On This Day

King Edward VII opened Kingsway and Aldwych (now on the A4200), a major road through London to ease congestion between Holborn and the Strand. It had involved the demolition of many ancient streets and buildings, some dating back to the 1500s.

Thomas W. Wilby, assisted by factory driver F. V. Continue Reading →

Robert B Ward (62), founder in 1905 and President of the Ward Motor Vehicle Company, died in New Rochelle, New York. Many of his electric trucks were used in his huge bakery business.

Rolls-Royce America, Inc., was established, and their luxurious motor cars would prove a favorite means of transport for America's elite during the roaring 1920s.

The Ministry of Transport in a letter to all county councils condemned the recent increase in roadside advertising billboards which were ‘disfiguring’ the countryside. It urged local authorities to take actions in order “to safeguard the amenities of the public highways under their controls.”

Thomas Edison (84), America’s greatest inventor, died in West Orange, New Jersey. The great inventor, a friend of Henry Ford, devoted much effort to improving the electric car but met with limited success. During his remarkable life he developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Continue Reading →

Thomas Edison

The first automobile race was held at the Oakland Speedway, California, US. It was a one-mile, banked dirt oval track built, which operated throughout the Great Depression and the postwar years. The track featured AAA-sanctioned National Championship races with Indy cars and drivers from 1931 until 1936. Continue Reading →

Oakland Speedway

The Studebaker Corporation purchased the White Motor Company.

R. Buckminster Fuller applied for a patent for his Dymaxion Car. The name Dymaxion was another Fuller invention: a combination of "dynamic," "maximum," and "ion". Continue Reading →

Dymaxion Car

The 1935 Buick model range were introduced.

1935 Buick brochure

Construction began on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. A controlled-access highway, it runs for 360 miles (580 km) across the state. The turnpike begins at the Ohio state line in Lawrence County, where the road continues west into Ohio as the Ohio Turnpike. Continue Reading →

Pennsylvania Turnpike

The Automotive Hall of Fame was founded in New York City by a group called the "Automobile Old Timers." Its mission was to perpetuate the memories of early automotive pioneers and to honor people from all parts of the auto industry worldwide.It went through for adverse times for its first three decades, and had four name changes. Continue Reading →

At the 1950 London Motor Show the Jaguar Mark VII saloon, specifically aimed at the US market, was presented and once again Lyons 'stole the show'. Americans took to the Mark VII and some $30m worth of orders were taken within months of the car's introduction. Such was the demand that a larger factory was required and the company moved to Browns Lane, Coventry in 1951-52.

The new Consul and Zephyr launched at the Olympia Motor Show were the first Fords with monocoque body/chassis construction and the first cars in the world with MacPherson Strut front suspension, now an industry standard. They were also the first Fords with overhead valve engines. Production began with the Consul on 1 January 1951. Continue Reading →

At the 1950 London Motor Show the Jaguar Mark VII saloon, specifically aimed at the US market, was presented and once again Lyons 'stole the show'. Americans took to the Mark VII and some $30m worth of orders were taken within months of the car's introduction. Such was the demand that a larger factory was required and the company moved to Browns Lane, Coventry in 1951-52.

Jaguar Mark VII

The first DeSoto was produced with the Firedome V-8 engine.

Ford’s Louisville manufacturing plant in Kentucky was dedicated. The 3,154,173-square-foot plant on 180 acres currently employs a total of 4,554 people.

Ford’s Louisville assembly facility

Elvis Presley (21) pulled into a Memphis gas station where he started to attract a small crowd of autograph seekers. After repeatedly asking Elvis to move on so he could resume normal business, station manager Ed Hopper slapped Presley on the head and found himself on the receiving end of a punch in the face from Elvis. Station employee Aubrey Brown tried to help his boss, but was no match for Presley. Continue Reading →

The Jaguar Mark X saloon was unveiled at the London Motor Show, Britain’s biggest car so far with unitary body construction. Like the E-type, it was remarkable value for money at £2,256 undercutting its nearest rival, the similarly specified Lagonda Rapide by more than half. A convertible version of the Aston Martin DB4 was also presented for the first time.

Jaguar Mark X

Roger Penske drove a Chevrolet-powered Chaparral 2 to victory in the USAC-sanctioned sports car race at Laguna Seca in California.

For the first time since 1948, this year saw an increase in the normal daily admission charge to the London Motor Show at Earls Court, which was raised from 5 shillings to 7 shillings and 6 pence. Cars introduced at the show included: the Aston Martin DBS, Triumph Herald 13/60, NSU Ro 80 and Simca 1100. A Jensen convertible (based on an Austin 1100 Countryman) was also shown, but never made it to series production.

NSU Ro 80

Denny Hulme drove a McLaren M8D to victory in the Laguna Seca, California, USA, Can-Am race.

Hanns Martin Schleyer, a Daimler-Benz executive and head of the West German employers' association, was found dead in Alsace, France. He had been kidnapped in Cologne by the Red Army Faction (RAF) during a September 5 assault in which his driver and three police were killed. The Red Army Faction was a group of ultra-left revolutionaries who terrorized Germany for three decades, assassinating at least 30 corporate, military, and government leaders in an effort to topple capitalism in their homeland. Continue Reading →

Hlemut Henzler and Keke Rosberg in a prototype VW diesel-powered car at the Nardo Circuit, Italy, recorded the greatest distance covered in 1 hour by a car powered with an internal combustion engine, 219.598 miles.

The first escape ramps for hedgehogs were installed in cattle grids on the A117 near Ludlow, Shropshire.

The British government closed the DeLorean factory in Northern Ireland. John DeLorean founded the DeLorean Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan on October 24, 1975. He was already well known in the automobile industry as a capable engineer, business innovator, and youngest person to become a General Motors (GM) executive. Continue Reading →

DeLorean DMC-12

General Motors acquired the EDS Corporation for $2.5 billion.

Morgan Shepherd posted a dominant NASCAR Nationwide Series win, leading 144 of 197 laps in the Sandhills 200 at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham. Shepherd, who scored three other Nationwide wins in the season, wound up 1.02 seconds ahead of pole-starter Davey Allison, who paced 31 laps in a runner-up finish. Dale Jarrett took third with Larry Pearson fourth as the final cars on the lead lap.

Morgan Shepherd - 1986

Pride of place at the British International Motor Show held at NEC went to Jaguar's new XJ6, which had enjoyed enormous publicity even before this, its international launch. Appearing in Britain for the first time, Suzuki's stunning little RS1 concept car, a mid-engined two-seater packing a 1300cc twin-cam - a modern Midget in spirit. Bertone's four-seater Zabrus was based on Citroen BX running gear. Continue Reading →

Citroen Zabrus (Bertone), 1986

Racer John Cannon (66) was killed in an aircraft accident when an air supply fault led to a fatal crash-landing in a cornfield in New Mexico, US. Though Cannon was born in London, England he was a Canadian who put in the drive of his career on the 13th of October at the Laguna Seca round of the 1968 CanAm series. From 15th on he not only won the rain-race and put in the fastest lap but lapped the whole field which included Denny Hulme (2nd) and Bruce McLaren (5th). Continue Reading →

Britain's Worst Driver, a TV series created and hosted by ex-Top Gear host Quentin Willson, was first broadcast on Five in the United Kingdom. In 30-minute episodes, the worst drivers chosen by viewers "earned back" their driving licences by performing various driving challenges. The driver who performed the worst was awarded Britain's Worst Driver. Continue Reading →

TVR, the independent car manufacturer founded in Blackpool in 1947, announced that it would be quitting the town for good and moving production abroad.

South African reggae star, Lucky Dube (43) was shot dead by car thieves when he was dropping his teenage son and daughter off in a Johannesburg suburb. Police said Dube's son and daughter were already out of the car when three shots were fired through the car window, witnesses said the wounded singer tried to drive away, but lost control of his car and hit a tree.

Lucky Dube

British driver Jenson Button and Brawn GP secured the Drivers' Championship and Constructors' Championship titles respectively at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the season. It was both Button and Brawn's first Championship success, Brawn becoming the first team to win the Constructors' Championship in their debut season. Button was the tenth British driver to win the championship, and following Lewis Hamilton's success in 2008 it was the first time the Championship had been won by English drivers in consecutive seasons, and the first time since Graham Hill (1968) and Jackie Stewart (1969) that consecutive championships have been won by British drivers. Continue Reading →

Jenson Button - 2009