This Day in Automotive History

[Landrover]

January 21, 1899
In 1898, the five Opel brothers began converting the sewing machine and appliance factory of Adam Opel into an automobile works in Russelheim, Germany. On this day in 1899, they acquired the rights to the Lutzmann automobile, and began production. The Opel-Lutzmann was soon abandoned, and in 1902, Opel introduced its first original car, a 2-cylinder runabout. In the decades that followed, Opel became one of the premier forces in the European automobile industry, modernizing its factories relentlessly and adopting the continuous-motion assembly line before its European competitors. Today, Opel is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors. It produces about a quarter of all German cars, and exports heavily to South America and Africa.

January 21, 1954
General Motors introduced the Firebird XP-21 show car, the world's first gas-turbine powered car. It was named in imitation of the U.S. military's experimental jet-powered aircraft, which had code numbers like XP-59A.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

January 22, 1950
Throughout the twentieth century, independent automobile manufacturers have fallen again and again before the industrial power of the "Big Three"--Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. Most often, these independent firms are swallowed, bought up, like Nash, Austin, Studebaker, Hudson, Packard, and many others. The story of Preston Tucker is a little darker. Tucker was a Chicago businessman who built 50 extraordinary automobiles in 1947 and 1948. His cars had many modern amenities and remarkable horsepower. But he was indicted on 31 counts of fraud; and as he fought for his freedom in court, his company failed. On this day in 1950, Preston Tucker was cleared of all fraud charges against him. But it was too little, too late. The Tucker automobile was history. Many believe that the legal actions against Tucker were sponsored by the Big Three auto makers, who feared his competition.

January 22, 2009
On this day in 2009, "Gran Torino," a movie named for the 1972 Ford muscle car, opens in Australia and New Zealand. The critically acclaimed film, which starred Clint Eastwood as a retired Detroit autoworker, had opened across the U.S. earlier that month and later premiered around the rest of the world, eventually grossing more than $263 million, making it among Eastwood's most commercially successful movies.

Gran Torino Poster

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[jalex]

January 22, 1950

On this day in 2009, "Gran Torino," a movie named for the 1972 Ford muscle car, opens in Australia and New Zealand. The critically acclaimed film, which starred Clint Eastwood as a retired Detroit autoworker, had opened across the U.S. earlier that month and later premiered around the rest of the world, eventually grossing more than $263 million, making it among Eastwood's most commercially successful movies.

Gran Torino Poster
View attachment 15454

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

The Gran Torino was an excellent movie. I loved every single moment of it. Even the soundtrack was very good. It still brings goose bumps on just hearing the name of the movie. Awesome performance and excellent direction.

 

[Landrover]

January 23, 1912
William E. Stephens, of Chicago. IL, received a patent for an "Automobile Horn"; multiple-pipe horn powered by engine exhaust that played chord like a church organ, assigned to Aeromore Manufacturing Company.

January 23, 2006
William Clay Ford, CEO of Ford Motor Company, announced company's turnaround plan, called "Way Forward" (second time in four years Ford has restructured its North American auto division): 1) closing 14 plants (reduces North American production capacity by 1.2 million, or 26 percent, by 2008), 2) eliminating 30,000 jobs in the next six years, a quarter of Ford's North American workforce, 3) cutting at least $6 billion in annual costs by 2010 (Ford reported losses in North America for five of the past six quarters; hurt by: decreased sales of sport utility vehicles, increased health care and materials costs, increased competition and labor contracts that limit plant closures and job cuts, 10 straight years of U.S. market-share losses - 18.6% of the U.S. market in 2005, down from 25.7% a decade earlier, U.S. sales have dropped by more than 1 million units annually since 1999), 2003 - Toyota passed Ford as the world's No. 2 automaker.

Aermore Exhaust Horn

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

January 24, 1860
French inventor Etienne Lenoir was issued a patent for the first successful internal-combustion engine. Lenoir's engine was a converted steam engine that burned a mixture of coal gas and air. Its two-stroke action was simple but reliable--many of Lenoir's engines were still working after 20 years of use. His first engines powered simple machines like pumps and bellows. However, in 1862, Lenoir built his first automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine--a vehicle capable of making a six-mile trip in two to three hours. It wasn't a practical vehicle, but it was the beginning of the automobile industry.

January 24, 1907
In Ormond Beach, Florida, Glenn Curtiss, an engineer who got his start building motors for bicycles, set an unofficial land-speed record on a self-built V-8 motorcycle on this day: 136.29mph. No automobile surpassed that speed until 1911. In 1907, four years after the Wilbur and Orville Wright accomplished the first successful airplane at Kitty Hawk, Curtiss established the Curtiss Aeroplane Company, the first airplane manufacturing company in the United States. In the next year, the "June Bug," an aircraft powered by a Curtiss engine, won the Scientific American Trophy for the first flight in the U.S. covering one kilometer. In 1909, Curtiss, piloting his own planes, won major flying events in Europe and America. Over the next five years, Curtiss continued to be an innovator in airplane design, and in January of 1911, built and demonstrated the world's first seaplane for the U.S. Navy.

January 24, 1924
Kingsford, Michigan, the Ford Motor Company's planned community, was incorporated as a village. The company owned large tracts of timber in the area, which were used to produce wooden auto-body panels like those commonly seen on its station wagons in later decades.

Glenn Curtiss

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

January 25, 1905
Arthur MacDonald of Great Britain set a new land speed record of 149.875mph at Daytona Beach, Florida.

January 25, 1991
The United States Postal Service issued a four-cent stamp commemorating the Dudgeon Steam Wagon, a steam-powered vehicle built in 1866 by steam pioneer Richard Dudgeon. Scottish-born Dudgeon completed his first steam wagon in 1857, and with the exception of its steering mechanism, the vehicle was essentially a steam locomotive, complete with a smokestack and exposed cylinders at the forward end of its boiler. The vehicle, capable of holding 10 passengers, was exhibited in New York City's Crystal Palace, where it was destroyed in October of 1857 when the Palace was leveled by fire. In 1866, Dudgeon built a second steam-powered vehicle similar to his 1857 prototype. However, unlike the first, this vehicle survived and is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Artist Richard Schlecht commemorated Dudgeon's creation in a 1991 U.S. stamp.

Dudgeon Steam Wagon stamp

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The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

January 26, 1906
American driver Fred Marriott set a new land speed record of 127.659mph in his steam-powered "Wogglebug" at Ormond Beach, Florida. It was the last time that a steam-powered vehicle would claim a new land speed record.

January 26, 1920
The Lincoln Motor Car Company was founded on this day. It was acquired by the Ford Motor Company just two years later. Under Ford's protective wing, the Lincoln brand name flourished, and the Lincoln Continental would become one of the world's most famous luxury cars.

January 26, 1979
On this day in 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. The show, which originally aired for seven seasons, centered around cousins Bo Duke (John Schneider) and Luke Duke (Tom Wopat) and their ongoing efforts to elude their nemeses, the crooked county commissioner "Boss" Jefferson Davis Hogg (Sorrell Booke) and the bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (James Best).
"The Dukes of Hazzard" was known for its car chases and stunts and the General Lee, which had an orange paint job, a Confederate flag across its roof and the numbers "01" on its welded-shut doors, became a star of the show. The General Lee also had a horn that played the first 12 notes of the song "Dixie." Due to all the fast driving, jumps and crashes, it was common for several different General Lees to be used during the filming of each episode.
The General Lee also had a CB (Citizens Band) radio and Luke and Bo Duke's CB nicknames or "handles" were Lost Sheep #1 and Lost Sheep #2, respectively. "The Dukes of Hazzard" (along with the 1977 trucking movie "Smokey and the Bandit") helped promote the CB craze that swept America from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s.
Among the other cars featured on the show were Boss Hogg's white Cadillac Deville convertible, Uncle Jesse Duke's (Denver Pyle) Ford pickup truck and various tow trucks and vehicles belonging to Cooter Davenport (Ben Jones), the local mechanic. Bo and Luke's short-shorts wearing cousin Daisy Duke (Catherine Bach) drove a yellow Plymouth Roadrunner with black stripes and later a Jeep with a golden eagle emblem on the hood and the word "Dixie" on the doors.
The final episode of "The Dukes of Hazzard" originally aired on August 16, 1985. The show spawned several TV specials and a 2005 movie starring Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott and Jessica Simpson.


Dukes of Hazzard title card

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

January 27, 1899
Frenchman Camille Jenatzy captured the land-speed record (49.932 miles per hour) in a battery-powered automobile of his own design.

January 27, 1904
American racer William K. Vanderbilt set a new land-speed record of 76.086mph in a gasoline-driven Mors automobile at Ablis, France. It was the first major speed record to be set by an internal-combustion car. All previous records had been set by steam- and battery-powered cars.

January 27, 1965
On this day in 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 V-8 engine, remained in production through the end of the 1960s and today is a valuable collector's item.
Carroll Shelby was born in Texas in 1923 and gained fame in the racing world in the 1950s. Among his accomplishments was a victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959, making him just the second American ever to win the iconic endurance race. By the early 1960s, Shelby had retired from racing for health reasons and was designing high-performance cars. He became known for his race cars, including the Cobra and the Ford GT40, as well as such muscle cars as the Shelby GT 350. According to The New York Times: "In the 60's, at the apex of the Southern California car efflorescence, his name was synonymous with muscle cars, relatively small vehicles with big, beefy engines. It was an era that many car buffs consider Detroit's golden age, and Mr. Shelby was arguably its prime mover."
The Shelby GT 350 was an iteration of the first Ford Mustang, which was officially unveiled by Henry Ford II at the World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York, on April 17, 1964. That same day, the new car also debuted in Ford showrooms across America and almost 22,000 Mustangs were immediately snapped up by buyers. Named for a World War II fighter plane, the Ford Mustang had a long hood and short rear deck. More than 400,000 Mustangs sold within its first year of production, far exceeding sales expectations. Over the ensuing decades, the Mustang has undergone numerous evolutions and remains in production today, with more than 9 million sold.
In addition to collaborating with Ford, Shelby partnered with other automakers, including Chrysler, for whom he designed the Dodge Viper sports car, which launched in 1992.
The Times in 2003 quoted comedian Jay Leno, an avid car collector who has owned several Shelby cars, as saying: "Carroll is sort of like the car world's Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays... Unlike so many racers, he didn't come from a rich family, so he signifies that everyman, common-sense ideal. When I was kid, American cars were big, clunky things, until Carroll used his ingenuity to make them compete with European cars. He was a populist, the kind of guy that other car buffs could emulate."

Shelby Mustang GT350

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

January 28, 1896
The first speeding fine handed to British motorist for exceeding 2mph in a built-up area.

January 28, 1937
The prototype of the Rolls-Royce Wraith made its first test run on this day. The first model of the postwar period was called the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith, and it became the principal luxury sedan sold by Rolls-Royce in the decades following World War II.

January 28, 1938
Driver Rudolf Caracciola set a new land-speed record (not recognized by all organizations) of 268.496 mph on the German Autobahn between Frankfurt and Darmstadt. His record remains the highest speed ever achieved on a public road. Later in the same day, a young driver named Bernd Rosemeyer died in a crash on the Autobahn in an attempt to surpass Caracciola's record.

January 28, 2009
On this day in 2009, country singer/songwriter John Rich releases a song about the plight of autoworkers titled "Shuttin' Detroit Down." The song, which featured such lyrics as "While they're living it up on Wall Street in that New York City town, here in the real world they're shuttin' Detroit down," quickly became a hit in Michigan, where the U.S. auto industry began, as well as across America. Rich wrote the song after becoming frustrated by news reports of government bailouts for Wall Street companies whose CEOs received stratospheric paychecks while autoworkers struggled to keep their jobs amidst widespread layoffs. Rich, one-half of the country duo Big & Rich, whose hits include "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" and "Comin' to Your City," recorded "Shuttin' Down Detroit" for his 2009 solo album "Son of a Preacher Man." In January 2009, Michigan-based mlive.com reported that Rich said "Shuttin' Detroit Down" was about: "the working men and women of America, and how Washington and New York City are slinging billions of dollars over the tops of our heads, while hard working people are going down the drain." The song became a working-class anthem and had some fans calling up radio stations in tears after they heard it played.

Caracciola (seated) with his first wife Charlotte at a race in 1931.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

January 29, 1886
Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.

January 29, 1940
Kunimitsu Takahashi, a former Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and racing driver was born in Tokyo. He is also considered as the "father of drifting". He was the chairman of the GT-Association, the organizers of the Super GT series, from 1993 to 2007.

January 29, 1950
Jody David Scheckter, a South African former auto racing driver was born in East London, South Africa. He was the 1979 Formula One World Drivers Champion.

January 29, 1987
Matthew Wilson,an English rally driver was born in Cockermouth, Cumbria. He is the son of M-Sport boss and former WRC driver Malcolm Wilson. Wilson currently competes in the World Rally Championship for the Stobart M-Sport Ford team. He achieved his best result at the 2007 Rally Japan, finishing in fourth place.

Jody David Scheckter at Monza

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

January 30, 1920
On this day in 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.
In 1931, the company launched the Mazda-Go, a three-wheeled vehicle that resembled a motorcycle with a cargo-carrier at the back. The company's car development plans were halted during World War II and the bombing of Hiroshima. In the 1950s, Mazda began making small, four-wheel trucks. The company launched its first passenger car, the R360 Coupe, in 1960 in Japan. Seven years later, Mazda debuted the first rotary engine car, the Cosmo Sport 110S. Mazda entered the American market in 1970, with the R100 coupe, the first mass-produced, rotary-powered car in the U.S. In 1978, the Mazda RX-7, an affordable, "peak-performing" sports car debuted. The following year, the Ford Motor Company took a 25 percent stake in the company.
In 1989, at the Chicago Auto Show, Mazda unveiled the MX-5 Miata, a two-door sports car carrying a starting price tag of $13,800. According to Mazda, the concept for the car was: "affordable to buy and use, lightweight, Jinba Ittai ('rider and horse as one') handling, and classic roadster looks." The 2000 "Guinness Book of World Records" named the Miata the best-selling two-seat convertible in history.
In 1991, in another milestone for the company, a Mazda 787 B won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, becoming the first rotary-powered car as well as the first Japanese-made auto to do so. However, Mazda was impacted by the economic slump in Japan in the 1990s and in 1996, Ford took a controlling stake in the automaker and rescued it from potential bankruptcy. The two companies shared manufacturing facilities in several countries along with vehicle platforms and other resources. In 2008, Ford, which had been hurt by the global economic crisis and slumping auto sales, relinquished control of Mazda by selling 20 percent of its controlling stake for around $540 million. (Also that year, General Motors sold its stake in Japan-based Suzuki Motor.)
In 2009, Mazda celebrated the 20th anniversary of the MX-5 Miata, whose sales by then had topped nearly 900,000 and which had won almost 180 major automotive awards.

January 30, 1942
The last pre-war automobiles produced by Chevrolet and DeSoto rolled off the assembly lines today. Wartime restrictions had shut down the commercial automobile industry almost completely, and auto manufacturers were racing to retool their factories for production of military gear.

Mazda Logo


Mazda Go at the Mazda Museum

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

January 31, 1897
The final stage of the Marseille-Nice automobile race posed an unusual challenge: a steep slope that motorists had to climb at speed. It was the first speed hill climb in auto-racing history. The uphill dash was won by M. Pary in a steam-powered DeDion-Bouton automobile.

January 31, 1942
The last pre-war automobiles produced by Chrysler, Plymouth, and Studebaker rolled off the assembly lines today. Wartime restrictions had shut down the commercial automobile industry almost completely, and auto manufacturers were racing to retool their factories for military gear.

January 31, 1960
In a special racing series for small-bodied cars at the Daytona International Speedway, the Valiant captured the top seven positions in the 10-lap race. The Valiant was introduced by Chrysler in 1959 (the 1960 models) as a separate make. Its light handling and curvaceous European styling set the Valiant apart from other American compact cars. Over the following years, the Valiant became part of the Plymouth line, and its styling became more typically American. It retained its record for reliability and speed, however, and still has a fan club today.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

February 1, 1898
The Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, extended coverage to an automobile owner, making them the first company to issue an automobile insurance policy to an individual. Dr. Truman J. Martin of Buffalo, New York, paid a premium of $11.25 for the policy that covered $5,000 to $10,000 of liability. In 1925, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate automobile insurance, "requiring owners of certain motor vehicles and trailers to furnish security for their civil liabilities." Today, auto insurance is a fact of life for American drivers as nearly every state requires some insurance for the operator of a motor vehicle. In a country where the driver's license serves as the primary form of identification, the challenge of selecting a coverage policy and paying the car insurance premium has become a rite of passage for many young Americans.

February 1, 1921
Carmen Fasanella of Princeton, New Jersey, obtained his cab driver's license at the tender age of 17. Mr. Fasanella would go on to drive his taxi for the next 68 years and 243 days, setting an unofficial record for the longest continuous career for a cabbie. Incidentally, the term "cab" comes from "cabriolet," a single-horse carriage used by coach drivers.

February 1, 1969
On this day in 1969, John DeLorean was named the top executive at Chevrolet. DeLorean had risen precipitously through the ranks at Pontiac, where he pioneered the successful GTO and Grand Prix models. As the general manager of Chevrolet, DeLorean sold a record 3,000,000 cars and trucks in 1973. Poised as a top candidate for the presidency of General Motors (GM), DeLorean walked away from Chevrolet in late 1973 to start his own company. He brashly predicted he would "show [GM] how to make cars." DeLorean raised nearly $200 million to finance his new venture, the DeLorean Motor Company. He built a factory in Northern Ireland and began production on the sleek, futuristic DMC-12 car. Interest in the car was high, but the company ran into serious financial trouble. Refusing to abandon his project, DeLorean involved himself in racketeering and drug trafficking in a desperate attempt to make the money that would save his company. In 1982, after being caught on film trying to broker a $24 million cocaine deal, DeLorean was arrested on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. A federal jury later ruled that DeLorean had been the victim of entrapment, and he was acquitted of all charges. Nevertheless, DeLorean's career and reputation were ruined.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

February 2, 1880
The first electric streetlight was installed in Wabash, Indiana. The city paid the Brush Electric Light Company of Cleveland, Ohio, $100 to install a light on the top of the courthouse. A month later the city commissioned four more lights to be installed. Residents of Wabash became the first Americans to wear their sunglasses at night.

February 2, 1922
Morris Markin established Checker Cab Manufacturing Company. He also moved to Kalamazoo, MI from Illinois and took over factories previously used by the Handley-Knight and Dort automobile companies.

February 2, 1923
Gasoline mixed with Tetraethyl lead was first sold to the public at a roadside gas station owned by Willard Talbott in Dayton, Ohio. Coined "ethyl gasoline" by Charles Kettering of General Motors, the blend was discovered by General Motors laboratory technician Thomas Midgley to beneficially alter the combustion rate of gasoline. Reportedly, in seven years of research and development General Motors labs tested at least 33,000 compounds for their propensity to reduce knocks. Leaded gasoline would fill the world's gas tanks until emissions concerns lead to the invention of unleaded gasoline.

February 2, 1992
A Nissan R91 became the first Japanese car to win an international 24-hour race, winning the "24 Hours of Daytona" event in Daytona Beach, Florida. Japanese engineering quality became the standard for consumer compact vehicles in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s, however, that Japanese manufacturers were able to compete with European and American manufacturers at the highest levels of automotive performance technology. Nissan's victory in the 24-hour race proved that Japanese automobiles had achieved the highest level of performance and engineering.

Morris Markin


Nissan R91

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[Landrover]

February 3, 1881
On this day in 1881, Joseph A. Galamb, a Ford Motor Company engineer and a member of the team of engineers that developed the Model T, was born in Mako, Hungary. The Model T design would change automotive history with its reliability, affordability, and capacity for mass production. "If you freeze the design and concentrate on production," Ford explained, "as the volume goes up, the cars are certain to become cheaper." Thanks to men like Joseph Galamb, the design for the "Tin Lizzy" met her maker's expectation to bring automobiles to the masses and guaranteed that the New World would become even newer for the next wave of immigrants. On February 3, 1981, the citizens of Mako, Hungary, paid tribute to Galamb, honoring the 100th anniversary of his birth.

February 3, 1919
Clessie Lyle Cummins incorporated Cummins Engine.


February 3, 1929
Major H.O.D. Seagrave set a new land speed record of 231.4mph at Daytona Beach, Florida, driving a car called the Golden Arrow. Seagrave and Sir Malcolm Campbell dueled for land speed supremacy from 1925 to 1935, when Campbell decisively ended the competition by driving his Bluebird III over the 300mph mark at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. These two competitors established Great Britain as the dominant force in land speed technology, a supremacy it maintained until jet engine technology became the norm for land speed race cars.

February 3, 1948
The first Cadillac with tailfins was produced on this day, signaling the dawn of the tailfin era. Tailfins served no functional purpose, unless you consider attracting attention functional. General Motors increased the size of the Cadillac's "tailfeathers" every year throughout the 1950s. In 1959, the model's sales slumped dramatically, sounding the death knell for the tailfin. The 1960s, consumers announced, would be a practical decade.

Joseph A. Galamb


Clessie Lyle

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​