On this day in…
1904
118 years ago
The Upton Motor Company was incorporated in New Jersey – this was the second automotive venture of Colcord Upton, but production at the Lebanon, Pennsylvania factory would end in 1907 Read more…
1905
117 years ago
French driver Victor Hémery, driving a petrol-powered Darracq automobile, set a new land-speed record of 109 Read more…
1912
110 years ago
Lee Humiston, using a 1,000 cc twin cylinder chain driven Excelsior circled the banked one-mile oval track at Prince’s Playa del Rey, California in 36 seconds flat to become the first motorcyclist in the world “officially” timed at 100 mph Read more…
1915
107 years ago
Miss Eleanor Velasco Thornton, believed by many to have been Charles Skyes’ model for his Rolls Royce ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’, drowned after the SS Persia was torpedoed by the German submarine U-38 off the coast of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea Read more…
1918
104 years ago
Henry Ford resigned as President of the Ford Motor Company Read more…
1918
104 years ago
The Camden Motors Corporation of Camden, New Jersey, `US registered its ‘Frontmobile’ trademark Read more…
1920
102 years ago
Charles F Kettering was appointed to the Board of Directors of General Motors Read more…
1925
97 years ago
Missionaries Noel Westwood and G Read more…
1929
93 years ago
The F Read more…
1936
86 years ago
Strikes closed seven General Motors (GM) factories in Flint, Michigan, US Read more…
1940
82 years ago
California opened its first freeway, the 8 mile Arroyo Seco Parkway (now called the Pasadena Freeway), connecting Pasadena with Los Angeles Read more…
1940
82 years ago
Childe Harold Wills (62) an early associate of Henry Ford, one of the first employees of the Ford Motor Company, and a contributor to the design of the Model T, died Read more…
1941
81 years ago
The last Packard Custom Super Eight 180 was produced Read more…
1953
69 years ago
The Wild One, an American film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer, was released in the US Read more…
1956
66 years ago
Fireball Roberts led a 1-2-3-4 sweep for Peter DePaolo Fords in the 90-mile NASCAR Grand National race on the Titusville-Cocoa Airport runways in Florida, US Read more…
1960
62 years ago
Fifty special 1961 Ford Thunderbird convertibles were produced for use in the upcoming inaugural parade of John F Kennedy Read more…
1963
59 years ago
HRH Prince Chula Chakrabongse (55) died Read more…
1964
58 years ago
The 9,000,000th Volkswagen was produced Read more…
1974
48 years ago
Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd announced that it was going into voluntary liquidation Read more…
1975
47 years ago
Hermann Paul Müller (66), German sidecar, motorcycle, and race car driver died Read more…
1983
39 years ago
British racing driver and long distance record breaker, Violette Codery (83), died Read more…
1987
35 years ago
Manufacturers of all-terrain vehicles agreed to withdraw the three-wheel model from dealers’ inventories, but stopped short of a recall, as demanded by groups who felt the ATV’s were dangerous Read more…
1988
34 years ago
Takeo Fujisawa (78), Japanese businessman who co-founded Honda Motor Co Read more…
1990
32 years ago
56 died in a collision involving a bus, truck and car on a highway between Voronezh and Rostov-on-Don in Russia, USSR Read more…
2002
20 years ago
Diana Ross was arrested for drink driving by the Arizona highway patrol Read more…
2002
20 years ago
A remarkable outburst by former world champion Alain Prost who labelled his successors little better than “trained monkeys” Read more…
2006
16 years ago
R&B singer and former America’s Got Talent judge, Brandy (Brandy Norwood) was involved in a four-car crash that left one woman dead, after the singer failed to slow down and hit the back of another car Read more…
2006
16 years ago
An oil tanker collided with a bus in heavy fog near Burewala, Pakistan, killing 14 people Read more…
2007
15 years ago
Dennis Berube driving the lithium-titanate-powered dragster Eliminator V set a new electric-vehicle speed record for the quarter-mile at the Southwestern International Raceway in Tucson, Arizona Read more…
