On this day in…

1895

127 years ago

Inventor George B Read more…

1895

127 years ago

Automobile Club de France was founded and organized 34 intercity races during the first 8 years of its existence Read more…

1896

126 years ago

The Hill & Boll coachbuilding firm registered the Yeovil Motor Car & Cycle Company in Yeovil, Somerset, England to manufacture complete cars to the designs of Percival W Petter Read more…

1902

120 years ago

William K Read more…

1903

119 years ago

Arthur Duray driving the vast Gobron-Brillie established a new world land speed record of 84 Read more…

1908

114 years ago

In his most ambitious political effort Democrat Henry Ford lost a US Senate race to Republican Truman H Newberry by about 7,500 votes out of the 430,000 votes cast Read more…

1922

100 years ago

Tazio Nuvolari rode a 1000cc Harley-Davidson to his first motorcycle race win, the Riunione Motorcyclistica, at Mantua, Italy Read more…

1926

96 years ago

The Buick 1927 ‘Goddess’ mascot was patented by designer William Schnell Read more…

1927

95 years ago

Britain’s first set of automatic traffic lights came into operation at Princes Square, Wolverhampton Read more…

1950

72 years ago

The first Pebble Beach Road Races (California) were staged, with the main event won by Phil Hill in a Jaguar XK120 Read more…

1952

70 years ago

Joe James, who competed in two Indianapolis 500s, died on this day after an accident three days earlier at San Jose Speedway Read more…

1954

68 years ago

At the home of Chapin “Smitty” Smith, the Satyrs Motorcycle Club held its first official club meeting Read more…

1958

64 years ago

The first MAZ 525 truck was produced at the Byelorussian Automobile Factory in Zhodino, USSR (now Belarus) Read more…

1959

63 years ago

One of the two founders of telecommunications company Motorola and inventor of the first car stereo, Paul Voncent Galvin (64), died Read more…

1960

62 years ago

Country and rockabilly artist Johnny Horton, whose number one hit “Battle of New Orleans” topped the US pop charts for six solid weeks in 1959, was killed in an auto accident in Milano, Texas Read more…

1962

60 years ago

The UK government halved Purchase Tax on cars to boost the economy Read more…

1965

57 years ago

The prototype Shelby GT 350H was shipped to the Hertz Corporation for testing, the first of 936 Ford Mustang-based muscle cars would be built to order for the rental car company Read more…

1966

56 years ago

David Piper and Richard Atwood drove a Ferrari 365P2/3 to victory in the 9 hour sports car race at Kyalami, South Africa Read more…

1967

55 years ago

Bobby Allison fended off Richard Petty by a car-length to win the Western North Carolina 500 at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway (North Carolina, US), closing out the season with a two-race win streak Read more…

1978

44 years ago

Richard Petty appeared to win the NASCAR Winston Cup race at Atlanta, Georgia, US, but after the scoring was rechecked, the win was given to Donnie Allison Read more…

1987

35 years ago

Sports car and Grand Prix driver, Adolf Brudes von Breslau (50) died Read more…

1989

33 years ago

On a rainy day in Adelaide the Australian Grand Prix was stopped after only one lap due to excessive rain Read more…

1999

23 years ago

Ford introduced the all-new 6 Read more…

2001

21 years ago

Roy Thomas, designer of the Titan formula racers, died of complications from lung cancer Read more…

2006

16 years ago

Tony Stewart won the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (US) Read more…

2009

13 years ago

In Germany thousands of Opel workers, fearing widespread layoffs, walked off the job to protest General Motors’ decision to abandon their Division’s sale to new owners Read more…