely but allowed his safe landing.

1975 Sep. 5, Delphi introduces the first automotive catalytic converter to abate exhaust emissions.

1977 Sep.13, General Motors introduces the Olds 88 and 98 Diesel powered automobiles.

2000 Sep 25, At 10 a.m. Eastern time, Neiman Marcus began taking calls from customers on a special 800 number. Two hours later, every one of the 200 Neiman Marcus-edition Thunderbirds available was sold. It was the fastest time elapsed for any of the cars offered through the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog, and a pretty good sales result for any car (retail price of $41,995). There was a precedent, of course. Don’t you remember the 1971 His and Hers editions with an electric shaver for him and a makeup mirror for the lady? Vinyl roofs and 8-track players graced the Thunderbirds for both sexes back then.

[thebear]

October trivia:

Hungarian motor racing can be traced back to the 1930s, when races were staged in a park in the middle of Budapest. The only pre-war Hungarian Grand Prix was held in 1936 and won by Tazio Nuvolari in an Alfa Romeo.

Richard Petty never raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, retiring two years before the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994. But The King was allowed to take the first official NASCAR laps around the legendary 2 1/2-mile track in 1993. During its first couple of decades in business, Indy's Hall of Fame and Museum included only one stock car in its legendary collection of racing machines — the red, white, and blue No. 43 STP machine.

In 1783 twenty seven year old John Loudon McAdam revolutionized road building in Britain. Using his personal fortune, earned while living with a merchant uncle in New York he set out to improve the condition of Scottish roads. His trials resulted in raising the roadbed to improve drainage, and building roads using layers of crushed and compacted rock. His methods were sanctioned by the government and in 1815 he “macadamized” roads in Bristol, England. In 1827 he was Surveyor General of metropolitan roads Great Britain. The word “tarmac” comes from the application of tar to a “macadamized” road.

[thebear]

October 5, 1919

Enzo Ferrari's racing debut

On this day, 21-year-old Enzo Ferrari made his racing debut, finishing 11th in the Parmo-Poggia di Berceto hill climb in a Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali (CMN) vehicle. Ferrari became a professional driver after WW I, & joined the CMN in Milan as a test & racing-car driver in 1919. The following year, Ferrari moved to Alfa Romeo, establishing a relationship that lasted 2 decades & a career that took him from test driver to the director post of the Alfa Racing Division. In 1929, he founded the Scuderia Ferrari, an organization that began modestly as a racing club, but by 1933 had entirely taken over the engineering-racing division of Alfa Romeo. In 1940, Ferrari transformed the Scuderia into an independent manufacturing company, the Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, but construction of the 1st Ferrari vehicle was delayed until the end of WW II. In 1947, the Ferrari 125S was introduced to the racing world, & it won the prestigious Coppa Enrico Faini in the same year. Thus began an impressive 40 years of racing success under the leadership of Enzo Ferrari, a tradition that saw Ferrari vehicles earn 25 world titles, & win over 5,000 events at race tracks around the world.

[thebear]

October 7, 1913

MOVING ASSEMBLY LINE AT FORD

For the 1st time, Henry Ford's entire Highland Park automobile factory is run on a continuously moving assy line when the chassis -- the automobile's frame -- is assembled using the revolutionary industrial technique. A motor & rope pulled the chassis past workers & parts on the factory floor, cutting the man-hours required to complete one "Model T" from 12-1/2 hours to 6. Within a year, further assy line improvements reduced the time required to 93 man-minutes. The staggering increase in productivity effected by Ford's use of the moving assy line allowed him to drastically reduce the cost of the Model T, thereby accomplishing his dream of making the car affordable to ordinary consumers.

In introducing the Model T in October 1908, Henry Ford proclaimed, "I will build a motor car for the great multitude." Before then, the decade-old automobile industry generally marketed its vehicles to only the richest Americans, because of the high cost of producing the machines. Ford's Model T was the 1st automobile designed to serve the needs of middle-class citizens: It was durable, economical, & easy to operate & maintain. Still, w/a debut price of $850, the Model T was out of the reach of most Americans. The Ford Motor Company understood that to lower unit cost it had to increase productivity. The method by which this was accomplished transformed industry forever.

Prototypes of the assy line can be traced back to ancient times, but the immediate precursor of Ford's industrial technique was 19th-century meat-packing plants in Chicago & Cincinnati, where cows & hogs were slaughtered, dressed & packed using overhead trolleys that took the meat from worker to worker. Inspired by the meat packers, the Ford Motor Company innovated new assy line techniques & in early 1913 installed its 1st moving assy line at Highland Park for the manufacture of flywheel magnetos. Instead of each worker assembling his own magneto, the assembly was divided into 29 operations performed by 29 men spaced along a moving belt. Average assembly time dropped from 20 minutes to 13 minutes & soon was down to 5 minutes.

With the success of the magneto experiment, Ford engineers put the Model T motor & then the transmission on moving assy lines. On October 7, 1913, the chassis also went on the moving assembly line, so that all the major components of the Model T were being assembled using this technique. Ford rapidly improved its assy lines, & by 1916 the price of the Model T had fallen to $360 & sales were more than triple their 1912 level. Eventually, the company produced one Model T every 24 seconds, & the price fell below $300. More than 15 million Model T's were built before it was discontinued in 1927, accounting for nearly half of all automobiles sold in the world to that date. The affordable Model T changed the landscape of America, hastening the move from rural to city life, & the moving assy line spurred a new industrial revolution in factories around the world.

[thebear]

October 11, 1928


Birth of a royal racer

Spanish racer Don Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, Carvajal y Are, the 17th Marquis de Portago & 13th Conde de la Mejorada, was born on this day in London, England. Better known as Marquis Alfonso de Portago, the Spanish nobleman became interested in motor racing as a young man, soon finding his way into some of the world's most prestigious & dangerous racing events, owning more to his social standing than his racing skills. For a 2-year period beginning in 1956, the reckless Marquis Alfonso drove for the Lancia Ferrari team, managing to rack up 4 points in 5 G/P starts, but failing to win any race. In 1957, Alfonso brought tragedy to the classic Mille Miglia event, a 1,600-kilometer race from Brescia to Rome & back, when he lost control of his Ferrari & plunged into a crowd of spectators. Alfonso, his co-driver Ed Nelson, & 10 spectators died in the accident, bringing to an end the 30-year tradition of the Mille Miglia. Twenty years after the Marquis' tragic run along the course, the event was revived, & to this day the Mille Miglia attracts thousands to the streets of Italy to watch a nostalgic run of classic racing cars.

[thebear]

October 16, 1951

Hudson's Hornet stings

In 1948, Hudson launched its new Monobuilt design, an innovation that is still found in most cars to this day. The Monobuilt design consisted of a chassis & frame that was combined in a unified passenger compartment, producing a strong, light-weight design, & a beneficial lower center of gravity that didn't affect road clearance. Hudson coined this innovation "step-down design" because, for the 1st time, passengers had to step down in order to get into a car. Most cars today are still based on the step-down premise. On this day in 1951, Hudson introduced the Hornet, & put some sting into the step-down design. The Hornet was built w/a 308 ci flat head in-line 6-cylinder motor, producing generous torque & a substantial amount of hp. And it was w/this popular model that Hudson 1st entered stock car racing in 1951. After ending their 1st season in a respectable 3rd place, Hudson began a 3-year domination of the racing event. In 1952 alone, Hudson won 29 of the 34 events. A key factor in Hudson's racing success was the innovative step-down design of their cars. Because of their lower centers of gravity, Hornets would glide around corners w/relative ease, leaving their clunky & unstable competitors in the dust.


October 16, 1958

A muscle car for the urban cowboy

Chevrolet introduced the El Camino on this day, a sedan-pickup created to compete w/Ford's popular Ranchero model. Built on the full-size Chevrolet chassis, the big El Camino failed to steal the Ranchero's market & was discontinued after 2 years. But 4 years later, in 1964, the El Camino was given a 2nd life as a derivative of the Chevelle series, a line of cars commonly termed "muscle cars." The Chevelles were stylish & powerful vehicles that reflected the youthful energy of the '60s & early '70s, & sold well. The Chevelle Malibu Super Sport was the archetypal muscle car, featuring a V8 as large as 454 ci, or 7.4L. Chevelles came in sedans, wagons, convertibles & hardtops, &, w/the reintroduction of the El Camino in 1964, as a truck. The station wagon-based El Camino sedan-pickup had a successful run during its 2nd manifestation as a Chevelle, & proved an attractive conveyance for urban cowboys & the horsey set.

[thebear]

October 24, 1944
An accused collaborator dies

French automaker & accused Nazi collaborator Louis Renault died on this day in a Paris military prison hospital of undetermined causes. Born in Paris, Renault built his 1st automobile, the Renault Type A, in 1898. Inspired by the DeDion quadricycle, the Type A had a 270 cc engine (1.75hp), & could carry 2 people at about 30mph. Later in the year, Renault & his brothers formed the Societé Renault Freres, a racing club that achieved its 1st major victory when an automobile w/a Renault-built engine won the Paris-Vienna race of 1902. After Louis' brother, Marcel, died along w/nine other drivers in the Paris-Madrid race of 1903, Renault turned away from racing & concentrated on mass production of vehicles. During WW I, Renault served his nation w/the "Taxis de la Marne," a troop-transport vehicle, & in 1918, w/the Renault tank. Between the wars, Renault continued to manufacture & sell successful automobiles, models that became famous for their sturdiness & longevity. With the German occupation of France during WW II, the industrialist, who had served his country so well during WW I, mysteriously offered his Renault tank factory & his services to the Nazis, perhaps believing that the Allies' cause was hopeless. The liberation of France in 1944 saw the arrest of Louis Renault as a collaborator, & the Renault company was nationalized w/Pierre Lefaucheux as the new director. The 67-year-old Renault, who likely suffered torture during his post-liberation detainment, died soon after his arrest.

[thebear]

October 30, 1963

The 1st Lamborghini:

Sports car maker Ferruccio Lamborghini was born in Renazzo di Cento, Italy, on April 28, 1916. After studying mechanical engineering in Bologna, Lamborghini served as a mechanic for the Italian Army's Central Vehicle Division in Rhodes during WW II. Upon his return to Italy, he worked on converting military vehicles into agricultural machines, &, in 1948, began building & designing his own tractors. His well-designed agricultural machinery proved a success, & w/this prosperity Lamborghini developed an addiction for luxury sports cars. In the early '60s, he purchased a Ferrari 250 GT, made just a few miles away in Enzo Ferrari's factory. After encountering problems w/the car, Ferruccio reportedly paid Enzo a visit, complaining to him about his new Ferrari's noisy gearbox. Legend has it that the great racing car manufacturer Ferrari responded in a patronizing manner to the tractor-maker Lamborghini, inspiring the latter to begin development of his own line of luxury sports cars -- automobiles that could out perform any mass-produced Ferrari.

On this day in 1963, the Lamborghini 350GTV debuted at the Turin auto show. But Lamborghini had not completed the prototype in time for the deadline, & the 350GTV was presented w/a crate of ceramic tiles in place of an engine. With or w/out the engine, Lamborghini's 1st car was not particularly well received, & only one GTV was ever completed. But the former tractor-maker was not discouraged, & in 1964 the drastically redesigned 350GT went into production, & Lamborghini managed to sell over 100 of the expensive cars. The GT was a quiet & sophisticated high-performance vehicle, capable of achieving 155mph w/a maximum 320hp. The elegant Lamborghini 350GT indeed provided a smoother ride than most of its Ferrari counterparts, & Ferruccio's old tractor factory, located just a few miles from the Ferrari factory, began constructing some of the most exotic cars the world had ever seen, such as the Miura, the Espada, & the legendary Countach.

[thebear]

November Trivia:

1894 - Nov. 2 Comte (Count) de Dion organizes the Automobile Club of France which issues the first set of Competition Regulations for automobiles.

1960 - Nov. 18 Two weeks after the introduction of the '60 models, Chrysler Corp. says it has terminated the 32-year-old DeSoto brand.

1973 - Nov. 25 President Richard Nixon calls for a ban on Sunday gasoline sales as part of a fuel-saving strategy to deal with the month-old OPEC embargo on shipments of oil to the U.S.

1985 Nov. 3 First F1 race at Adelaide , Australia

1991 Nov. 3 The shortest grand prix in modern history was held at Adelaide , Australia. The race lasted just 14 laps before being stopped due to torrential rain.

1993 Nov. 7 The Adelaide GP in Australia was notable for three things: Lamborghini Engines last F1 start , Ayrton Senna's F1 victory and Ricardo Patrese's 256th and last F-1 start. This stands as the most GP's ever started by a driver.

[thebear]

November 8, 1866

Austin founder born in England

Herbert Austin, the founder of the Austin Motor Company, was born the son of a farmer in Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England, on this day. At the age of 22, Austin moved to Melbourne, Australia, where he served as an apprentice engineer at a foundry, before becoming the manager of the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Company. Long journeys into the wide-open spaces of Australia gave him insight into the benefits of gasoline-driven vehicles, & Austin decided to try his luck in the burgeoning automobile industry. In 1893, Austin returned to England with the Wolseley Company & began work on his 1st automobile. Like his American counterpart, Henry Ford, Austin hoped to produce an affordable motor car for the masses, & by 1895 the Wolseley Company completed its 1st vehicle, a 3-wheeled automobile, followed by the 1st 4-wheeled Wolseley vehicle in 1900. In 1905, Herbert Austin founded the Austin Motor Company in Birmingham, England, & by 1914, the company was producing over 1,000 automobiles a year. During WW II, Austin & his factories joined in the British war effort, a service for which he was knighted in 1917. In 1922, with the introduction of the Austin 7 Tourer, Sir Herbert Austin finally fulfilled his ambition to produce a mass-produced automobile. The diminutive vehicle, boasting 4-wheel brakes & a maximum speed of 50mph, was an instant success in England. In 1930, the Austin 7 was introduced to America, & enjoyed 5 years of modest U.S. sales before falling prey to the hard times of the Depression in 1935.

November 8, 1956

What's in a name

On this day, the Ford Motor Company decided on the name "Edsel" for a new model in development for the 1958 market year. The new addition to the Ford family of automobiles would be a tribute to Edsel Bryant Ford, who served as company president from 1919 until his death in 1943. Edsel Ford was also the oldest son of founder Henry Ford & father to current company President Henry Ford II. The designer of the Edsel, Roy Brown, was instructed to create an automobile that was highly recognizable, & from every angle different than anything else on the road. In the fall of 1957, with great fanfare, the 1958 Edsel was introduced to the public. With its horse collar grill in the front & its regressed side-panels in the rear, the Edsel indeed looked like nothing else on the road. However, despite its appearance, the Ford Edsel was a high-tech affair, featuring state-of-the-art innovations such as the "Tele-Touch" push-button automatic transmission. Nevertheless, buyer appeal was low, & the Ford Edsel earned just a 1.5% share of the market in 1958. After 2 more years, the Edsel marque was abandoned, & its name would forever be synonymous with business failure.

[thebear]

November 13, 1916

E. L. Cord's 1st racing victory

Errett Lobban Cord, the genius behind the Auburn, Cord & Duesenberg family of automobiles, 1st became involved w/automobiles as a racing car mechanic & driver. On this day, the 20-year-old Cord won his 1st motor race in Arizona. Cord, driving a Paige vehicle designed by Harry Jewett, won the 275-mile race from Douglas to Phoenix Arizona. From his racing beginnings, Cord moved into automobile sales, & in 1924 came to Auburn Indiana to save the faltering Auburn Automobile Company. Cord, a brilliant salesman, rapidly pulled the company out of debt by clearing out hundreds of stockpiled Auburn vehicles & excess parts, & was subsequently named the VP & GM at Auburn. Under Cord's guidance, the Auburn line was entirely refashioned, & the new Auburns were known as some of the most luxurious & fashionable cars on the road. In 1926, Cord acquired the expert design skills of Fred Duesenberg, & in 1928, the Duesenberg Model J, one of the finest automobiles ever made, was introduced to the public. To make the family complete, the Auburn plant introduced the Cord L-29 in 1929, which was America's 1st successful FWD car. The Auburn, Cord & Duesenberg automobiles that sold so well in the roaring '20s also proved surprisingly resilient during the early years of the Depression, but by 1937, America's hard times were too much even for E. L. Cord, & manufacturing ceased as his entire corporation was sold.

[thebear]

November 14, 1945

Speedway gets a 2nd chance:

Tony Hulman purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Edward Rickenbacher for $750,000 on this day. The speedway was in deplorable condition after 4 years of disuse during WW II, & before Hulman made his offer Rickenbacher was considering tearing the facilities down & selling the land. Hulman installed himself as chairman of the board of the raceway & named Wilbur Shaw as president. The two hastily renovated the racetrack for the return of Indy racing in the next year, but also launched a long-range program of improvements that included replacing all of the old wooden grandstands w/structures of steel & concrete. In May of 1946, the American Automobile Association (AAA) ran its 1st postwar 500-mile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. George Robson, driving a pre-war Adams-Sparks automobile, won the event w/an average speed of 114.82mph, &, thanks to the efforts of Tony Hulman & Wilbur Shaw, a great American racing tradition was reborn.

[thebear]

December's Anniversaries:

Dec. 20 1892 – Alexander Brown and George Stillman of Syracuse NY patent an inflatable automobile tire.

Dec. 05. 1932 – The first Ford model C automobile is introduced.

Dec. 30, 1936 - The United Auto Workers's legendary sit-down strikes begin at GM plants in Flint, MI.

Dec. 11, 1941 – Buick lowers the prices to reflect the elimination of spare tires or inner tubes on its cars.

Dec. 27, 1951 - A right-hand-drive Crosley, the first car designed for U.S. rural mail delivery, is put into operation in Ohio.

Dec. 13, 1957 - The last 2-passenger Thunderbird is produced.

Dec. 15, 1980 - Peter Gregg commited suicide

[thebear]

January's Anniversaries:

January 1, 1956: 50 years ago, a Happy New Year for GM. Executives at General Motors had reason to celebrate, as the company announced on this day that it had hauled in $1,189,477,082 during the past year, making the auto giant the 1st U.S. corporation to push its earnings past the billion-dollar mark.

That is a lot of money today. Imagine what it was in 1956. Also at that time the exchange rate was £1=$4.85 as opposed to today's £1=$1.85 .

[thebear]

January's Anniversaries, continued - ALL 05 January:

1904 Olds Moves On

Ransom Eli Olds retired from Olds Motor Works on this day. Olds had founded the company in 1899 with financial help from Samuel L. Smith, a lumber tycoon. Olds made the most profitable car in the early 1900s, the tiller-steered Oldsmobile Runabout. In 1904, Olds was approached by his head of engineering, Henry Leland, who had designed a lighter, more powerful engine that could improve the Runabout dramatically. Olds refused to use the new engine, to the dismay of his backer, Samuel Smith. Smith forced Ransom Olds out of the company. Olds went on to found the REO (Ransom Eli Olds) Motor Car Company and Oldsmobile went on without him. Henry Leland, the clever engineer, took his motor elsewhere: it powered the world's 1st Cadillac.

1914 Ford Sets Record Wages

Henry Ford established a minimum wage of $5.00 per day in his automobile factories. These wages were twice what Ford had paid the year before, & much more than Ford's competitors were paying. The lofty minimum wage was made possible by Henry Ford's manufacturing breakthrough: the constant-motion assembly line, which carried moving cars past lines of workers. The 1st modern assembly line, Ford's process allowed him to build cars faster & cheaper than anyone else could. The profits rolled in, & Ford's workers shared in the wealth: an ironic beginning for an auto company that would go on to be a notorious enemy of labor in the '30s & '40s.

1924 Chrysler Builds His Own Car

Walter Chrylser, a GM executive who had pioneered the introduction of all-steel bodies in automobiles (instead of wood), introduced his 1st motorcar. After his departure from GM in 1920, Chrysler had breathed new life into the failing Maxwell Motor Company. The 1st Chrysler-built Maxwell was put on display in NY City's Commodore Hotel, where it drew admiring crowds. In 1925, the Maxwell Motor Company was renamed the Chrysler Corporation.

1933 A Bridge Across The Bay

Construction got started on the Golden Gate Bridge on this day in 1933. The bridge stretched across the San Francisco Bay & made it a lot easier to get around town. With its tall towers & famous red-paint job, the bridge quickly became a famous American landmark, & a symbol of San Francisco.

[thebear]

January 9, 1958 - Japanese Cars Arrive In California

The Toyota & Datsun (later Nissan) brand names made their 1st appearances in the U.S. at the Imported Motor Car Show in Los Angeles (CA).