Curtis P. Brady was issued the first permit to drive an automobile through Central Park in New York City. Mr. Continue Reading →

LaFrance Automobile sponsored the first hill climb run as a separate contest, at Chanteloup, near Paris. A little over a mile in length, the climb included several tight bends on a steep gradient. Although held in poor condition owing to heavy rain, only 3 of the 54 competitors failed to climb the hill. Continue Reading →

Clement Studebaker (70), American carriage manufacturer died. With his brothers, he founded H & C Studebaker Company, which built Pennsylvania-German conestoga wagons and carriages during his lifetime, and automobiles after his death, in South Bend, Indiana, US.

Clement Studebaker

Ralph Mulford in a Lozier won the seventh Vanderbilt Cup, in the only year it was staged at Savannah, Georgia in a double-header along with the American Grand Prize three days later. An American winner driving an American car, Mulford became an overnight hero. Although facilities at Savannah were hugely improved to accommodate the two events, large crowds caused problems and there were a strong of accidents as spectators spilled onto the course; in one during practice, Jay McNay was killed when he swerved to avoid a wagon.

Starting Lineup: The 1911 Vanderbilt Cup Race, Savannah, Georgia

Peter Paul Schilovsky, designer of the gyrocar, successfully tested the prototype at the Wolseley factory in Birmingham, England. The gyrocar was powered by a modified Wolseley C5 engine of 16 - 20 hp, with a bore of 90 mm and a stroke of 121 mm. It was mounted ahead of the radiator, driving the rear wheel through a conventional clutch and gear box. Continue Reading →

Shilovsky's gyrocar in 1914, London

The Modoc Motor Company, a division of Montgomery Ward & Company, was dissolved after three years of operation. In 1908, Sears commissioned manufacturer Alvaro Krotz to build the first “Sears car,” which the company promoted in the catalog with a full-page advertisement. The year it debuted, the Sears Motor Buggy had a price tag of $395. Continue Reading →

Sears Motor Buggy - 1909

André Lombard won first Griffoulet Hill Climb Race (near Toulouse/France) with a Salmson.

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. The parade featured large performing platforms that, because they were attached to specially outfitted automobiles concealed beneath them, seemed to float down Broadway. Each "float" had a separate theme: some featured Macy's employees dressed as clowns, cowboys, sheiks, and knights, while others displayed live animals on loan from the Central Park Zoo. Continue Reading →

Macy's annual Thanksgiving Day parade has been a city tradition since 1924, and the iconic balloons began appearing three years later.

Willard L Velie Jr announced that production of Velie automobiles would be discontinued with all efforts of the Velie Motor corporation directed towards the manufacture of Monocoupe airplanes.

The first 1951 Pontiacs were produced.

1951 Pontiac range

Future NASCAR great Junior Johnson pleaded guilty to making moonshine whiskey. The Johnson family was involved in the whiskey business before he was born. His maternal great-grandfather served as the second highest ranking Confederate general in North Carolina. Continue Reading →

Junior Johnson

The Jeep FC-150 3/4 -ton pickup was introduced as a 1957 model.

The first spade of dirt was turned on the tract of land that would become the Daytona International Speedway. After nearly five years, the red tape had been cleared to proceed with the construction of the world's most modern racing facility.

Mario Andretti won the USAC Sprint Car race on the dirt track at Manzanita, California, USA.

Steppenwolf's first album, featuring the rock and roll driving hit "Born to Be Wild," was certified gold with sales in excess of 500,000 copies. "Born to Be Wild" demonstrates the ongoing love affair of rock and roll with fast driving, affirmed earlier by such rock artists as Chuck Berry and the Beach Boys, in hits like Berry's "Maybelline and the Beach Boys's "Little Deuce Coupe." In "Born to Be Wild," which was Steppenwolf's biggest hit, rough-voiced singer John Kay asked listeners to "get your motor running / head out on the highway / lookin' for adventure / in whatever comes our way."

The 200,000th International Scout, a 1969 800A, was produced at the Fort Wayne,Plant, Indiana, US.

The 16,000,000th Pontiac, a blue 1973 Catalina sedan, was produced.

The FIA unveiled a 17-race schedule for 1976, the most grands prix ever staged in one season. There were two new events, a second US Grand Prix early in the year and then the first Japanese Grand Prix at the end of the season.

John Hogg received 5¾ years in prison and his 3rd, 4th and 5th life bans for drunk driving in a stolen car whilst disqualified, in the High Court, Edinburgh, Scotland. For his previous offences he had received 71 ½ years, plus two life bans.

The four millionth 'Mini' left the production line.

Derek ‘Red Robbo’ Robinson, senior shop steward and convenor at British Leyland’s Longbridge plant, was dismissed. According to the then British Leyland (BL) chairman Michael Edwardes, Red Robbo ‘had kept Longbridge in ferment and upheaval for 30 months [and] 523 disputes, with the loss of 62,000 cars and 113,000 engines, worth £200 million’.

Derek ‘Red Robbo’ Robinson

A young man in Somerset, England tried seven times to kill himself following a row with his girlfriend. He threw himself in front of four cars, and jumped under the wheels of a lorry. He tried to strangle himself and jumped from a window. Continue Reading →

Juha Kankkunen and Juha Piironen won the RAC Rally with a Lancia Delta Integrale 16V.

The Jordan Grand Prix team announced that Rubens Barrichello would make his F1 debut with the team.

Giancarlo Baghetti died of cancer in Milan, Italy aged 60. Baghetti was selected for F1 by the Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche (FISA), a coalition of independent Italian team owners who acquired a new Ferrari 156 for the 1961 French Grand Prix at Reims; and won! He was promoted to the works Ferrari line-up for 1962, but took just two points finishes, 4th at the Dutch Grand Prix and 5th at the Italian Grand Prix, as Ferrari was outclassed by the British teams. After the ill-fated switch to ATS in 1963, he accepted to race the Scuderia Centro Sudís outdated BRM P57. Continue Reading →

Giancarlo Baghetti

The last Cadillac Fleetwood was produced in Arlington, Texas – this car marked the discontinuation of the rear wheel drive Cadillac and the name of the once independent custom coachbuilder.

Cadillac Fleetwood (1996)

Norway’s King Harald V opened the world’s longest tunnel (15.2 miles) between Aurland and Laerdal in the County of Sogn og Fjordane in western Norway. In some sections blue lights illuminate the roof and yellow lights the base, to give drivers the illusion of being outdoors. Three ‘caverns’ spaced along the route act as turning areas in case of fire blocking the road.

One of the Lærdal Tunnel 'caverns'.

The new Porsche Boxster went on sale in the UK priced at £32,320 (inc. VAT).

Porsche Boxster - 2004

Best known as a three-time Indianapolis 500 champion, Hélio Castroneves and his partner, professional ballroom dancer Julianne Hough, won the fifth season of “Dancing With the Stars.” The popular Indy Car driver won out over the runner-up pairing of former Spice Girl Mel B ("Scary Spice") and her partner, dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Following his victory, Castroneves returned to the Indycar racing circuit, but his good luck did not hold. Continue Reading →

Hélio Castroneves