Wednesday 8th October 1890

Born on this day, Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, America’s most successful WW1 fighter ace in the war, who was also a race car driver and automotive designer. He started the Rickenbacker Motor Company in 1920, selling technologically advanced cars incorporating innovations from automobile racing. The Rickenbacker came equipped with the first four-wheel brake system. Probably due to bad publicity from the other car manufacturers, who feared they would be unable to sell their inventory of cars with two-wheel braking, the company had trouble selling its cars and eventually went bankrupt in 1927.