This Day In Automotive History

[SirAlec]

June 10th 1947
Saab introduced its first car, the model 92001, the Ursaab prototype. Saab had been primarily a supplier of military aircraft before and during World War II. With the end of the war, company executives realized the need to diversify the company's production capabilities. After an exhaustive planning campaign that at one point led to the suggestion that Saab manufacture toasters, But company executives decided to start building motor cars. Saab director Sven Otterbeck placed aircraft engineer Gunnar Ljungstrom in charge of creating the company's first car.



June 10th 1954
General Motors announced its research staff had built the GM Turbocruiser, a modifed GMC coach powered by a gas turbine; engine consisted of a single burner with two turbine wheels (one used to drive the centrifugal compressor, second delivered power for the transmission to the rear wheels of the vehicle).

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

Saab 92001, The Ursaab

[SirAlec]

June 11th 1895
Charles E. Duryea received a patent for a "Road Vehicle", first US patent granted to an American inventor for a gasoline-driven automobile.

June 11th 1939
Racer Jackie Stewart, popularly know as the Flying Scotsman was born in Dumbarton, Scotland.

June 11th 1994
TOYOTA Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology was Established on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of Toyota Motor Corporation.

Jackie Stewart


TOYOTA Commemorative Museum

[SirAlec]

June 12th 1952
Maurice Olley, Chevrolet's chief engineer, completed chassis, code-named Opel, for eventual use in 1953 Corvette.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

June 13th 1978
Ford Motor Company Chairman, Henry Ford II, fired Lee Iaccoca, the mustang designer, from the position of president, ending a bitter personal struggle between the two men.

[Brabus E V12]

June 13th 1980

Markus Winkelhock (born June 13, 1980 in Stuttgart Germany was a German Formula One driver.

Winkelhock is the only driver in Formula One history to start last on the grid and lead the race in his first Grand Prix, and due to the red flag and restart, is also the only driver in Formula One history to start both last and first on the grid in the same Grand Prix.

[SirAlec]

June 14th 1928
Leon Duray drove his Miller 91 Packard Cable Special to a world close-coursed speed record, recording an astonishing top speed of 148.173mph, at the Packard Proving Ground in Utica, Michigan. Two weeks earlier, Duray had posted a record lap of 124mph at the Indy 500, a record that stood for 10 years until the track was banked.

[SirAlec]

June 15th 1924
Ford Motor Company manufactured its 10 millionth Model T automobile.

June 15th 1937
Harold T. Ames, of Chicago, IL, chief executive of Duesenberg, received a patent for a "Headlight Structure"; retractable headlamps (defining detail on Cord 810).

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
model-t-restore.com

[SirAlec]

June 16th 1917
Harry Miller completed the Golden Submarine, the first of his expensive custom-made race cars that would change the shape of things to come in American auto racing. The Golden Submarine carried an unimaginable ticket price of $15,000 at its completion. Its gold color was the result of a combination of lacquer and bronze dust. Built for Barney Oldfield, America's most brash race-car driver, the Golden Submarine had an enclosed cockpit. Oldfield, who helped design the car, thought the closed cockpit would make the car safer if it rolled; he'd lost his close friend, Bob Burman, in a crash the year before. The Golden Submarine was the first American race car to possess an all electrically welded steel chassis. Also unique to the sub was the liberal use of aluminum in engine and body components. The engine--the component that would later define Miller's career--contained four cylinders and a single overhead cam. It put out 130hp at 290 cubic inches of piston displacement, and, most remarkable for its time, it only weighed 410 pounds. Consider that the car's competition carried engines that produced around 300hp at over 400 cubic inches of piston displacement.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
philspeed.com

[SirAlec]

June 17th 1903
Ford Motor Company was organized with capital of $28,000 and Ford's patents, knowledge and engine, John S. Gray was elected as President and Henry Ford as Vice President. Primary stockholders were Henry Ford, Alexander Malcomson, John W. Anderson, C.H. Bennett, James Couzens, Horace E. Dodge, John F. Dodge, Vernon C. Fry, John S. Gray, Horace H. Rackham, Albert Strelow and Charles J. Woodall.

June 17th 1923
On this day, Enzo Ferrari, who would go on to an historic career as a driver for Alpha Romeo before being put in charge of their racing division, won his first race, a 166-mile event at the Circuito del Savio in Ravenna, Italy.

June 17th 1962
Scotch racer Jim Clark won his first Formula One Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. Clark would go on to one of the most storied careers in F1 history. His 1965 season is his crowning achievement as the sport's most dominant racer. Clark led every lap of every race he competed in, and he became the first Briton to win the Indy 500. Clark died in a tragic accident in a Formula Two race in Germany.

June 17th 1990
"Handsome" Harry Gant became the oldest driver to win a Winston Cup race when he won the Miller Genuine Draft 500 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, at the age of 50 years, 158 days.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

June 18th 1923
The first Checker cab was produced by the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company. The Checker name came from a Chicago cab company that in 1920 began buying cars manufactured by the Commonwealth Motor Company.

18 June 1936
Denis Clive "Denny" Hulme, New Zealand car racer and the 1967 Formula One World Champion for the Brabham team was born in Moteuka, New Zealand.


1982 Checker Cab


Denis Clive "Denny" Hulme

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
checkertaxistand.com

[SirAlec]

June 19th 1949
NASCAR staged its first Grand National event at the Charlotte Fairgrounds, the event marked the birth of NASCAR racing as we know it today.

June 19, 1940
Shirley Muldowney, the "First Lady of Drag Racing" was born in Schenectady, New York. She was the first woman to receive a licence to drive a top fuel dragster by the NHRA. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980 and 1982.

June 19th 1965
Luc Donckerwolke, famous Belgian car designer was born in Lima, Peru. He started his design career in 1990 with Peugeot. He also worked for Skoda (1994-98 where he helped design Octavia and Fabia. After that he shifted to Audi where he helped design Audi A4 and R8. He was head of design at Lamborghini from 1998, where he was responsible for the 2001 Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0, 2002 Lamborghini Murciélago and 2003 Lamborghini Gallardo, winning the 'Red Dot Award' in 2003 in recognition for his work on them. He also worked with Walter de'Silva to produce the 2006 Lamborghini Miura concept. In September 2005, Donckerwolke was appointed SEAT Design Director overseeing the design of future SEAT models.

Luc Donckerwolke


Shirley Muldowney

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
dragracecentral.com

[SirAlec]

June 20th 1945
Shekhar Mehta, the only five-time winner of the Safari Rally, was born in Uganda. The most grueling rally race in the world, the Safari originated in 1953 at the behest of the Royal East African Automobile Association. He was born in 1945 to an Indian family of plantation owners in Uganda, and began rallying behind the wheel of a BMW aged 21. In 1972 he and his family fled Idi Amin's regime to Kenya.
Through the most successful period of his career he drove Nissan/Datsun 240Z car.

June 20th 1987
First Junior Go-Kart race was run at the three-quarter-mile cross-country course outside of Easton, Maryland. Racer William Smith won this event in his 50cc Yamaha Green Dragon.

Shekar Mehta


Nissan 240Z, which is still in the exact state in nissan warehouse in Japan

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

June 21 1947
The first postwar Mille Miglia began in Brescia, Italy. The Mille Miglia was originally conceived by Aymo Maggi in 1927, who gained the approval of the Fascist government in Rome to run a road race from Brescia to Rome and back, over Italian roads. The course was plotted for 1,000 miles. Italian drivers, racing primarily for Alfa Romeo, dominated the early years of the Mille Miglia.

June 21 1947
William Clay Ford married Martha Firestone, uniting two of the greatest fortunes in the American automotive industry. Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone had been close friends and allies during their lives after Firestone received the exclusive contract to supply tires for Ford's Model T. Neither man lived to see the union of their families.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
ford.com

PS: Posting it in advance, will be travelling for three days. Thanks

[SirAlec]

June 22nd 1915
Joseph Lewinka, of Philadelphia, PA, received a patent for an "Automobile-Body"; design.

June 22nd 1934
Ferdinand Porsche contracted with Automobile Manufacturers Association of Germany (RDA) to build three prototype "people's cars". The contract was a direct result of Hitler's personal request to Porsche that he design such a car.

Nazi Ad. from c.1939 says "Five mark a week you must put aside - If in your own car you want to ride!"

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia

[SirAlec]

June 23rd 1951
Michèle Mouton was born in Grasse, France. She is the most successful and well-known female rally driver of all time, as well as arguably the most successful female in motor racing as a whole. She was the first and so far the only woman to win a round of the World Rally Championship, the Rallye Sanremo in 1981.

June 23rd 1991
Bertrand Gachot, Johnny Herbert, and Volker Wiedler won the 24-Hours of Le Mans driving a Mazda. It was the first time an automaker outside of Western Europe had won the prestigious title.The 1991 Mazda was also the first car to win Le Mans with a Wankel rotary engine. The engine consisted of four rotors with three sequential spark plugs per rotor. The Mazda drove 4,923 kilometers at an average speed of 295kmh.

Michèle Mouton with her Audi Quatro S1

1991 Le Mans winner Mazda 787B

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
www.fd3s.net/787B