This Day In Automotive History

[SirAlec]

January 13, 1906
The first automobile show of the American Motor Car Manufacturers Association (AMCMA) opened in New York City at the 69th Regiment Armory.

January 13, 1942
On this day in 1942, Henry Ford patented a plastic-bodied automobile. The car was 30 percent lighter than ordinary cars. Plastic, a relatively new material in 1942, was revolutionizing industry after industry in the United States. Today most car bodies are still made of metal, but plastic parts are becoming more and more common.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 14, 1954
The Hudson Motor Car Company merged with Nash-Kelvinator, an automaker formed in turn by the merger of the Nash automobile firm and the Kelvinator kitchen-appliance company. The new concern was called the American Motors Corporation.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 15, 1909
A motorized hearse was used for the first time in a Chicago funeral procession by funeral director H.D. Ludlow. It was a sharp break with tradition: stately horse-drawn hearses had been in use for centuries.

January 15, 1927
The Dumbarton Bridge opened on this day, carrying the first automotive traffic across the San Francisco Bay.

January 15, 1936
Henry Ford established the Ford Foundation, a philanthropic organization, on this day. The foundation was set up partly to allow the Ford family to retain control of the Ford Motor Company after Henry Ford's death, avoiding new inheritance laws. But its charitable works were very real. At its height, the Ford Foundation had assets of $4 billion. The foundation works to promote population control and to prevent famine; to promote the arts and educational media; and to work for peace and the protection of the environment.

January 15, 1942
The first "blackout" Cadillacs were completed. Due to restrictions on materials necessary to the war effort, these cars had painted trim rather than chrome. They also lacked spare tires and other luxuries.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 16, 1913
The first closed car for four passengers was introduced by Frank Duryea at the Stanley Motor Show. All earlier cars had open cabs, or convertible tops. Frank Duryea and his brother, Charles, built the first American-made automobile in 1893. Duryea was one of the best-known names in automobile manufacturing into the early 1900s.

January 16, 1953
The Chevrolet Corvette was introduced as a show car at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The car became an American classic almost instantly. Its sporty fiberglass body didn't look like anything else on the road. Although some car buffs criticized the sportscar for being underpowered, that didn't stop Corvettes from speeding off the showroom floors.

Chevy Corvette unveiling at Waldorf-Astoria Hotel

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
GM Photo Store

[SirAlec]

January 17, 1899
Camille Jenatzy captured the land speed record in an electric car of his own design: 41.425mph at Acheres Park, France. On the same day, however, previous record holder Gaston Chasseloup-Laubat raised the record again, posting a speed of 43.690mph in an electric Jeantaud automobile. The feud wasn't over yet. Jenatzy took the record again 10 days later, on January 27. Chasseloup-Laubat took it back on March 4, and Jenatzy reclaimed the record on April 29, the last time an electric car held the speed record. Until 1963, all other land-speed records were set by steam or internal-combustion power. In 1963, Craig Breedlove took the land-speed record in a jet-powered car, and all record-holding cars since then have been propelled by jet or rocket engines.

January 17, 1949
The first Volkswagen Beetle in the U.S. arrived from Germany. The little Volkswagen was a sturdy vehicle designed by Ferdinand Porsche at the request of Adolf Hitler. The car was meant to be a durable workhorse car for the common German man. After the defeat of the Nazi government in Germany, the VW Beetle remained a popular car, and its reputation for affordable reliability made it a profitable export.

January 17, 1964
The first Porsche Carrera GTS, a lasting favorite in the world of luxury sports cars, was delivered to a Los Angeles customer.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 18, 1919
Bentley Motors was established in London, England. A manufacturer of sports cars and luxury automobiles, Bentley was acquired by Rolls-Royce in November, 1931. From that point forward, the Bentley line acquired more and more features of the Rolls-Royce, until the two makes became nearly indistinguishable.

January 18, 1952
The Willys-Overland Company, the primary contractor that built the Jeep for the U.S. military during World War II, reentered the commercial automobile market on this day. It offered the Willys Aero, a sporty two-seater.

Bentley's winged "B" badge and hood ornament.


Willys Aero

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 19, 1954
General Motors announced a $1 billion plan to expand its automobile operation. GM, like other major auto makers, had deep pockets due to the postwar boom in car sales, though sales were slackening in 1953.

January 19, 1955
The Cadillac Park Avenue show car was displayed at the New York Motorama in Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The Park Avenue served as the prototype for the lavish Eldorado Brougham, a costly car boasting every conceivable extra.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 20, 1946
The first Kaiser-Frazer automobiles were introduced at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was formed after World War II by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and Joseph W. Frazer, president of the Graham-Paige Motor Company. They produced several successful cars, most notably the 1951 Kaiser two-door. In 1953, however, the company was renamed the Kaiser Motors Corporation, and soon abandoned the passenger car business in favor of manufacturing commercial and military vehicles.

January 20, 1971
The Jaguar XJ13 prototype was displayed in Lindley, England, by British Leyland, the automotive conglomerate that included Jaguar at that time. The XJ13 was destined to become the next luxury Jaguar, but bad luck changed its destiny: the prototype car was wrecked on its first test run by test-driver Norman Dewis, ending the XJ13 development program. The ruined car was kept and later restored by the company.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 21, 1899
In 1898, the five Opel brothers began converting the sewing machine and appliance factory of Adam Opel into an automobile works in Russelheim, Germany. On this day in 1899, they acquired the rights to the Lutzmann automobile, and began production. The Opel-Lutzmann was soon abandoned, and in 1902, Opel introduced its first original car, a 2-cylinder runabout. In the decades that followed, Opel became one of the premier forces in the European automobile industry, modernizing its factories relentlessly and adopting the continuous-motion assembly line before its European competitors. Today, Opel is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors. It produces about a quarter of all German cars, and exports heavily to South America and Africa.

January 21, 1954
General Motors introduced the Firebird XP-21 show car, the world's first gas-turbine powered car. It was named in imitation of the U.S. military's experimental jet-powered aircraft, which had code numbers like XP-59A.

Mr. Earl (designer), Mauri Rose (test driver) & the Firebird

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 22, 1904
Buick Motor Co. Of Detroit dissolved.

January 22, 1950
Throughout the twentieth century, independent automobile manufacturers have fallen again and again before the industrial power of the "Big Three"--Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. Most often, these independent firms are swallowed, bought up, like Nash, Austin, Studebaker, Hudson, Packard, and many others. The story of Preston Tucker is a little darker. Tucker was a Chicago businessman who built 50 extraordinary automobiles in 1947 and 1948. His cars had many modern amenities and remarkable horsepower. But he was indicted on 31 counts of fraud; and as he fought for his freedom in court, his company failed. On this day in 1950, Preston Tucker was cleared of all fraud charges against him. But it was too little, too late. The Tucker automobile was history. Many believe that the legal actions against Tucker were sponsored by the Big Three auto makers, who feared his competition.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 23, 1912
William E. Stephens, of Chicago. IL, received a patent for an "Automobile Horn"; multiple-pipe horn powered by engine exhaust that played chord like a church organ, assigned to Aeromore Manufacturing Company.

January 23, 2006
William Clay Ford, CEO of Ford Motor Company, announced company's turnaround plan, called "Way Forward" (second time in four years Ford has restructured its North American auto division): 1) closing 14 plants (reduces North American production capacity by 1.2 million, or 26 percent, by 2008), 2) eliminating 30,000 jobs in the next six years, a quarter of Ford's North American workforce, 3) cutting at least $6 billion in annual costs by 2010 (Ford reported losses in North America for five of the past six quarters; hurt by: decreased sales of sport utility vehicles, increased health care and materials costs, increased competition and labor contracts that limit plant closures and job cuts, 10 straight years of U.S. market-share losses - 18.6% of the U.S. market in 2005, down from 25.7% a decade earlier, U.S. sales have dropped by more than 1 million units annually since 1999), 2003 - Toyota passed Ford as the world's No. 2 automaker.


Aermore Exhaust Horn

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 24, 1860
French inventor Etienne Lenoir was issued a patent for the first successful internal-combustion engine. Lenoir's engine was a converted steam engine that burned a mixture of coal gas and air. Its two-stroke action was simple but reliable--many of Lenoir's engines were still working after 20 years of use. His first engines powered simple machines like pumps and bellows. However, in 1862, Lenoir built his first automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine--a vehicle capable of making a six-mile trip in two to three hours. It wasn't a practical vehicle, but it was the beginning of the automobile industry.

January 24, 1907
In Ormond Beach, Florida, Glenn Curtiss, an engineer who got his start building motors for bicycles, set an unofficial land-speed record on a self-built V-8 motorcycle on this day: 136.29mph. No automobile surpassed that speed until 1911. In 1907, four years after the Wilbur and Orville Wright accomplished the first successful airplane at Kitty Hawk, Curtiss established the Curtiss Aeroplane Company, the first airplane manufacturing company in the United States. In the next year, the "June Bug," an aircraft powered by a Curtiss engine, won the Scientific American Trophy for the first flight in the U.S. covering one kilometer. In 1909, Curtiss, piloting his own planes, won major flying events in Europe and America. Over the next five years, Curtiss continued to be an innovator in airplane design, and in January of 1911, built and demonstrated the world's first seaplane for the U.S. Navy.

January 24, 1924
Kingsford, Michigan, the Ford Motor Company's planned community, was incorporated as a village. The company owned large tracts of timber in the area, which were used to produce wooden auto-body panels like those commonly seen on its station wagons in later decades.

Glenn Curtiss

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 25, 1905
Arthur MacDonald of Great Britain set a new land speed record of 149.875mph at Daytona Beach, Florida.

January 25, 1991
The United States Postal Service issued a four-cent stamp commemorating the Dudgeon Steam Wagon, a steam-powered vehicle built in 1866 by steam pioneer Richard Dudgeon. Scottish-born Dudgeon completed his first steam wagon in 1857, and with the exception of its steering mechanism, the vehicle was essentially a steam locomotive, complete with a smokestack and exposed cylinders at the forward end of its boiler. The vehicle, capable of holding 10 passengers, was exhibited in New York City's Crystal Palace, where it was destroyed in October of 1857 when the Palace was leveled by fire. In 1866, Dudgeon built a second steam-powered vehicle similar to his 1857 prototype. However, unlike the first, this vehicle survived and is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Artist Richard Schlecht commemorated Dudgeon's creation in a 1991 U.S. stamp.

Dudgeon Steam Wagon stamp

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 26, 1906
American driver Fred Marriott set a new land speed record of 127.659mph in his steam-powered "Wogglebug" at Ormond Beach, Florida. It was the last time that a steam-powered vehicle would claim a new land speed record.

January 26, 1920
The Lincoln Motor Car Company was founded on this day. It was acquired by the Ford Motor Company just two years later. Under Ford's protective wing, the Lincoln brand name flourished, and the Lincoln Continental would become one of the world's most famous luxury cars.

January 26, 1979
The Dukes of Hazzard, a prime-time television action/comedy show, aired for the first time on this day. The show starred John Schneider and Tom Wopat as the mischievous Duke cousins, two "good old boys," who tangled with the crooked law enforcement officers of Hazzard County every week. However, the real star of the show was their car, "The General Lee," a 1969 Dodge Charger with a bright orange paint job and a Confederate flag on its roof. The car was a suitable choice: Dodge Chargers won 22 of the 54 major NASCAR races in 1969. The Dukes of Hazzard ran for seven seasons. A Dukes of Hazzard movie, starring pop singer Jessica Simpson, was released in 2005.

Dukes of Hazzard title card



General Lee, 1969 Dodge Charger

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

January 27, 1899
Frenchman Camille Jenatzy captured the land-speed record (49.932 miles per hour) in a battery-powered automobile of his own design.

January 27, 1904
American racer William K. Vanderbilt set a new land-speed record of 76.086mph in a gasoline-driven Mors automobile at Ablis, France. It was the first major speed record to be set by an internal-combustion car. All previous records had been set by steam- and battery-powered cars.

William Kissam Vanderbilt

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia