On This Day

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, Illinois.

William Jennings Bryan

Ceirano & Cie, Societe per la Costruzione di Campioni per la Fabbricazione di Vetture Automobil was founded in Turin, Italy - located in a building by the parents of Vincenzo Lancia. This firm would evolve into Fiat SpA.

The first Thomas automobile was tested by F P Nehrbas.

The first 6-cylinder Napier was introduced.

The first Ford car to be made in Britain, a Model T, was produced at the Ford Motor Company (England) plant at Trafford Park in Manchester. The assembly plant, located in an old Tram factory employed 60 people to make the Model T and the company was re-registered as Henry Ford & Son, Ltd. This was the first Ford factory outside North America. Continue Reading →

Model Ts line up at Ford's Trafford Park factory in Manchester, the company's first factory outside of America

John Boyd Dunlop (81), veterinary surgeon and inventor of the pneumatic tyre, died. In October 1887, John Boyd Dunlop developed the first practical pneumatic or inflatable tyre for his son's tricycle and, using his knowledge and experience with rubber, in the yard of his home in Belfast fitted it to a wooden disc 96 centimetres across. The tyre was an inflated tube of sheet rubber. Continue Reading →

John Boyd Dunlop

Edward Joseph Dunn (61), President of the Eclipse Machine Company and an advocate of the Bendix drive for electric starting devices, died.

The 1937 Buick model range were introduced featuring the 'Aerobat' carburettor.

1937 Buick brochure

The 1938 Chevrolets were introduced.

The Mercury was previewed for the press in Dearborn, Michigan, where it was announced that the new marque would be officially be called 'Mercury', not the 'Ford-Mercury' as originally suggested by Edsel Ford.

The Marmon-Herrington Company, Inc. purchased the Indianapolis factory used since 1921 for the manufacture of the Duesenberg.

Rolls Royce Ltd., completed their post post World War II car, a Bentley Mark VI standard saloon.

The Triumph Mayflower was unveiled to invited members of the Technical Press and the Company's Distributors in a specially decorated section of the main canteen at the Banner Lane factory, Coventry (UK). Two Mayflowers and an oval dining table centred by an approximately four foot high model of the Mayflower sailing ship were the center of attraction. The press gave the following reactions. Continue Reading →

Triumph Mayflower

Promoter Sam Nunis scheduled a 150-mile Strictly Stock race at Atlanta's Lakewood Speedway with the National Stock Car Racing Association (NSCRA) as the sanctioning body. NASCAR's Bill France co-promoted the event, which attracted a crowd of 33,452. Tim Flock won the race driving an Oldsmobile.

The 1953 Dodge model range was introduced, featuring the marque's first V-8 engines.

Chrysler Corporation acquired the Briggs Manufacturing Company of Detroit, automobile body manufacturers.

Troops were called into London to operate petrol tankers, replacing striking tanker drivers.

Tony Brooks made his Formula 1 debut driving a Connaught B-Type at the Syracuse Grand Prix in Sicily, and became the first British driver in a British car to win a Grand Prix since Sir Henry Segrave's victory in a Sunbeam at San Sebastian in 1924

Tony Brooks

The 1956 Cadillac Sedan DeVile and Eldorado Seville coupe were introduced.

1956 Cadillac Sedan DeVile

Buck Baker steamed from the pole position to prevail in the Wilkes 160, leading every lap at North Wilkesboro (North Carolina) Speedway. Baker, a 2013 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, wound up five seconds ahead of runner-up Lee Petty at the checkered flag, collecting $1,100 for his 12th win in NASCAR’s premier series. Gwyn Staley, Joe Weatherly and Tim Flock rounded out the top five. Continue Reading →

Buck Baker's Kiekhaefer Chrysler tiptoed around a nasty crash involving former Kiekhaefer teammate Herb Thomas, to win the 100-mile race at Shelby, North Carolina, US. Speedy Thompson, also member of the Kiekhaefer team, triggered the crash, which left Thomas gravely injured. Baker pulled to within 118 points of Thomas with three races remaining.

1956 NASCAR Grand National Champion Buck Baker.

The short-lived Edsel sponsorship of TV's Wagon Train began.

The Mexican Grand Prix held at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was won by British driver John Surtees driving a Cooper T81, his first such victory since leaving Scuderia Ferrari to join Cooper Car Company. Surtees led home the newly crowned world champion Australian owner-driver Jack Brabham, driving a Brabham BT20 by eight seconds. A lap down in third place, also driving a Brabham BT20 was Brabham's team mate New Zealander Denny Hulme.

John Surtees - 1986 Mexican Grand Prix

At the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, American Gary Gabelich attained a record 622.407 mph average speed in the Blue Flame, a rocket-powered four-wheeled vehicle. Momentarily achieving 650mph, Gabelich's vehicle was powered by a liquid natural gas, hydrogen peroxide rocket engine that produced a thrust of up to 22,000 pounds. Continue Reading →

Blue Flame

The 19th Tokyo Motor Show opened to the public. Use of professional models had been banned a few years before, but now the beauty was brought back, and crowds gathered. The lunar vehicles co-exhibited by GM and Isuzu, and Mitsubishi s replica of a 1917 Model A also attracted much attention. Continue Reading →

Only five days after 11 Arab oil producers increased oil prices and cut back production in response to the support of the United States and other nations for Israel in the Yom Kippur War, Toyota U.S.A. Continue Reading →

James Hunt's 10th (and final) Grand Prix win at Japan's Fuji circuit was overshadowed by a heavy accident after Ronnie Peterson is collected by a young and over-eager Jacques Villeneuve. It was on lap six though that tragedy struck. Further down the field, Gilles Villeneuve was catching Ronnie Peterson in the Tyrrell as he tried to further impress Ferrari. Continue Reading →

Japanese Grand Prix 1977: Patrick Depailler was the only driver to take to the podium and celebrates with the Marelli Magneti representative.

Traditional MG production ended as a MGB was completed at the Abingdon, England factory. Total production for the 51 year history of the marque was 1,155,032, although the marque would soon be revived in various badge-engineered forms.

A suicide bomber drove a truck filled with 2,000 pounds of explosives into a U.S. Marine Corps barracks at the Beirut International Airport. Continue Reading →

With a narrow victory over Rick Mast in the 500-miler at Rockingham, Dale Earnhardt won a record-tying seventh NASCAR Winston Cup championship.

Kanye West was involved in a car crash after he fell asleep at the wheel while driving home from a recording studio in West Hollywood. No other cars were involved in the incident which left West with his jaw fractured in three places.

A V12, 600-bhp Ferrari Enzo, with just 250 miles on the clock, became the most expensive car ever sold on eBay Motors in Europe when bidding closed on eBay’s Swiss site at CHF1,200,050 (£544,000).

Ferrari Enzo

Toyota announced details of the Auris. Designed and built in Europe, it joined Yaris and Avensis in spearheading the company's progress towards its newly-announced target of 1.2 million annual sales in Europe by 2008.

Toyota Auris (2006)

Sussex Police Force's revealed its latest new recruit - a £35,000, 148 mph Lotus Exige S. Dressed in full police uniform and with a set of flashing lights on the roof, it was Britain's fastest police car and could reach 60 mph in only 4.1 seconds. The Exige was used at motoring events to encourage young people to drive responsibly and safely.

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., announced the launch of the Nissan GT-R. Continue Reading →

Nissan GT-R

London brought in a new 'toxicity charge' on the oldest and most polluting cars entering the city center, on Mondays to Fridays from 7am to 6pm. The £10 emissions surcharge affected around 10,000 of the oldest, most polluting vehicles - those that did not meet "Euro 4" standards, one of the EU-wide categories that define acceptable levels of harmful exhaust emissions.