On this day in…
1819
204 years ago
James Watt (83), the principle inventor of the modern steam engine, died at Heathfield Hall, near Birmingham, England Read more…
1903
120 years ago
A Phelps touring car driven by designer L J Phelps set the first official record (1 hour 46 minutes) for the Mount Washington hillclimb, New Hampshire, US Read more…
1910
113 years ago
Walden W Read more…
1921
102 years ago
Six-Cylinder Love, the first full-length play based on the motor car, opened at the Sam H Read more…
1927
96 years ago
Lucy O’Reilly Schell finished 12th, driving a Bugatti in the Baule Grand Prix in France Read more…
1928
95 years ago
Owen Baldwin riding his Zenith-JAP at Arpajon in France became the first man to ride a measured kilometre at an average speed of over 200 km/h (120 mph), taking the official FIM motorcycle land-speed record Read more…
1931
92 years ago
The 8,000,000th Chevrolet was produced Read more…
1935
88 years ago
Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz W25/35 won the Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten Read more…
1941
82 years ago
The Packard Twentieth Series was introduced Read more…
1949
74 years ago
The 100,000th Volvo car – a black PV444 – came off the assembly line at the Lundby plant, Sweden Read more…
1950
73 years ago
The UK-based weekly “Autosport” magazine was first published Read more…
1958
65 years ago
The Volvo PV544 was introduced, replacing the PV444 Read more…
1959
64 years ago
The 3,000,000th Volkswagen was produced Read more…
1963
60 years ago
Karl Probst (59), credited with the design of the Jeep in 1940, died Read more…
1965
58 years ago
First production of the Iso Grifo GL, powered by American Chevrolet Corvette small-block 327 (5 Read more…
1967
56 years ago
Richard Petty rolled from the pole position and leads wire-to-wire in a 200-lap main event at Savannah (Georgia , US) Speedway, one of 27 victories that season for the NASCAR Hall of Famer Read more…
1967
56 years ago
New Zealand motorcycle racer, Burt Munro set an under-1,000 cc world record of 184 Read more…
1973
50 years ago
Virgil W Syder drove a diesel-powered streamliner called ‘Thermo King-Wynns’ at 235 Read more…
1974
49 years ago
Roy M Rawlins was awarded a California State Driving License at the age of 104, valid until 1978 Read more…
1983
40 years ago
The Ford Escort cabriolet, the first Ford convertible manufactured in Europe in 25 years was introduced Read more…
1985
38 years ago
Niki Lauda won the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort in a McLaren MP4/2B-TAG Read more…
1985
38 years ago
All six Bugatti Royales were exhibited at the Pebble Beach (CA) Concours, the first and only time that the celebrated cars have appeared together Read more…
1986
37 years ago
The first Formula 3000 Birmingham Superprix race was held Read more…
1988
35 years ago
The United States Postal Service issued a Classic Car booklet of 25c stamps in 5 different designs – 1928 Locomobile, 1929 Pierce-Arrow, 1931 Cord, 1932 Packard and 1935 Duesenberg – in Detroit, Michigan, as designed by artist Ken Dallison Read more…
1990
33 years ago
Ernie Irvan passed Dale Earnhardt in the final 50 miles and speeds to his first NASCAR Winston Cup victory in Bristol’s Busch 500 Read more…
1991
32 years ago
Michael Schumacher made his Formula One debut at Spa Read more…
2001
22 years ago
Founder and team principal of Tyrrell Racing, Ken Tyrrell (77), passed away at his home in Surrey Read more…
2006
17 years ago
Sebastian Vettel became the youngest ever F1 driver as he made his debut for BMW Sauber during Friday practice for the Turkish Grand Prix Read more…
2019
4 years ago
Ferdinand Karl Piech (82), Volkswagen AG’s former chairman and chief executive, died Read more…
