On this day in…
1877
146 years ago
Nikolaus A Otto was issued German Patent #532 for his four-stroke engine Read more…
1898
125 years ago
On a visit to the Winton plant with his brother James, William D Read more…
1900
123 years ago
Belgian engineer Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir (78), who developed the internal combustion engine in 1858, died Read more…
1923
100 years ago
The American LaFrance Fire Engine Company of Elmira, New York registered its stylised name with a Maltese Cross as a trademark Read more…
1925
98 years ago
Noel Westwood and Greg L Davies driving a Citroen 5CV left Perth and returned to that city on 30th December, to complete the first circumnavigation of Australia by car Read more…
1927
96 years ago
Experimental signs to act as guides for London’s pedestrians were erected on the road crossings at Trafalgar Square and on the Oxford Street stretch between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road Read more…
1928
95 years ago
The De Soto marque was founded by Walter P Read more…
1941
82 years ago
The last Ford Model T engine was produced Read more…
1951
72 years ago
Ibsley Circuit, situated at RAF Ibsley, on the Fordingbridge to Ringwood Road in Hampshire, UK, staged its first car meeting Read more…
1953
70 years ago
The Classic Car Club of America held its first CARavan at the Packard Proving Grounds in Utica, Michigan, US Read more…
1956
67 years ago
Wilhelm Herz rode the NSU Delphin III streamliner motorcycle to 211 Read more…
1956
67 years ago
Lee Petty dismounted his car in disgust on the 32nd lap, climbed the flagstand, grabbed the red flag from the official starter, and waved the scheduled 100-mile NASCAR Grand National race at Tulsa, Oklahoma, US to a halt Read more…
1956
67 years ago
Curtis Turner survived a race of attrition to score a win in the NASCAR Convertible Series at Columbia (South Carolina, US) Speedway Read more…
1957
66 years ago
The Argentine racing driver Juan Manual Fangio won the German Grand Prix at Nürburgring to clinch his record-breaking fifth, and last, world title Read more…
1957
66 years ago
Buck Baker won the 100-mile NASCAR Grand National event on the road course in Watkins Glen, New York, US Read more…
1962
61 years ago
French & Italian construction workers broke through at Mount Blanc Vehicular Tunnel Read more…
1963
60 years ago
Count Agusta purchased O Read more…
1963
60 years ago
John Surtees in a Ferrari won his first Formula One race, the German Grand Prix Read more…
1968
55 years ago
Jackie Stewart, racing a Matra-Ford with a broken wrist, won the German Grand Prix held at the Nürburgring in mist and torrential rain rendering the track treacherous and visibility virtually non-existent Read more…
1974
49 years ago
Ghana changed to driving on the right, the last former British colony in the region to do so, the military National Redemption Council having passed the Right Hand Traffic Act by decree in 1973 Read more…
1975
48 years ago
Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant and his wife were both badly injured when the hire car he was driving spun off the road and crashed on the Greek island of Rhodes Read more…
1978
45 years ago
A bus carrying mentally handicapped people plunged into a lake in Eastman, Quebec, Canada killing 40 Read more…
1985
38 years ago
Michele Alboreto won the German Grand Prix for Ferrari, his fifth and last Formula On victory Read more…
1988
35 years ago
Hertz car rental agreed to pay out $23 million in a consumer fraud case Read more…
1991
32 years ago
A crowded bus carrying school children crashed in Zimbabwe killing 87, including 82 children Read more…
1997
26 years ago
Owner/driver Ricky Rudd gambled on fuel mileage and it paid off with a $571,000 triumph in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, Indiana, US Read more…
2000
23 years ago
Drivers voted the traffic-clogged London orbital motorway, the M25, their favourite stretch of road in a poll commissioned by Microsoft to help launch its AutoRoute 2001 drivers’ guide Read more…
2002
21 years ago
Bill Elliott, 46, won the ninth Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, becoming the oldest driver to win the race Read more…
2004
19 years ago
The average price of unleaded petrol in Britain hit a 4-year high of 81p a litre. Read more…
2004
19 years ago
As with many highly desirable new vehicles, when the Ford GT was first released, the demand severely outpaced supply, and the cars initially sold for premium prices Read more…
2006
17 years ago
“Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” an irreverent comedy based in the outlandish (fictionalized) world of American stock car racing, premiered in movie theaters around the U Read more…
2007
16 years ago
Fernando Alonso was relegated from pole to sixth on the grid after stewards declared he deliberately impeded Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix Read more…
