On This Day

Belgian engineer 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. Continue Reading →

Étienne Lenoir

The Societa Milanese d'Automobili Isotta-Fraschini & C. was organised.

Incredibly, the flying mile world record was broken three different times by three different drivers in a 30-minute period. The standing record of 92.31 mph was broken by Louis Ross in his steampowered racer, the famous Wogglebug, at 94. Continue Reading →

Arthur MacDonald at the wheel of a Napier racing car

Glenn H Curtiss riding a 269 cu in (4,410 cc) V-8 motorcycle of his own design at Ormond Beach, Florida, US reached an unofficial speed of 136.3 mph, a record speed for a motor vehicle. The air-cooled F-head engine was developed for use in aircraft. Continue Reading →

Glenn H Curtiss, driving a V-8 motorcycle

A Hupmobile Model D touring car returned to Detroit, completing a promotional 48,600 mile, 26 country around-the-world trip.

Airplane pilot Lincoln Beachey and automobile racer Barney Oldfield staged their first "Championship of the Universe." race in Emeryville, California. The men barnstormed the country, playing to more remote areas at county fair horse tracks. Continue Reading →

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.

The 1933 AAA Pacific Coast champion and Indy 500 veteran, Al Gordon, died in a crash in what would prove to be the last race held at Legion Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles California, as the grandstands at the track burned down shortly after the race.

Al Gordon

The General San Martín Grand Prix at Mar del Plata was won by Giuseppe Farina in a Maserati 8CL.

Dale Duncan put out a fire in his Allard's engine compartment during the 1000 kilometer endurance race in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by urinating on it. His co-driver, Carroll Shelby, had thrown the fire extinguisher out of the car to save weight. They would finish tenth. Continue Reading →

Ken Miles drove the R-1, an MG special he built, to victory in the Desert Trophy Race at Palm Springs, California, US.

Dr Heinz Hordhoff of Volkswagen announced that his company has dropped its plans to assemble cars at the former Studebaker factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey, US.

The 100,000th Volvo PV444 was produced. The PV444 was Volvo's first uni-body car. Its body structure was influenced by the 1939 Hanomag 1,3 litre, which was purchased and studied by Volvo engineers. Continue Reading →

Volvo PV444

The 10,000,000th Plymouth was produced.

An 851-cc Saab 96, driven by Swedes Erik Carlsson and Gunar Haggböm, became the smallest car to win the Monte Carlo Rally. The exploits of Erik, aka ‘On the Roof’, Carlsson helped put Saab on the automotive map in the 1960s. He is a double winner of the Monte Carlo Rally in 1962 and 1963 and also took a hat-trick of RAC Rally victories in 1960-62. Continue Reading →

Erik Carlsson at the Monte Carlo Rally 1963

Ford unveiled its first fastback sports saloon, the Capri, to the press at the Brussels Motor Show. The Capri was sold as ‘the car you always promised yourself". Production was actually started at the Halewood plant in November 1968, which meant that all Ford dealers in the UK had at least one Ford Capri in their showrooms by the 5 February 1969. Continue Reading →

The Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires was won by Chris Amon in a Matra MS120.

Carole Vico of Buffalo, New York won the grand prize, a new Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, on the US television game show “High Rollers”.

Steve Tyler of the rock band Aerosmith was hospitalised after being involved in a crash on his motorbike.

Tony Stewart won the IRL Indy 200 race at Florida's Walt Disney Orlando Speedway, Florida, US.

Pope John Paul II performed mass at the Hermanos Rodriguez race track in Mexico City.

Twenty-year-old Jenson Button became the youngest F1 driver, when he signed a five-year deal with BMW. "I am still on cloud nine," Button said when wheeled out to face the media. "The last 45 minutes have been amazing; difficult to explain because I've never experienced anything like this before. Continue Reading →

Jenson Button - 2000

Former Lebanese Christian warlord Elie Hobeika (45) and at least three of his bodyguards were killed when a car bomb exploded outside his house in Beirut, Lebanon.

Irma Hall (68), co-star of The Ladykillers movie, sustained multiple injuries in a car accident in Chicago, Illinois.

Eddie Jordan completed the sale of his eponymous F1 team to the Midland Group, owned by Alex Shnaider, a 36-year-old Canadian entrepreneur of Russian origin. Many doubted whether Midland were in it for the long term, and so it proved as the team was sold twice more in the next two years. "I have devoted 35 years of my life to motor racing and have had some really fantastic times," Jordan said. Continue Reading →

Eddie Jordan

James Bond’s legendary Aston Martin DB5 was auctioned for more than £1 million. The classic Bond car, which featured in Thunderball and Goldfinger, sold for £1,171,796 in Phoenix, Arizona. The car had last been sold in 1970 for £5,000. Continue Reading →

James Bond’s legendary Aston Martin DB5

A US coalition of electric utilities kicked off a national campaign to push auto makers to make plug-in hybrids.

In German, automaker DaimlerChrysler AG said that it would cut administrative staff by 20 percent worldwide over three years, dropping 6,000 jobs in order to save some $1.2 billion a year and make the company leaner and more profitable.

Official figures released revealed that the Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch (branded Opel in the rest of the EU) was Europe's best selling car.

Vauxhall Astra MkV (2004 - 2010)

Nearly 700 people were found to have used a lookalike to help them pass their driving test, according to UK government figures. Between April to December last year, 677 people attempted to cheat on their tests by using an impersonator to take their driving or theory exams. If accounted for the full year, the projected number was estimated to be around 900 - the highest 12-month total since the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) set up a team to investigate fraud in 2004.

The Obama administration in the US announced plans to pour nearly $4 billion into developing self-driving cars over the next decade.