On This Day

The National Cycle & Automobile Company Limited opened a showroom in Toronto, Ontario - the first automobile dealership in Canada, to sell bicycles and Locomobile steamers.

Alexander Winton, driving his Winton 'Bullet 1' with a huge 13 litre water-cooled 4 cylinder engine, set the first speed record (68.14 mph) ever achieved at Daytona Beach, Florida. The first motor race at Daytona was held a year earlier when Winton and his Bullet took on Ransom Olds. Continue Reading →

Winton 'Bullet 1'

Ralph DePalma driving a Mercedes GP won the 9th running of the Vanderbilt Cup (Santa Monica) race after a thrilling duel with Barney Oldfield.

Ralph de Plama in a Packard 905

The Scripps-Booth Company filed papers to dissolve the corporation.

Vincenzo Lancia and Felice Nazzaro laid the first stone as construction began on the Autodromo di Monza, universally known as the Temple of Speed. But only a few days later it was ordered the suspension of work for reasons of “artistic and monumental value and landscape conservation”. As the intricate controversy developed the argument for the absolute necessity of the autodrome prevailed, and at the end the circuit was built with features comparable to those originally called for, although with a total length reduced to 10 kilometres. Continue Reading →

Monza banking under construction

Kissel engineers Herman D Palmer and Joseph A Tarkington were issued with a US patent for their ‘Automatic Oil Control’, a throttle-controlled device to regulate the amount of oil supplied to the engine.

The first red and green traffic signal lights were placed at Manhattan street corners.

The Pontiac "Indian Maiden" mascot was patented by its designers Chris Klein and C. Karnstadt. Pontiac was a male war chief of the Ottawa tribe, who distinguished himself through his bravery in fighting the English during the French and Indian Wars.

Howard C Marmon and Georg H Freers received a United States patent for their 'Motor Vehicle', a front-wheel-drive V12 two-door sedan - a single prototype known officially as the HCM Special was built, but this car is usually considered to be the last Marmon automobile produced.

Adolf Hitler opened in Saxony, the first manufacturing plant of Germany’s “peoples car” – the Volkswagen. Designed by Ferdinand Porsche of Auto Union fame, the later named “Beetle”, whose features included a streamlined body, an air-cooled flat four 23.5 hp, four-stroke engine mounted at the rear, and torsion bar sprung. Continue Reading →

German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler speaks at the opening ceremony of a Volkswagen car factory in Fallersleben, Lower Saxony.

The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is incorporated in Boston by seven sports car enthusiasts. The SCCA traces its roots to the Automobile Racing Club of America (not to be confused with the current stock car series of the same name). ARCA was founded in 1933 by brothers Miles and Sam Collier, and dissolved in 1941 at the outbreak of World War II. Continue Reading →

Adriano Malusardi died during practice for the Gran Premio Internacional San Martín, Argentina when his car crashed and rolled several times. An explosion occurred a few seconds later probably due to the breaking of the fuel tanks.

The 1952 Henry J Corsair was introduced as a mid-year replacement for the Vagabond line. The 1952-1954 Henry J Corsair was the four-cylinder companion to the Henry J Corsair DeLuxe, with improved styling and increased prices. The 1952-1954 Henry J Corsair also shared much in common with the 1951 Henry J standard, a four-cylinder model that was intended to be the lowest-end model.

Henry J Corsair

Tim Flock drove one of the Kiekhaefer Chrysler entries to win the 76 car NASCAR Grand National race on the Daytona beach & road course. Flock was 57 seconds ahead of Billy Myers' Mercury when the race was halted two laps early because of high tide. It was Flock's second straight win at Daytona. Continue Reading →

Marvin Panch took the lead when Fireball Roberts dropped out with 13 laps left and went on to win the third Daytona 500. Panch was running nearly a lap behind teammate Fireball Roberts when Roberts' Pontiac limped to the pits trailing smoke. Panch crossed the line 16 seconds ahead of Joe Weatherly with Paul Goldsmith third, as Pontiacs finished 1-2-3. Continue Reading →

Marvin Panch

Lee Roy Yarbrough set a new world closed course speed record in his hemi-powered Dodge, reaching 181.818 mph at Daytona Beach, US.

Mario Andretti made his first Daytona 500 start, driving a Chevrolet for Smokey Yunick. Richard Petty, driving a Plymouth, won the race, which was shortened by two laps because of rain.

Mario Andretti

Mario Andretti won the Daytona 500 in a Holman-Moody Ford, his only NASCAR Grand National win. Andretti took the lead to stay on lap 168 and held a 22 second lead over teammate Fred Lorenzen when a caution came out with two laps to go, ending the race under caution. James Hylton finished third in a Dodge.

Mario Andretti

The first bus lane in London was put into service on Vauxhall Bridge.

A202 crossing the Thames at Vauxhall Bridge. Two bus lanes a cycle lane and four lanes for general traffic, unusually the Southbound Bus lane is in the middle of the road.

The second generation 1970 1/2 Pontiac Firebird was introduced.

Nearly 550 vehicles were shown on the opening day of the 1972 Chicago Auto Show, including the five-millionth Chicago-built Ford, a Galaxie 500 hardtop. Decades of progress in design were apparent, as it sat proudly displayed beside a 1914 Model T. That year, it was in Chicago that Lincoln gave the public its inaugural viewing of the Continental Town Car, Jensen offered the premiere showing of the Interceptor III, Lotus introduced its new Europa Twin Cam model, and Squire and TVR were seen for the first time in the US.

Benny Parsons took the lead when Lennie Pond suffered a flat right front tire with 77 laps to go, and went on to take the Richmond 400 NASCAR GN race.

Driver Ulf Grönholm (38) - the father of future World Rally Champion Marcus Grönholm - and co-driver Bob Rehnström were killed after their car hit a snowplower and caught fire during a preparatory run on public roads for the Hankiralli, the Finnish round of the European Rally Championship scheduled two days later

The 75th anniversary edition of the Chicago Auto Show opened. Chrysler Corporation debuted two sporty models: the Dodge Daytona and related Chrysler Laser. Both models could get a turbocharged engine, but Daytona's would be the consumers' preference. Continue Reading →

Alba made their IMSA GT debut at Miami, Florida, USA. The car, entered as a Ford-Momo, finished 16th with Gianpiero Moretti and Oscar Larrauri behind the wheel. The race was won by Brian Redman and Doc Bundy in a Jaguar XJR-5.

Italian coachbuilders Terrazzano di Rho completed the first £87,000 Aston Martin Zagota supercar. Only 50 were produced. It was powered by a super-tuned version of the V8 Vantage engine, producing 450 hp. Continue Reading →

Aston Martin Zagota

Cornell Gunter (53) of the Coasters was shot and killed while sitting in his car in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A bomb in a yellow Ryder truck was detonated in an underground garage at the World Trade Center in New York, shaking the 110 story towers and causing the collapse of several floors in the underground garage and tearing a hole in the ceiling of an adjoining subway. The 1,336 pounds (606 kg) urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to send the North Tower (Tower 1) crashing into the South Tower (Tower 2), bringing both towers down and killing tens of thousands of people. It failed to do so but killed six people and injured more than a thousand. Continue Reading →

Underground damage after the bombing

Ray Bellm and Maurizio Sandro Sala won the 4 Hours of Jerez, Spain, driving a Gulf McLaren F1 GTR.

Giuseppe Bertone, called "Nuccio", famed automobile designer and constructor died aged 82. After racing Fiats, O.S. Continue Reading →

Giovanni Bertone (left) with his son Giuseppe "Nuccio" Bertone (right)

Dennis Nalon (87), an American midget car, sprint car, and Indy 500 driver from Chicago, Illinois, United States, died. Duke Nalon's first appearance in the Indy 500 came in 1937 but he would have to wait until 1948 to become a frontrunner finishing 3rd and score pole-position the following year, but crashing out of the race lead. From 1950 on, when the Indy 500 race counted as a round of the Formula 1 World Championship, Duke would enter F1 stats as pole-man in 1951, but didnít manage to repeat the performances he had shown in recent years. Continue Reading →

Dennis Nalon

Malaysia's Prime Minister Badawi told Proton to set its sights abroad as he launched the national carmaker's 1.8 billion ringgit (474 million dollar) new manufacturing plant.

In an effort to raise awareness of environmental issues, the Honda Formula One (F1) team unveiled 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. Honda announced that people who made a donation to an environmental charity through a special Web site would get their name (in the size of an individual pixel) on the Earth Car. The vehicle's debut came at a time when F1's governing body was interested in shedding the sport's reputation for gas-guzzling vehicles and wastefulness.

2007 Honda F1 Earth Car

A bus rolled down a 300-foot gorge in Reasi, India, killing 12 and injuring nine.

Production of the all-new Ford Kuga, Ford of Europe's first entry into the highly competitive crossover market began at the Ford plant in Saarlouis, Germany.

The classic car auction held at The Centaur Complex at Cheltenham Racecourse, grossed in excess of £1,500,000. Two red Jaguar E-types sold well with a beautifully restored 1962 3.8 litre Series 1 ‘Flat Floor’ Fixed Head Coupe making £38,500 and the 18,000 miles from new 1973 5. Continue Reading →

Formula 1 drivers agreed to pay the hike in their superlicense fee, after threatening to go on strike at the height of their protest. The row started in 2008 when the cost of a basic license was increased from €1,690 to €10,000 with the fee for every point scored the previous year rising from €447 to a whopping €2000. The idea was to take more money from some of the richest in the sport (those with more points the previous year are likely to have a bigger pay cheque) and use it to improve safety. Continue Reading →

General Motors reported a $9.6 billion 4th quarter loss bringing its loss for the year 2008 to $30.9 billion. This was its second worst financial performance in its 100-year history.

The record for the longest distance covered by a car driven on its side on two wheels of 371.06 km (230.57 miles) was set by Michele Pilia (Italy) at Sant’Elia Stadium, Cagliari, Italy.