On This Day

The world’s first patent for a practical internal-combustion-engine-powered automobile was issued to German engineer Karl Benz. With a tubular framework mounted on a Benz-designed, one-horsepower, single-cylinder, 954-cc engine, the carriage-like three-wheeler Motorwagen had tiller steering and a buggy seat for two. The engine was a refinement of the four-stroke engine designed by Nikolaus Otto 10 years earlier. Continue Reading →

Benz Patent Motorwagen

Ignaz Schustala (68), founder of the business that evolved into the Tatra automobile works, died in Vienna, Austria.

The first of many "Semaines de Nice" automobile races from Marseille to La Turbie, began. Winner of the Car Class was Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat on a De Dion-Bouton steam break, covering the 240 km in 7 hours 45 minutes 9 seconds (30 kmph). The Motorcycle Class was won by Chesnay on a De Dion-Bouton tricycle in 9 hours 23 minutes 36 seconds (25 kmph).

Victor Demogeot, driving a V-8 Darracq at Ormond Beach, Florida reached 122.449 mph to set a record for internal-combustion engine cars.

Victor Demogeot adjusts the Darracq's spark timing after making a sub-record first run.

US car manufacturer General Motors purchased the German firm Opel.

The last pre-World War II Chrysler and Dodge automobiles were produced.

D McCall White (69), designer of the first Cadillac V-8, whose long career also included stints with Daimler, Napier, and Crossley in his native Great Britain and Nash, Lafayette and Tucker in the US, died in Hartford, Connecticut, US.

The 1954 Kaisers were introduced.

Stirling Moss teamed with local hero Carlos Menditeguy in a 3.0 litre Maserati to win the Argentine 1000 Kilometers World Sports Car race. The race was a battle between Ferrari and Maserati teams since the Jaguar and Aston Martin teams did not enter the event. The 4.9 liter Ferrari Bolidos of Peter Collins/Luigi Musso and Juan Fangio/Eugenio Castellotti led, but both chewed up their rear axles, forcing retirement.

The Highveld 100 at Kyalami in South Africa was won by Dave Charlton in a Lotus-Cosworth 72D.

The Arrows made their Formula 1 debut in the Brazilian Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro, with the car driven by Riccardo Patrese finishing 9th behind the winning of Carlo Reutemann in his Ferrari. Reutemann set the fastest lap of the race on his way to victory, finishing 49 seconds ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi, driving his own car and Niki Lauda in a Brabham.

Carlos Reutemann

Nissan announced plans to build a factory in the United Kingdom.

Global Motors, the American company that imported the Yugo, filed for bankruptcy. Selling for thousands of dollars less than its nearest competitor, the Yugoslavian-made economy car was popular in the mid 1980s, but the car’s flaws soon became apparent. It was underpowered, unreliable, and it was famously reported that you could punch holes in the body with a wooden pencil. Continue Reading →

Former Supreme Mary Wilson was injured and her son, Rafael (14) was killed when their Jeep hit a highway median and overturned near Barstow, California.

Thick fog caused highway carnage in Belgium, and Netherlands, killing 6.

A standard-engined, 3.2-litre, V6 Volkswagen Touareg set a new world altitude record for a motor vehicle of 19,948 feet (6,080 metres). The Touareg expedition team battled against icy winds and a lack of oxygen through the lunar landscape of the Ojos del Salado (on the Argentina-Chile border), the world’s highest volcano. This is supposedly the highest point on the surface of the earth that a vehicle can reach and safely return from.

Volkswagen Touareg

A1 Grand Prix attracted its biggest crowd to date as over 100,000 people lined the streets of Durban, South Africa for the series’ and the city’s first ever street race. With an electric atmosphere and excitement on the track, the race was voted best event of the 2005/06 calendar at the end of season awards ceremony. The race was won by The Netherlands.

The Daytona 24 Hour was won by Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon and Casey Mears in a Riley MkXI-Lexus.

A regular route Chongqing-Shenzhen bus skidded off an icy road packed with snow and fell into a valley at the 98.9 kilometer point of the Guiyang-Zhunyi expressway, on the outskirts of Zhunyi, Guizhou, China, killing 25, another 13 are injured.

The first official photographs of the Mini Countryman were released. The fourth addition to Mini’s range – after the regular three-door hatch, the Convertible and the Clubman – the Countryman was also the first current-generation Mini to have four-wheel drive and four regular passenger doors.

Mini Countryman

Honda Motor Co. recalled a total 646,000 units of the Fit/Jazz and City models globally, including 140,000 in the United States. The recall was to fix a defective master switch, which could cause water to enter the power window switch and in some cases cause a fire.

At 09:22 the last ever Land Rover Defender produced was rolled out of Jaguar Land Rover's Solihull plant in the UK.

The final Land Rover Defender - Solihull, UK