This Day In Automotive History

[SirAlec]

May 10th 1841
James Gordon Bennett Jr., publisher of the New York Herald and one of the very first sponsor and patron of auto racing (Gordon Bennett Cup Races) was born in New York City.

May 10th 1923
Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. elected GM president, Chairman of Executive Committee.

May 10th 1975
Hélio Castroneves, a two time Indy500 race car driver was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

Gordon Bennet Cup trophy..

Hélio Castroneves

[SirAlec]

May 11th 1916
Charles Kettering and Edward Deeds agreed to sell their Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, famously known as DELCO to the United Motors Corporation, a holding company of William C. Durant at a record $9 million. Delco was responsible for several innovations in automobile electric systems, including the first battery ignition system and the first practical automobile self starter.

May 11th 1947
Ferrari made its independent racing debut at a race in Piacenza, Italy. Enzo Ferrari had been designing race cars for Alpha Romeo since the late 1920s, After the WWII he decided to start his own brand. His debut car Tipo 125 featured a revolutionary V12 engine and way ahead of time but failed to finish due to fuel pump error. Still during the season he made and sold 3 Tipos. He adopted the now famous prancing horse logo in honour of Italian World War I ace Enrico Baracca, who used the logo on his fighter plane. Interesting thing about Enzo is that he manufactured and sold his cars to fullfill his racing hobby.

[SirAlec]

May 12th 1847
William Clayton invented the odometer. During his trip across the plains from Missouri to Utah he was assigned to record the number of miles the company traveled each day. Clayton with the help of mathematecian Orson Pratt tired counting the revolutions of a wagon wheel and computing the day's distance by multiplying the count by the wheel's circumference. After consulting with Pratt, he developed a design consisting of a set of wooden cog wheels attached to the hub of a wagon wheel, with the mechanism "counting" or recording by position the revolutions of the wheel. The apparatus was built by the company's carpenter Appleton Milo Harmon.

May 12th 1957
Alfonso de Portago fataly crashed his Ferrari during the Mili Miglia. He, his co-driver Edmund Nelson along with nine spectators were killed when his tire blew. Among the dead were five children. This accident also resulted in a long trial for Ferrari team owner Enzo Ferrari.

May 12th 1973
Art Portland, an american race car driver died during the practice session for the 1973 Indianapolis 500.

[SirAlec]

May 13th 1980
Douglas A. Fraser, president of the UAW, named to Chrysler Corporation Board of Directors, first union representative ever to sit on board of major U.S. corporation; 1982 - faced with Chrysler's imminent collapse, Fraser traded millions of dollars in union guarantees (to save jobs) for options on Chrysler stock; Chrysler turnaround rewarded union.

[SirAlec]

May 15th 1942
United States began gasoline rationing.

May 15th 1981
The 20,000,000th Volkswagen Beetle was produced at the Volkswagen plant in Puebla, Mexico.

May 15th 1982
Gordon Smiley, an american race car driver was killed in Indianapolis Speedway

May15th 1986
Elio de Angelis an Italian F1 racer was killed during testing at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet

May 15th 1992
Edward Jovy Marcelo, a Filipino race car driver from Quezon City, Philippines was killed in practice for the 1992 Indianapolis 500.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

Images courtesy:
sebeetles.com

[SirAlec]

May 16th 1903
George Wyman became the first motorcyclist to make a transcontinental trip across America. In fact, he was the first ever to make the trip by means of a motorized vehicle. Wyman’s trip was made on a 1.25-horsepower, 90cc California motorcycle designed by Roy Marks. Wyman’s arduous journey, which started in San Francisco on May 16, took 50 days and ended in New York City on July 6.
PS: not to be confused with a 19th century architect of the same name.

May 16th 1956
General Motors opens its brand-new $125 million GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. Today, the GM Technical Center is one of the landmarks of twentieth-century architecture. A $1 billion dollar renovation of the GM Technical Center was completed in 2003.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
Motorcycle Hall of Fame
motoredbikes.com

[SirAlec]

May 17th 1868
Horace Elgin Dodge, automobile manufacturing pioneer was born in Niles, Michigan.

May 17th 1890
Emile Levassor married Louise Sarazin, the widow of Edouard Sarazin and the French distributor of Daimler engines. The marriage set the stage for Levassor's business venture, Panhard et Levassor, which would use Daimler engines in its cars. Emile, France's premier car racer before the turn of the century, set an early record by driving from Paris to Bordeaux and back at an average of 14.9mph in 1895. His cutting-edge Panhard had a 2.4 liter engine and produced only 4hp. After two years of development Levassor's Daimler engine was capable of pushing the lightweight, wood-framed Panhard to over 70mph.

May 17th 1994
Al Unser Sr. announced his retirement from auto racing, ending one of the greatest Indy Car careers of all time.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

Horace Elgin Dodge


Al Unser Sr.

[SirAlec]

May 18th 1958
The Lotus made its F1 debut at the Monaco Grand Prix with Cliff Allison finishing in fifth place. The Lotus Engineering Company was founded by Colin Chapman in 1952 as a result of Chapman's great success in building and racing trial cars. Currently Lotus is owned by Proton, a Malaysia based car company.

Colin Chapman


Chapman Special



Lotus Logo

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
F1 Hall of Fame

Image Courtesy:
ddavid.com

[SirAlec]

May 19th 1903
Clarence Spicer received a patent for a "Casing for Universal Joints"; first practical universal joint to power automobile (vs. chain-and-sprocket drives

May 19th 1903
David Dunbar Buick, former plumbing inventor and manufacturer, incorporated Buick Motor Co. (formed in 1902) in Detroit, Michigan.

May19th 1928
Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus Cars was born in the suburb of London.

May19th 1991
Willy T. Ribbs became the first African-American driver to qualify for the Indy 500.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

May 20th 1899
Jacob German, operator of a taxicab for the Electric Vehicle Company, became the first driver to be arrested for speeding when he was stopped by Bicycle Roundsman Schueller for driving at the speed of 12mph on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. German was booked and held in jail at the East Twenty-second Street station house. He was, of course, not made to hand over his license and registration, as neither item was required until two years later in the State of New York.

May 20th 1961
The Ford Motor Company completed a highly modified stretch Lincoln Continental convertible sedan for the U.S. Secret Service to be used as a presidential limousine. It was modified by Hess & Eisenhardt Company. The limo, later known as the SS-100-X, carried President John F. Kennedy down Elm Street in Dallas, Texas, when he was assassinated in 1963.


May 20th 1971
Anthony Wayne "Tony" Stewart, a NASCAR driver was born in Columbus, Indiana.

May 20th 1973
Jarno Karl Keimo Saarinen, a Finnish Grand Prix motorcycle racer died during the fourth Moto GP season in Monza, Italy. A crash during the 350cc race left an oil slick on the track which the Race officials had failed to clean it properly between races. On the opening lap of the 250cc race, track marshals didn't wave the yellow and red stripe oil flag warning riders of the oil slicked surface. The race leader, Renzo Pasolini fell in front of Saarinen, who was in second place. He couldn't avoid the fallen rider and the resulting crash caused a multiple rider pile up. In all, 14 riders were embroiled in the mayhem that resulted. When the dust cleared, Jarno and Pasolini laid dead with many other riders seriously injured.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
jfklancer.com

Lincoln SS-100-X

Equatorial Guinea postage stamp of Saarinen

[SirAlec]

May 21st 1901
Connecticut became the first state to enact a speeding-driver law. The State General Assembly passed a bill submitted by Representative Robert Woodruff that stipulated the speed of all motor vehicles should not exceed 12mph on country highways and eight mph within city limits.

May 21st 1950
Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentenian auto racer won the Monaco Grand Prix in an Alfa Romeo 158, the victory was the first of the 24-Grand Prix victories in his illustrious Formula One career.

May 21st 2003
Alejandro de Tomaso an Argentenian racing driver and car maker died in Modena Italy. He participated in two F1 races winning no points but was a very sucessful car maker. He founded the Italian sports car company De Tomaso Automobili in 1959, and later built up a substantial business empire. Even Elvis Presly was fan of his car and owned himself a yellow one.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

May 22nd 1921
Racer Marshall Teague was born in Daytona Beach, Florida. Teague was one of NASCAR's earliest heroes. Racing Hudson Hornets equipped with revolutionary step-down chassis, Teague won five races in 1951 alone.

May 22nd 1977
Janet Guthrie became the first female to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. However she failed to finish the 1977 race due to mechanical troubles.


May 22nd 2001
Ford Motor Co. announced plans to spend more than $2 billion to replace up to 13 million Firestone tires on its vehicles because of safety concerns and numeous law suits.

[SirAlec]

May 23rd 1934
Clyde Champion Barrow and Bonnie Parker the infamous outlaw couple were shot to death by Texas and Louisiana state police officers as they attempted to escape apprehension in a stolen 1934 Ford V-8 FORDOR seadan near Bienville Parish, Louisiana. The car is currently on display on the lobby of Primm Valley Resort & Casino in Primm, Nevada along with other relics of Bonny and Clyde.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
fbi.gov
texashideout.tipod.com

The bullet riddled car

The car on display at Primm Valley Resort lobby

Tech Specs

[SirAlec]

May 24th 1899
W. T. McCullough, of Boston opened first public garage, Back Bay Cycle and Motor Company, as a "stable for renting, sale, storage, and repair of motor vehicles."

May 24th 1903
Marcel Renault, age 31, and his riding mechanic Vauthier, were killed in a crash during the Paris-to-Madrid Race. After another deadly crash, the race was canceled at the end of the first leg from Paris to Bordeaux, and the era of city-to-city races came to an end.

May 24th 1938
The very first patent was received for a "Coin Controlled Parking Meter" by Carl C. Magee of Dual Parking Meter Company of Oklahoma City

May 24th 1987
Al Unser Sr. won his fourth Indianapolis 500 driving the year-old March-Cosworth car. At 47 years and 360 days old, Al became the oldest winner in the event's history.

An early parking meter

[SirAlec]

May 25th 1898
Elwood Haynes and Elmer Apperson organized the Haynes-Apperson Company in Kokomo, Indiana. Credited with having built America's first gas-powered car for much of his lifetime, Elwood Haynes was one of the most brilliant inventors in the early car industry. The Haynes-Apperson Company was his first foray into the mass production of cars. Together, the pair expected to manufacture 50 cars per year. Most famous as a metallurgist, Haynes was the first man to outfit his cars with all-aluminum engines, and to build his car bodies of nickel-plated steel. Haynes and Apperson shocked the world when they fulfilled the terms of a buyer's agreement by delivering their car from Kokomo to New York City. It was the first 1,000-mile car trip undertaken in the United States.

May 25th 1927
Ford Motor Company announced end of Model T and its replacement by Model A.

May 25th 1985
The Charlotte Motor Speedway, a k a the Mecca of Motorsports, held its first race. The Speedway, and the city of Charlotte itself, are symbols of the new era of NASCAR racing.

1916 Haynes on display at the Central Texas Museum of Automotive History.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
Smithsonian Institution