On This Day

Frank V. Whyland and Clarence P. Hollister, manufacturers of the Berkshire, were issued a United States patent for their progressive three-speed transmission.

The Gramm-Logan Motor Car Company of Bowling Green, Ohio, US registered is name as a trademark, said to be styled in handwriting of Benjamin A Gramm. The firm built only trucks and was dissolved in 1910.

The Lincoln Highway, the first improved coast-to-coast highway for motor vehicles across America, had its first section opened in New Jersey, between Jersey City and Newark. What had been known as the Jersey City Plank Road for over 100 years was rededicated as the Essex-Hudson Lincoln Highway after having been reconstructed as a boulevard 100-ft wide overall at a cost of $1,250,000. It was bordered by street lights and 10-ft wide sidewalks on each side. Continue Reading →

Essex and Hudson Lincoln Highway in Jersey City, New Jersey

William Kissel and Friedrich Werner received an American patent for their removable car top on KisselKar and Kissel automobiles, eight years after they first offered the invention. Their "Convertible Automobile Body" had a removable hard top that could turn a closed car into an open touring car, one of the earliest convertibles.

A 1915 KisselKar Advertisement - Syracuse Herald, February 23, 1915

Purfina SA was incorporated in Antwerp, Belgium.

Duesenberg, Inc. announced that assembly of the Duesenberg Model J had ended and that most of their employees were being laid off indefinitely.

Duesenberg Model J (1932)

Maurice Wolfe (59), President of the Meteor Motor Car Company, manufacturers of funeral cars, died in Ohio. He was a pioneer Cadillac salesman who claimed the first sale of an automobile to an American Indian, and later was designer/manufacturer of the 1907-09 Wolfe, the 1910-13 Wilcox and the 1910-12 Clark.

1909 Meteor Automobile advertisement

The first production Lincoln Continental was finished. Originally developed as Edsel Ford’s personal vehicle, the Lincoln Continentals of the 1940s are widely considered to be some of the most beautiful production cars ever made. Continentals were produced by the Lincoln Division of the Ford Motor Company from 1939 to 1948 and again from 1956 to 1980 and 1981 to 2002.

Lincoln Continental (first generation)

The Maine Turnpike, the first "superhighway" in New England and the first such highway in the United States built without state or federal tax dollars, opened to traffic. The Maine Turnpike Authority was created by the Maine Legislature in 1941 to connect Kittery and Fort Kent. In 1947, the first section of highway, designated the Maine Turnpike, opened between Kittery and Portland. Continue Reading →

Maine Turnpike - 1950s

Ford built the last of its early two-seat Thunderbirds as public demand sparked a shift to four-seaters. Restyled a year earlier, the ’57 T-Bird featured tail fins, opera windows, and a clean back bumper for better handling, plus a choice of five V-8s including a supercharged 340 hp NASCAR option. For 1958, the first of the so-called “Square Birds” featured twin headlights, a functional hood vent, flat-folding front bucket seats and a choice of convertible or the new hardtop. Continue Reading →

1957 Ford Thunderbird brochure

Cornelius Cardew (47), English avant-garde composer, and founder (with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons) of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble, died the victim of a hit-and-run car accident near his London home in Leytonstone. The driver was never found.

Cornelius Cardew

Vitaly Daraselia (25), Georgian football player, died in a car crash. He played for FC Dinamo Sokhumi, FC Dinamo Tbilisi and the Soviet Union national team. Daraselia is mostly remembered for his wonderful winning goal for FC Dinamo Tbilisi in 1981, in the final game of UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, rushing into the penalty area past two defenders, just 3 minutes before full time whistle.

Nigel Mansell was named the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year on the back of winning the drivers' championship. While Mansell was receiving his award, Williams announced his place would be taken by Damon Hill , the relatively unknown son of former champion Graham . Hill finally convinced Williams he was the right man for the job after a brilliant testing session in Portugal where he outpaced Alain Prost . Continue Reading →

The FIA announced that the BBC had lost the rights to show F1 - the deal had been won by ITV. Shock waves hit the nation, but it was not the channel change people objected to but the potential loss of commentator Murray Walker. The Daily Mirror set up a hot line for people to call in order to "Save our Murray" - unbeknown to fans Walker had actually signed up to transfer to ITV but was sworn to secrecy. Continue Reading →

The Aulnay plant in France produced the one millionth Citroen Saxo.

Citroen Saxo

One millionth Citroen Saxo.

Seattle preservationists loaded the city's iconic Hat 'n' Boots Tex Gas Station onto a tractor-trailer and drive it away from the spot where it had stood for almost 50 years. The hat, a 44-foot–wide Stetson, went first; the 22-foot–tall cowboy boots followed it one at a time. (The giant hat had always been mostly for show--it had perched atop the filling station's office, luring drivers off the highway. Continue Reading →

Hat 'n' Boots Tex Gas Station, Seattle, US

General Motors Corporation said it planned to nearly triple the number of cars it produced in India to meet growing demand.

A bus plunged into a river after colliding with a truck on a mountain road near Bagua, Peru, killing 21 and injuring 30.

The curtain finally fell on the Spygate scandal with McLaren's unreserved apology to the FIA and Ferrari. In a grovelling letter, McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh expressed his team's "sincere regret" adding it "apologised wholeheartedly" to the FIA for the embarrassment caused. The letter satisfied FIA president Max Mosley, who asked WMSC members, "in light of McLaren's public apology and undertakings" and "in the interests of the sport, to consider this matter closed". Continue Reading →

Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets, introduced a new line of hybrid cars — called "Yo". Unlike other hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius, the internal-combustion engine directly powers the motors rather than a battery. It was planned to install a rotary vane type engine, with the pistons moving in a circle, rather than linearly. Continue Reading →

Yo-mobil coupe

The MINI John Cooper Works Paceman (R61) was officially announced.

MINI John Cooper Works Paceman

General Motors delivered the first of its eagerly awaited Chevy Bolt electric hatchbacks to three customers gathered at a Fremont, California (US), dealership, less than two miles from the Tesla Motors factory.

Chevrolet Bolt

General Motors delivered the first of its eagerly awaited Chevy Bolt electric hatchbacks to three customers gathered at a Fremont, California US., dealership, less than two miles from the Tesla Motors factory.