May 10, 1923 – GM names Alfred P. Sloan as president.
They didn’t just pick from the streets. He was actually, a draftsman for a bearing company, Hyatt Roller Bearing. That company eventually merged with a few other companies with United Motor Corporation. Sloan became the president of that and shortly after that they were purchased by GM.
He served GM from 1923 to 1956 in some manner including board chairman.
Imagine the innovations he saw during his tenure!!! The corporate mergers, the V8, the Corvette, lucky guy!!
Alfred P. Sloan
May 12, 1969 (or 14th) – The last Chevy Corvair was produced.
Last Corvair build. If you know only a little about automotive history or maybe politics or the consumer safety revolution of the 60’s and 70’s you’ll know the name Ralph Nader. With a little Google’in you’ll find various search results linking him to the demise of the Chevy Corvair (and apple pie and America) – most are not flattering to Mr. Nader. According to most accounts the last Corvair carried 6000 as the last 4 digits of it’s serial number. The car was blanketed by the press when it rolled off the assemble, but then disappeared. There are various stories as to the actual disposition of car #6000 but it remains a mystery. We do know it was a two door, hard top, Monza, Olympic Gold was the color and it likely had a Service 140 replacement engine.
I’m seeing the Corvair but can’t help notice the Nova’s on the rail car.
The last Corvair convertible was #5997 which was a Forest Green Monza that has come up for sale a few times.
If you are a Corvair fan you’ll enjoy this read: 1969 Corvair: Finger Tip Facts by Corvair historian Dave Newell.
As we run through the middle of the 2nd month of the year, here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids). A light week this week. Feb 10, 1942 – Pontiac stops car production for WWII. – As you know WWII took a lot of sacrifice …
It’s a light week for the automotive history. April 5, 1923 Firestone introduces balloon tires. Everything we’ve accomplished with our rides has greatly.
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the last week of April 2015! Light week for Auto Factoids unless you are Lamborghini or Ford fan. Ferruccio Lamborghini was born on April 28, 1916 in Renazzo di Cento, Italy.
Bob and Carol Marsh, of Chesterfield, are the owners of the 1966 Corvair Corsa convertible shown on this page. And, believe it or not, this is the actual car Bob owned when he was in high school. He told me he “hot rodded” the car as a teenager. (Can …
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the first full week in May 2015.
Dateline May 3rd, 1948 – Willys Jeepster Phaeton debuts.
The production was only a 3 year run with a total units produced was 19,132. The engines ranged from a 134.1 cu in (2.2 L) I4 and two I6, a 148.5 cu in (2.4 L) I6 and 161 cu in (2.6 L) I6.
1948 Jeepster Phatheon
Same day one year later (May 3rd, 1949 ) – Packard has its 50th Anniversary and to commemorate it they offered up 2,000 Gold Packard’s from Utica Proving Grounds. Yes that did happen. They were painted in a special paint code of Gold. Each were powered with 327 c.i.d., 150 hp engine. Only 600 were convertibles.
This isn’t, of course, Gold, but only 600 Gold Convertibles were made with that special paint code.
Packard’s Utica Proving Grounds.
May 4th 1923 – The first Le Mans 24 Hour race was held just outside Le Mans, France. Initial the race was limited to ‘production’ cars and two drivers, now they require 3 drivers per car and the of course these cars aren’t in your dealers show rooms. The race was won by one of the French teams – André Lagache and Léonard driving a Chenard et Walcker with 3.0L I4 engine.
This is an awesome looking car!!!
May 6th and 7th, 1928– Chrysler debuts the De Soto for the 1929 model year and completes the purchase of Dodge, in part for its dealerships to sell the new De Soto. In the course of the marque’s run (1929-1961) it set several sales records for Chrysler and the auto industry. It’s first year (1929) saw 81,065 unit sold and it held the record unit 1960 when Ford beat it with the Falcon.
1928-29 Chrysler De Soto
Thanks for reading.
Tim
(#AutoFactoids)
Auto Factoids for Week of April 26, 2015 – Lamborghini and Willys http://t.co/WYzhUBDaxE #AutoFactoids http://t.co/ajOpYWuAdW
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the last week of April 2015! Light week for Auto Factoids unless you are Lamborghini or Ford fan. Ferruccio Lamborghini was born on April 28, 1916 in Renazzo di Cento, Italy.
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the last week of April 2015!
Light week for Auto Factoids unless you are Lamborghini or Ford fan.
Ferruccio Lamborghini was born on April 28, 1916 in Renazzo di Cento, Italy.
From humble beginnings
to
The legacy continues
April 29, 1953 – Willys is purchased by Kaiser-Frasier
Willy (Willys-Overland) was purchased by Kaiser and the name was changed to Willys Motor Company and moved the plant from Michigan to Ohio. That same year Willys established an assembly plant in Brazil and imported the cars back to the U.S. When the U.S. curtailed the import of assembled cars, Willys shipped all the tooling for the Aero to Brazil and produce and sold the cars there and they were built from 1960 to 1962. After a redesign in 1963 Ford bought the Willys factory and produced the Aero until the early 1970’s.
1955 Willys Aero
1971 Aero (Ford made)
April 29, 1959 – Ford Motor Company produces it 50 millionth car!!!
That car was a 1959 Ford Galaxie that came out of the Dearborn factory. It was a white 4 door sedan with the 292, engine. It was actually a Ford Fairlane 500 Galaxie and the first time Galaxie was used on a Ford car. Fast forward – but not too far – and the Fairlanes, Fairlanes 500, and the Galaxies were to become monster muscle machines in the mid to late 60’s!!!
Ford Fairlane 500 Galaxie – 50 Millionth Ford
The 50 millionth looks a lot like the 1959 Mercury Montclair
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for last full week of April 2015.
April 22, 1954 – Nash and Hudson merge to from AMC
When does this:
Nash Rambler
PLUS THIS:
’53 Hudson Hornet
EQUAL THIS? :
Javlin
Well that’s the equation formed when Nash merged with Hudson and produced AMC. AMC (American Motor Corp) produced some of the most memorable cars of the ’60’s-’70’s. Although they often used components from other makers, they did have some unique sheet metal.
Gremlin X
1975 Pacer
April 23, 1987 – Chrysler buys Lamborghini.
Lamborghini was founded in 1963 and sold in 1974. It changed hands in 1980, 1984, 1987, 1994 and 1998 and now sits under Volkswagen Group ownership and managed by their Audi division.
Interesting how once buying Italian car companies, Chrysler is now owned by one!!! I guess you need to be careful who you buy, some day they might help you out by returning the favor!!! Chrysler is now owned by Fiat and Lamborghini is now owned by the Volkswagen Group via Audi.
April 25, 1970 – Mazda began importing cars to the U.S. for the first time.
1970 Cosmo
They’ve come a long ways in the eyes of the American buyer. Not sure if it was the “zoom..zoom” commercials or the cute little “girls” car Miata or dominating a lot of local SCCA racing meets – drat!!!
On this week’s episode of Ignition, we celebrate the 45th anniversary of an iconic piece of American automotive history, the AMC Gremlin. Despite its peculiar design and strange proportions, owners of the Gremlin seemed to really love this car, and …
Just got this out for the week!! Here is your Auto Factoids (#autofactoids) for April 12, 2015.
April 13 1965 Pontiac 10-millionth
The car was a 1965 Catalina.
1965 4 door Catalina the 10th Millionth Pontiac
April 13 1904 Caddy assembly plant burned to the ground. More info on this site: http://www.car-nection.com/yann/dbas_txt/Factq-s.htm
April 14, 1927 First Volvo is produced
1927 Volvo “Jakob”
It had wooden (ash and copper beech) underpinnings, sheet steel panels, leather upholstery, live axles and long leaf springs – loosely based on an American design. It had a 4 cylinder engine that produced 28 hp.
April 16, 1908 Oakland motors sells its first car.
I believe they actually began producing cars in 1907.
April 17, 1964 Ford Mustang debuts
1964 2+2 – My favorite of the under 1968 Mustangs.
4/17/1969 Ford began selling the Maverick. <cricket…..cricket…> Come on..it was a good car and getting more and more collectible!!!
1964 Maverick – Proper mods and you’ll have a monster street car!!
April 18, 1955 Lincoln becomes a separate division of Ford. Lincoln started out as a separate brand in 1917 with its plant at 6200 West Warren Avenue in Detroit, Michigan and was name after Abe Lincoln. They began business by producing Liberty aircraft engine with pistons purchased from Ford for WWI. After the war the re-fitted the plant and produced luxury Ford bought the company in 1922. April 18, 1964 Sunbeam Tiger Debuts
It’s a light week for the automotive history. April 5, 1923 Firestone introduces balloon tires. Everything we’ve accomplished with our rides has greatly depend and relied on Mr. Firestone’s improvement. It was a combination of …
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the week. Actually, I’ve combined two weeks because I forgot last weeks and this week’s was limited. So let’s start off with the week of the 15th (’cause going in chronological orders just seemed appropriate).
March 15, 1960 – Mercury/Ford/Edsel debuted the Comet. The reality is that the Comet was to be a sub-model under Edsel. With the Edsel’s demise the Comet was parent-less so to speak. For the 1960-62 the car was simple badged as Comet. The images below are those I took of a Comet I was interested in purchasing as a project car.
1961 – you can just see the Comet badge
You can see the Edsel like instruments. Only badge is Comet.
March 17, 1834 – Mr. Gottlieb Daimler was born in Germany. He was an engineer and teamed up a guy named Karl Benz and together started a little car company. I can’t recall the name!!!!
March 17, 1949 Porsche was debuted at the Geneva Auto Show.
1949 Publicity shot
March 18, 1858 Rudolph Diesel born in Paris, France. In case you can’t guess he developed the diesel engine.
First Diesel Engine
The first production diesel-powered car was created by Citroen called the Rosalie in 1933. (I always thought it was Mercedes-Benz but that didn’t happen until 1936!!)
First production car diesel engine by Citroen.
1933 Citroen Rosalie – What a beautiful car!!!
March 18, 1923 Andy Granatelli 1923 Dallas, TX
Dude….It’s Andy!!! “nough said”
March 21, 1961 Jaguar E-type was deputed
One of the best styles of the 1960’s
March 27, 1863 Mr. Henry Royce was born in Alwalton, England. From aircraft engines to ultimate in high-end luxury iconic cars. You know the name Royce (as in Rolls Royce).
1933 Merlin – used in the Hawker Hurricane, de Havilland Mosquito and the famous Supermarine Spitfire
1933 Hooper Rolls Royce Phantom II Continental Sports Coupe
Thank to all the followers of #AutoFactoids. Special Twitter give-away so follow me @AGCarRestore.
Here are your Auto Factoids (#autofactoids) for the middle of Feb, 2015!! Feb 15, 1944 – Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) was formed. For those of you that don’t follow racing you need to check out what SCCA does.
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the first week in Feb. 2015!!! I think we can call this Kaiser Week as 3 of our factoid are related to the Kaiser auto.
As we run through the middle of the 2nd month of the year, here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids). A light week this week.
Feb 10, 1942 – Pontiac stops car production for WWII
– As you know WWII took a lot of sacrifice on many countries and their citizen and even corporations. A lot of resources were used in producing automobiles, in particular metals that could be used to produce planes and Liberty ships and ammo. That is why the U.S. government asked the car industry to halt production and assist in producing just about anything to support the war effort. Pontiac was one of the last to comply with the request. Pontiac’s main contribution? It was the 20-mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons. Check out what they could do!!!
Feb 11, 1932 – Ford announces new V8 engine
The Model A was history and the Model 18 ruled – with Ford’s new FlatHead V8 in 1932 (also referred to as the Ford Flathead or Flathead Ford or just Flatty). It lived on in the Model 40 in 1933 and 1934. It continued on the 1950’s.
1932 Flatty
Feb 12, 1908 – Start of the New York to Paris car race.
– The race route was from NYC, Albany, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Valdez Alaska, Japan, Vladivostok, Omsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin and finally Paris. It was sponsored by the New York Times and the LA MATIN (Paris news paper) and finished 169 days later.
Oczywiście, trójkołowe motocykle są świetnym rozwiązaniem dla wszystkich tych, którzy z jakiś powodów nie posiadają już pełnej swojej sprawności i nie mogą jeździć konwencjonalnym motocyklem. Skoro to stwierdzenie mamy z głowy, to co musi wydarzyć …
“The East Coast rod is a blood relation of the sports car,” the chairman said, “while the West Coast rod has the style of the dry-lakes roadster, of Bonneville and the whole Ford ‘flathead’ V8 scene, probably what most people envision when they hear …
Jay’s latest adventure takes a deep dive into hot-rodding history with this beautiful 1932 Ford Highboy roadster . But don’t pass this off as just another deuce coupe . No, this car is the deuce coupe. Jay has with him Bruce Meyer, the car’s restorer …
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the first week in Feb. 2015!!!
I think we can call this Kaiser Week as 3 of our factoid are related to the Kaiser auto manufacturing. In fact the month starts right off with Kaiser factoid.
Feb 1, 1947 – Graham-Paige sold out to Kaiser.
Beautiful Supercharged car. 1937 Graham Custom Series 120
Feb. 2, 1899 – Renault Freres incorporates.
1899 Renault Type B Coupe
1900 Renault Type C
Feb 4, 1913 – Mr. Perlman patents a demountable auto tire-carrying wheel rim.
Feb 5th was a busy day in automotive history with:
Leaded gas available in 1923 (Ethyl)
Ethyl gas. Huge collectible these days.
AMC purchases Kaiser-Jeep Corp 1970.
This wouldn’t be the last move for Jeep, soon it would become part of Chrysler and then, as it is now, part of Fiat.
Mr. John Dunlop was born in Dreghorn, England in 1846. Of course he went on to start Dunlop tires. Here’s the beginning time line from History of Dunlop Tires :
– 1888 John Boyd Dunlop’s son is struggling to ride his tricycle. He is riding it because he has a heavy cold, for which a doctor has prescribed a very unusual cure: cycling. To make the child’s ride more comfortable, Boyd fits his tricycle with tires made of canvas bonded with liquid rubber. Boyd patents what turns out to be a very big idea.
– 1889 Cyclist Willie Hume is the first to adopt Boyd’s invention for racing, winning a slew of events. It’s the start of Dunlop’s legendary run of racing success.
– 1902 Dunlop wins the grueling Paris-Vienna race.
– 1922 First Dunlop tire using steel rods and canvas casing provides triple the service life of other tires used until then.
Feb 6 – One more time for Kaiser this week as they debuts their Sliver Dragon in 1951.
The Dragon was a series in 1951 and 1953 for Kaiser (There were no Dragon’s in 1951. This one has the Continental tire package.
The color was a Mariner Gray but dubbed “Silver Dragon”. The it was called the Dragon because of the padded vinyl top looked like dragon skin (at one point it was internally called the “Dinosaur”).
Feb 7 – There were a couple of happenings on Feb 7:
– Dutch introduced the first automatic transmission – the DAF 600 in 1958. DAF was a compact family car and the Variomatic was a continuously variable transmission.
– In 1942 the U.S. Government orders passenger car production stopped and converted to wartime purpose, which wasn’t immediately accepted by all car manufacturers.
The Kaiser cars were launched in 1947 and became the only new U.S. auto to achieve success after World War II. However, production stopped in 1955. After leaving Tucker, Brown had a long career in engineering, culminating with the manufacturing firm he …
Wow it’s the end of January already. Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the last week of January 2015.
Jan 26th 1920 – Lincoln Motor Company formed.
Lincoln Motor Company was actually started in 1917 and produced Liberty engines with Ford parts for World War I. After the war they began producing luxury cars. By 1920 the company had financial issues and Ford bought the company in 1922. Ford allowed the company to operate separately until 1940.
1921 Lincoln Model ‘L’
Jan 27th 1974 – Not being able to drive 55 became against the law as President Nixon signed the national speed limit law in response to gas/oil issues.
Jan 28th 1950 – Preston Tucker was acquitted of mail fraud.
The history of the Tucker car is extremely interesting. The Tucker car was an innovation ahead of its time and offered an alternative (rear engine) to the typical cars being produced in that era. The car industry was a powerful and influential business entity generally were not interest in a start-up threatening their share of the industry. The car of the future (called the Tucker Torpedo – while under development) was produced in 1948 against insurmountable odds. Only 51 Tucker 48’s (Model 48) was produced in 1948, 47 still exist.
While dubbed “Tucker Torpedo” during production no ‘Torpedoes’ were produced.
Some Tucker Specs:
– Engine: H-6 (horizontally opposed), OHV, 335 ci (4.50 x 3.50 in. bore x stroke), 7.0:1 compression ratio, 166 bhp, 372 lbs/ft torque.
– Performance: 0-60 in 10 seconds, est. top speed 120 mph
Jan 29th 1886 – Benz developed the first gasoline (internal combustion) automobile.
Carl Benz’s Motorwagon.
The Motorwagon engine was actually built in 1885, 1886 was when Mr. Benz applied for the patent
Some specs on the Motorwagon’s power plant:
– Rear mounted horizontal engine with vertical crankshaft
– Belt primary drive and final transmission to the rear wheels by side chains
– Displaced 984cc and mustered up .9 horsepower
– Top speed was achieved at 8 mph
– Loud
– Smelly
It was a tubular chassis suspended in place by three large wheels.
Jan 30th 1958 – Rambler American debuts
This was the first car created by American Motors Company (AMC). The company was formed by the merger of Nash and Hudson. The American for 1958 was only built in a 2 door with one engine option, the 195.6 cu in (3.2 L) flathead, that producing 90 hp. There were a couple trim options the base or Deluxe and the Super.
The American was produced in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Australia and Iran.
Jan 31st was a big day in automotive history with the debut of Pontiac’s 2 door Custom Safari (1955)
Who doesn’t love a two door wagon?!?!?!?!
Rarer than the Chevy Nomad, the Safari was produced as the Star Chief Custom Safari with 3,760 made and as the Chieftan 860 “Colony” 2 door (two or three seats): 8,618 in 1955.
These sported the 287 V8 engine and were topped with 2 or 4 barrel carb.
Jan 31st Studebaker/Packard debuts the Clipper (1957)
Frankly this car was a mess! Actually it was just a Studebaker with Packard tail lights, bumper and instrument panel, fitted with stamped overlays for body panels. Referred to as Packardbaker, these were not well received. They did use the 289 (4.7 liter) engine from the Golden Hawk, which produced 275 hp. Also came in a wagon version.
The 1956-1957 Packard Clipper was the car that was supposed to mark out Clipper as a brand in itself, despite the fact that the manufacturer was going through a really rough spot that, one year later, would spell the end of …
I read a story at the time the Preston Tucker Movie was out that said they used a late 40s Studebaker as a “stand in” for the Tucker in the rollover stunt, modified to look like a Tucker. Dan Lyons says: February 23, 2013 at 8:03 …
[ ATTRIBUTE: Please check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66733752@N00/3532006434 to find out how to attribute this image ]
Turbocruiser, world’s first gas turbine bus, introduced GM Desert Proving Ground, Mesa, Ariz., established. 1961—Buick introduced first American V-6 passenger car engine. 1962—GM produced its 75,000,000th U.S.-made vehicle. Number of General Motors’ …
Today Volvo opened a new manufacturing plant and body shop at its production facility in Torslanda, Sweden, exactly 50 years after the original Volvo Torslanda plant opened on April 24, 1964. The new body shop will build the new 2015 Volvo XC90 SUV …
[ ATTRIBUTE: Please check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66733752@N00/3532006434 to find out how to attribute this image ]
