On this day in…
1898
126 years ago
The first car crash resulting in a fatality happened when the steering gear failed on Henry Linfield’s electric car, and he crashed at the bottom of a hill at Purley Corner, Surrey, England Read more…
1900
124 years ago
1902
122 years ago
The first Studebaker automobile was sold, an electric-powered runabout purchased by R W Bless of Macon, Missouri, US Read more…
1903
121 years ago
The first Overland was test driven in Terre Haute, Illinois, US Read more…
1908
116 years ago
The now famous, New York-to-Paris via Seattle and Yokohama, Japan, the longest motor race in history, began Read more…
1914
110 years ago
The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that a 1912 law requiring automobile registration was unconstitutional, and ordered refunds of $28,040 Read more…
1919
105 years ago
Ralph DePalma in a Packard 905 achieved a speed of 149.875 mph (241.200 km/h) at Daytona Beach, which was recognised as a World Land Speed Record in the US, but not by the AIACR Read more…
1937
87 years ago
Petrol in Britain went up a halfpenny to 1/7d a gallon. Read more…
1938
86 years ago
Taxicab insurance was introduced in the US requiring taxicab drivers to carry liability insurance Read more…
1943
81 years ago
Lord Nuffield created the Nuffield Foundation, Britain’s largest charitable trust, with a gift of £10,000,000 of ordinary stock in the company he founded 30 years earlier, Morris Motors. Read more…
1951
73 years ago
Bill France Sr Read more…
1953
71 years ago
The Willys-Overland Company, which brought America the Jeep, celebrated its golden anniversary Read more…
1957
67 years ago
The first yellow ‘no parking’ lines in Britain, were introduced in Slough, Buckinghamshire. Read more…
1957
67 years ago
Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory and several hundred cars were destroyed by fire Read more…
1960
64 years ago
The first issue of “National Dragster”, the official National Hot Rod Association magazine, was published. Read more…
1961
63 years ago
Dan Gurney won the Formula Libre race on the airfield at Ballarat, Australia, driving a BRM P48 F1 car Read more…
1961
63 years ago
Moto Kitano rode a Honda to victory in the FIM 250cc motorcycle GP at Daytona, Florida, Mike Hailwood was second on a Mondial Read more…
1962
62 years ago
The Ford Motor Company announced that their ‘FoMoCo’ glass trademark would be renamed ‘Car-Lite’ Read more…
1964
60 years ago
Henry Ford II and Anne McDonnell divorced Read more…
1967
57 years ago
Tasman Cup Series, Petrie, Australia won by Jim Clark in a Lotus-Climax, his 4th consecutive Tasman Cup series win Read more…
1973
51 years ago
Four metric distance road signs, the first in the US, were erected along Interstate 71 in Ohio Read more…
1976
48 years ago
Nissan purchased Volkswagen’s factory in Australia Read more…
1979
45 years ago
Richie Evans won the fourth night Modified feature of the World Series Of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at the New Smyrna Speedway, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, US Read more…
1984
40 years ago
Austin Rover announced that the Triumph marque would be discontinued in the summer after 63 years, as the Triumph Acclaim’s successor would be sold as a Rover Read more…
1984
40 years ago
Three-time NASCAR Grand National champion, Cale Yarborough, became the first Daytona 500 qualifier above 200 mph Read more…
1987
37 years ago
Dennis Poore a British entrepreneur, financier and sometime racing driver, died in Kensington, London aged 70 Read more…
1992
32 years ago
General Motors of Canada Ltd announced a new marque, the Asuna, as a counterpart to Geo Read more…
1995
29 years ago
Philip Taylor Kramer (42), bass player for the Iron Butterfly rock band and a computer engineer, disappeared on the way back home from the Los Angeles airport Read more…
1998
26 years ago
In Italy over 250 cars crashed on the foggy highway A-13 between Padua and Bologna Read more…
2006
18 years ago
Petrolheads, a BBC panel game presented by Neil Morrissey, with team captains Richard Hammond and Chris Barrie, premiered Read more…
2006
18 years ago
Sentul International Circuit, Indonesia hosted the eighth race in the 2005-06 A1 Grand Prix season Read more…
2008
16 years ago
In an attempt to cut costs, struggling auto giant General Motors (GM) offered buyouts to all 74,000 of its hourly employees in the US represented by the United Auto Workers union Read more…
2010
14 years ago
The Chicago Auto Show opened to the public Read more…
2011
13 years ago
Italian auto giant Fiat, under pressure to abandon any plan to move its headquarters to the United States, committed to invest 20 billion euros to produce 1 Read more…
2012
12 years ago
Jonathan Davenport ,driving a car owned by Clint Bowyer Dirt Motorsports, won the Late Model race at the Golden Isles Speedway, Brunswick, Georgia (US) Read more…
2015
9 years ago
A report released by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) revealed the worst speeding offenders with a motorist caught going 128 mph in a 30 mph zone while another was caught driving at 146 mph Read more…
