17-23 July: Motoring Milestones
Momentous motoring events that took place during this week in history ….. 100 years ago this week, Rapp-Motorenwerke was renamed Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH (BMW) [21 July 1907]…… 90 years ago this week, the Mercedes-Benz Type S made its racing debut at the Eifel race at the Nurburgring, with Rudolf Caracciola winning the sports-car class…
26 June – 2 July: Motoring Milestones
Momentous motoring events that took place during this week in history ….. 120 years ago this week, a German-built Benz Velo, appearing at the Grand Forks parade to promote cigars, became the first automobile to be driven in North Dakota, US [28 June 1897]…… 110 years ago this week, Mongini and Zach covered 1,037 miles…
24 – 30 April: Motoring Milestones
130 years ago this week, the first motor car race in history took place, the Neuilly-Versailles-Neuilly, a distance of 20 miles, organised by the journalist Fossier. Compte de Dion and his steam tricycle completed the course in 1 hour and 14 minutes – not so fast in a vehicle that could do almost 40 mph.…
17-23 April: Motoring Milestones
Cars, people and events in this week’s Motoring Milestones include: NASCAR, Lamborghini, Targa Florio, and Volvo. 120 years ago this week, Ernest Estcourt took delivery of the first ‘production’ car from the Daimler Motor Company, Coventry and drove it home to Hampstead in London [20 April 1897]. His journey took 10.5 hours, including stops for…
10-16 April Motoring Milestones
Cars, people and events in this week’s Motoring Milestones include: world land speed record, Volvo, Trans-Am and Formula One. 210 years ago this week, Isaac de Rivaz of Switzerland test drove his road carriage powered by an internal combustion engine [10 April 1807]. The engine has a claim to be the world’s first internal combustion…
20-26 February: Motoring Milestones
Cars, people and events in this week’s Motoring Milestones include: Formula 1, flying cars, Spyker, Pontiac Firebird and Seinfeld. 180 years ago this week, Thomas Davenport, of Brandon, Vermont, US, received a patent for an “Electric Motor” (“Improvement in Propelling Machinery by Magnetism and Electro-Magnetism”) – the first commercially successful direct current electric motor [25…
The History of Auto Financing
Devin Morrissey While car ownership is standard today, there was a period of time in American history when it was quite rare. Households did not anticipate the introduction of affordable mass-produced vehicles in 1920, nor how essential they would become to the American lifestyle. Nevertheless, it only took around ten years for half of all…
13-18 February: Motoring Milestones
Cars, people and events in this week’s Motoring Milestones include: J. Frank Duryea, driving licences, Hore-Belisha, Mercedes, and Chevrolet Corvette… 90 years ago this week, Ford standardised 21-inch wheels on all Model T cars [14 February 1927]…. During the Ninety Mile Beach 5 lap handicap race, a non-competing car hurtled down the beach and collided…
30 January – 5 February: Motoring Milestones
Cars, people and events in this week’s Motoring Milestones include: rallycross, Daytona, Malcolm Campbell, hillclimb, Toyota and Top Gear. 210 years ago this week, Isaac de Rivaz was issued with a French patent for his explosion motor, an important ancestor of the modern internal combustion engine [30 January 1807]…… 120 years ago this week, the…
An Everyday Journey Through Motoring History, Facts & Trivia
This Day In Automotive History
