On This Day

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, North American explorer and namesake of the 1927-40 General Motors automobile, was murdered in present-day Texas, US.

Jean-Joseph Etienne Lenoir was issued a patent for his "Air Engine", an important ancestor of the modern internal combustion engine.

Jean-Joseph Etienne Lenoir

The new Fiat plant in Turin, Italy was officially opened by the Duke of Genoa.

The first race in Savannah, Georgia, US, the 342 mile Challenge Trophy for stock cars, was won by Lewis Strang in an Isotta-Fraschini.

Lewis Strang

Teddy Tetzlaff, driving a 46 hop Lozier defeated th 90 hp Fiat of Ralph DePalma in a match staged at the Playa del Rey Motordrome in Los Angeles, California, US.

The International Motor Racing Federation in Paris decided to institute a World Motor Racing Championship.

The first set of permanently installed traffic signals in Scotland commenced operation in Edinburgh, at the York Place - Broughton Street junction.

Edinburgh's first traffic lights - 1928

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was officially opened. It is the largest steel arch bridge in the world, though not the longest, with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres above the harbour. At 48. Continue Reading →

Sydney Harbour Bridge under construction

Matteo Ceirano (71), Italian automobile businessman, died. He created with his father the Ceirano Matteo & C. (1903), which became Ceirano Matteo & C. Continue Reading →

Matteo Ceirano

The 1,000,000th Jeep was produced. In 1939, the American Bantam Car Company submitted its original design for an all-terrain troop transport vehicle--featuring four-wheel drive, masked fender-mount headlights, and a rifle rack under the dash--to the U.S. Continue Reading →

Giuseppe Calnago won the Italian Motorcycle Championship race at Siracusa, the first victory for the Moto Guzzi V8 engine.

After sharp recession that hit the U.S. in the fall of 1957 led to steep declines in the sales of big, glitzy, middle-market cars like Ford’s new Edsel, the soaring sales of Nash’s compact Rambler and small imports like the Volkswagen Beetle, Henry Ford II approved the development of a compact Ford car. Continue Reading →

Ford Falcon 1960

Jim Clark drove a Ford-Cosworth powered Lotus 18 to victory in the Formula Junior race at Goodwood, England. It was the first win for a Lotus 18. In second place was motorcycle world champion John Surtees making his 4-wheel race debut in a Ken Tyrrell entered Cooper-BMC.

David Pearson outran Cale Yarborough down the stretch to score his first win at Bristol International Speedway in the Southeastern 500. Pearson, driving a Cotton Owens-prepared Dodge, led 70 of the 500 laps to beat Yarborough by seven seconds. Darel Dieringer finished third, three laps down. Continue Reading →

Emerson Fittipaldi drove his Lotus to victory in the non-championship F1 'Race of Champions' at Brands Hatch. Fittipaldi grabbed the lead from polesitter Peter Gethin's McLaren at the green and went on to take the checkered flag 14 seconds ahead of Mike Hailwood's Surtees. It was the first win for Lotus in more than a year. Continue Reading →

The last Rover P6 (named 2000, 2200, and 3500 for its engine displacements) rolled off the production line after 14 years. The P6, which was voted European Car of the Year in 1964, and the last of the "P" designated Rover designs to reach production. The vehicle was marketed first as the Rover 2000 and was a complete "clean sheet" design intended to appeal to a larger number of buyers than earlier models such as the P4 it replaced. Continue Reading →

Rover 3500 (P6B)

Ford launched the third generation of its Granada. The Granada Mk3's main claim to fame was that it was the first European car to offer ABS across the range as standard. In Europe, the all-new car received an all-new name – Scorpio – but in the UK Ford didn't want to risk further alienating existing customers with its new hatchback, and used the moniker to denote the top models in the range - above the Ghia. Continue Reading →

Ford Granada Mark III

Jet Harris from The Shadows was banned from driving for three years and fined £120 for drunk driving.

South African driver Trevor Blokdyk died of a heart attack at the age of 59 while working as a farmer. He competed in F1 between 1963 and 1965 but only qualified for one race, in 1965, in a Cooper T59.

The signs all was not well in Tony Blair's administration surfaced when he admitted to breaking House of Commons rules by failing to declare a £1500 "freebie" from Bernie Ecclestone. He accepted a rebuke from watchdog Sir Gordon Downey because all hospitality worth more than £215 must be registered in the House. Blair, who took his wife and their children to the £300-a-head British Grand Prix at Silverstone, vowed not to break the rules again.

Ford established the Premier Auto Group consisting of Aston Martin, Jaguar and Lincoln [Volvo would later be included in this group].

Toyota opened its theme park, the Mega Web, in Tokyo, Japan. Visitors can take the wheel in electric vehicles and drive themselves between and through the pavilions. They also could also test-drive conventional Toyota vehicles and view historical Toyota models.

The Konginkangas bus disaster was a major traffic accident outside the Konginkangas housing estate in Äänekoski, Finland. At 02:08 local time (00:08 UTC) a bus transporting 38 passengers, most of them youths, to the Rukatunturi skiing center for an alpine skiing vacation crashed into a tractor trailer carrying heavy paper rolls weighing about 38 tonnes total. The accident occurred on highway 4 (E75) 20 km north of Äänekoski, and left the bus driver and 23 passengers dead; 15 were injured. Continue Reading →

Konginkangas bus disaster

John DeLorean, an innovative auto industry executive and founder of the DeLorean Motor Company, died in New Jersey at the age of 80. In the early 1980's, his DeLorean Motor Company produced just one model, the DMC-12. It was a sleek sports car with gull-wing doors that opened upward. Continue Reading →

John DeLorean

The Malaysian Grand Prix held at Sepang was won by Giancarlo Fisichella driving a Renault R26, who took the final of his three victories in Formula One. His team-mate, Fernando Alonso, finished second to extend his lead in the drivers' championship standings to 7 points. Jenson Button took the first podium in a Honda by finishing in third place.

Malaysian Grand Prix 2006 Start