This day in History

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Offline Shermatt

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This day in History
« on: April 11, 2013, 09:57:08 pm »
Been posting these for a while and thought Id share them on the forum. Some interesting people and some great history

Feel free to add your own


On this day, April 10th 1879,

Sandor Hertz—the future John Hertz, the man behind what will one day be the world’s largest car-rental company—is born in present-day Slovakia.

Hertz immigrated to America with his family as a child and grew up in Chicago. In 1915, he founded the Yellow Cab Company in Chicago as a means of providing affordable transportation to average citizens.






On this day April 11 1888,

24-year-old Henry Ford marries Clara Jane Bryant on her 22nd birthday at her parent's home in Greenfield Township, Michigan. Clara Ford would prove to be a big supporter of her husband's business ideas: Fifty years later, Henry Ford--who by then had founded the Ford Motor Company, invented the top-selling Model T car and revolutionized the auto industry with his mass-production technology--was quoted in a 1938 New York Times Magazine article as saying, "The greatest day of my life is when I married Mrs. Ford."


Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2013, 09:27:45 pm »
On this day, April 12th 1888, Cecil Kimber, founder of the British sports car company MG, is born in England.
In 1921, Kimber went to work for British auto tycoon William Morris. A year later, he was made general manager of Morris Garages, the Oxford, England-based distributor of Morris autos. Kimber soon began selling customized Morris cars, lowering the chassis and fitting sportier bodywork, and by 1924, these small, high-performance sports cars bore the now-famous octagonal MG logo. By 1929, the MG Car Company was headquartered in Abingdon, England.
Contrary to popular belief, “Old Number One” was not the first car Cecil Kimber built. It was however, the first car referred to as an M.G. (pictured below)




Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2013, 07:49:05 pm »
On this day, April 13, 1970, disaster strikes 200,000 miles from Earth when oxygen tank No. 2 blows up on Apollo 13, the third manned lunar landing mission. Astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise had left Earth two days before for the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon but were forced to turn their attention to simply making it home alive.

Mission commander Lovell reported to mission control on Earth: "Houston, we've had a problem here," and it was discovered that the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water had been disrupted. The landing mission was aborted, and the astronauts and controllers on Earth scrambled to come up with emergency procedures. The crippled spacecraft continued to the moon, circled it, and began a long, cold journey back to Earth.





On April 13, 1964 over 125 media folks gathered at the Ford Pavilion at New York World’s Fair to preview one special car on display. Back then the Ford Motor Company’s Vice President was Lee Iacocca, he delivered a speech to discuss a car that would appeal to younger drivers born after World War II. This was the day that the 1965 Ford Mustang was unveiled to the media. The new pony car officially went on sales four days later and became an instant success selling more than 22,000 units that opening weekend and 420,000 in its first year.

Here is Lee Iacocca’s speech word for word on the day of April 13, 1964. It is amazing when you realize that this is just a few months shy of reaching 50 years old.
In the words of Lee Iacocca in 1964:

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to one of the proudest moments of our lives.

We appreciate you coming here to share this moment with us. And we are particularly pleased to have this beautiful setting for one of the most important occasions in Ford Division history.

 Incidentally, I might point out that you are participating today in Ford’s first International Press Introduction of the automobile. Here in New York, we have newsmen from Canada and Puerto Rico, as well as the United States. And, while we meet here, the Mustang is being introduced to press, radio and TV newsmen in eleven European capitals. Some 2,000 reporters, editors and photographers…like yourselves…are attending Mustang showings in Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Austria, and Portugal.

From the beginning, the Mustang has been an exciting venture for all of us. We haven’t been able to contain our excitement entirely – with the result – I’m happy to say – that the public has caught some of our fever. We hope it’s highly contagious.

We can’t think of any product we have introduced – certainly in recent years, at least – that has generated more interest than the Mustang. People in every state, from as far away as England, Malta and Australia, have written to ask for more information about the car, and many were ready to order it sight unseen!

For instance, one man wrote from Virginia:

"Are you going to build it? If so, when? I am ready to order.”

A cadet at the Air Force Academy wanted one for his first day as a first classman.

A high school youngster from Louisiana promised to start a Mustang fan club. He wrote: “It’s better than Elvis or the Beatles.”

One customer we may have to disappoint. He wants a Mustang provided we can install a 427 high-performance engine in it. We’ve forwarded his name to Project Mercury at Cape Kennedy.

There isn’t much point in my standing here and reading a Mustang spec sheet to you, because the specifications are covered in considerable detail in the press packets we have for you. But I would like to hit a few high spots to try to put the Mustang into perspective as we see it.

First, the Mustang is a completely new line of cars – separate and distinct from Ford, Fairlane, Falcon and Thunderbird. Starting with public introduction on Friday, Ford Division will offer five lines of passenger cars instead of four.

Second, the Mustang will be available in two-door hardtop and convertible models, with probably the longest list of options and accessories ever offered on a new line of cars. It will have two front bucket seats, a bench-type rear seat, and a rear luggage compartment.

Third, the Mustang will have an astonishingly low price – so low we plan to introduce it with an intensive campaign of price advertising. The Detroit suggested retail price for a two-door Mustang hardtop with standard equipment…delivered at a Detroit dealership…will be just 2,368 dollars!

Fourth, the Mustang will be built at two assembly plants – Dearborn, Michigan, and San Jose, California.

Fifth, our introductory program for the Mustang will be one of the most extensive on record. We will run Mustang announcement ads in 2,600 newspapers reaching 75 per cent of the households in the country, and in 24 top magazines with a combined circulation of 68 million.

Beyond that, we believe we have lined up a television introduction unlike any other ever attempted. On Thursday evening of this week, we will sponsor three half-hour shows simultaneously on the three major networks from 9:30 to 10 p.m. eastern standard time. We expect to show the Mustang on TV screens in more than half the homes in the country – an estimated 29 million.

Finally, we plan to fit the Mustang into our program of participation in public performance events. We’ll use it in such famous road rallies as the Midnight Sun in Sweden, the Alpine in France, and the Spa-Sofia-Liege between Belgium and Yugoslavia.

We don’t claim the Mustang as a universal car, or that it can be all things to all people. But we do believe the Mustang will be more things to more people than any other automobile on the road.

The secret lies in its remarkable versatility. For a modest price it can be an economical compact car with traditional Ford quality and all the flair of a high-priced, highly styled European road car. For a little less modest price, customers can buy high performance to match the flair. The Mustang straddles price brackets in a way that will enable buyers to position it for themselves, depending on their individual needs, wants and pocketbooks.

According to Ward’s Automotive Reports, the Mustang is the 15th all-new car introduced by the industry since the coming of the compacts in the fall of 1959. We have watched the compact and intermediate markets closely, and fortunately have done rather well in it. Through last month, our 1964 model production of Falcons accounted for the highest production among any of the new compacts and intermediate cars, and our Fairlane ranked number three. The Comet, produced by our sister division, established its highest March production in history last month and is headed for a new April record.

Almost from the beginning of compact car production in this country, customers have shown a preference for sporty cars. They ordered hardtops, and then asked for convertibles even before they were available. And, they are still going for hardtops and convertibles. Through February, 1964 model production of convertibles and hardtops in the Ford, Fairland, Falcon, and Thunderbird lines, accounted for 39 percent of total production in those lines – up from 30 percent for the same period last year. I might add that those body styles are built to customer order.

From the outset, compact car customers have wanted bucket seats, deluxe trim packages, high-performance engines, four-on-the-floor stick shifts, and just about every other option we could devise. Customer wanted the basic economical compacts, to be sure. But they also wanted to be able to dress them up to suit their own individual tastes. The compact car market reflected the flavor of youth – young America out to have a good time.

We designed the Mustang with young America in mind. We like to think that in the process we have achieved a new dimension in American motoring – perhaps in the world of motoring. We offer some significant mechanical and functional innovations – particularly in the area of weight control. We believe we have succeeded in wrapping up…in one package…all the elements of what we call “total performance.” Best of all, we offer the package at a modest price.

In essence, the Mustang is not one car, but three.

First, it is a basic economy car, and with its back seat is particularly suited for the young married car with two children. It is also a leading candidate for a second or third car for larger families.

Second, the Mustang is a luxury car. The wide range of options permits a customer to start at a low price for the standard package, and then add such items as automatic transmission, power brakes and steering, a full-length console between the front bucket seats, a vinyl roof on the hardtop, air conditioning, and so forth.

Finally, it is a sports car suitable for street use or competition. In addition to its sporty console, we offer as optional equipment a Rally Pac consisting of a combination clock and tachometer, racing rear-view mirrors, and any of several kits to spark up the already nimble 289-cubic-inch engine.

Any customer who is really serious about entering his Mustang in rallies can order a special handling package that…in our estimation….will make the Mustang the first mass-produced car with a soft ride and light steering that, for a few dollars, can be transformed into a true sports car. And we believe that as a sports car the Mustang will more than hold its own with some fancy sports car costing a couple of thousand dollars more.

This is the car we have designed with young America in mind – for, frankly, we are very much interested in serving young America. By next year 40 percent of the total U.S. population will be under 20 years of age, and the 16 to 24 age group is growing faster than any other segment. This latter group is made up of high school and college students, young married couples, and young working men and women.

What these statistics emphasize is that not only are there more young people, but they are settling down at an earlier age….marrying and having families. One result is that – unlike some of us who grew up in the depression and regarded automobiles, appliances and other durables as luxuries – these people look at them as necessities.

Fortunately, our society is affluent enough to enable young Americans to buy immediately, many of the items that it took their parents years to acquire. With the Mustang, we expect to make it easier for them to have the kind of car that will suit their needs, wants and tastes.

In summary, we think people will want the Mustang because it offers them a “different” kind of car at low cost…because it satisfies – in one package – their need for basic transportation and their desire for comfort, fresh style, good handling, and a choice of performance capabilities. We also think they will want the Mustang because it provides two essential American motoring ingredients – a back seat and adequate trunk-space – within a unique, exciting configuration that no other car with comparable interior specifications can match.

You know, it’s easy to design a car with a spacious interior if you are willing to sacrifice exterior flair…and it’s also easy to design a car with a racy, sporty exterior if you’re willing to throw out a couple of seats or give up most of your trunk space.

The trick is finding the right combination of roominess and high style – and that’s exactly what we’ve accomplished with our new line of cars.

Ladies and gentlemen – the Mustang!


« Last Edit: August 23, 2013, 02:39:09 am by Shermatt »

Offline peter9231

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2013, 08:44:44 pm »
Born on this day

Monday, April 13, 1570. :   Guy Fawkes, conspirator in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, is born.

     Guy Fawkes (later also known as Guido Fawkes) was born on 13 April 1570, in Stonegate, York, England. He embraced Catholicism while still in his teens, and later served for many years as a soldier gaining considerable expertise with explosives; both of these events were crucial to his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

 From 1563, legislation evolved which demanded citizens recognise the King as Supreme Governor of the Church. Refusal to submit was punishable by death. The Gunpowder Plot was an attempt by a group of Catholic extremists to assassinate King James I of England, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in one hit by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening. A group of conspirators rented a cellar beneath the House of Lords and filled it with 2.5 tonnes of gunpowder. However, one of the conspirators, who feared for the life of fellow Catholics who would have been present at parliament during the opening, wrote a letter to Lord Monteagle. Monteagle, in turn, warned the authorities. Fawkes, who was supposed to have lit the fuse to explode the gunpowder, was arrested during a raid on the cellar early on the morning of 5 November 1605. Fawkes was tortured into revealing the names of his co-conspirators. Those who were not killed immediately were placed on trial, during which they were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered in London. Climbing up to the hanging platform, Fawkes leapt off the ladder, breaking his neck and dying instantly.

 November 5 came to be known as Guy Fawkes Day. At dusk, citizens across Britain light bonfires, set off fireworks, and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes, celebrating his failure to blow up Parliament and James I.
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Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2013, 09:28:10 pm »
thats an interesting one for sure  :thumb:

Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2013, 01:17:58 am »




On this day, April 14th, 1912

Just before midnight in the North Atlantic, the RMS Titanic fails to divert its course from an iceberg, ruptures its hull, and begins to sink.

Four days earlier, the Titanic, one of the largest and most luxurious ocean liners ever built, departed Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. While leaving port, the massive ship came within a couple of feet of the steamer New York but passed safely by, causing a general sigh of relief from the passengers massed on the ship's decks.

The Titanic was designed by the Irish shipbuilder William Pirrie and spanned 883 feet from stern to bow. Its hull was divided into 16 compartments that were presumed to be watertight. Because four of these compartments could be flooded without causing a critical loss of buoyancy, the Titanic was considered unsinkable. On its first journey across the highly competitive Atlantic ferry route, the ship carried some 2,200 passengers and crew.

After stopping at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland, to pick up some final passengers, the massive vessel set out at full speed for New York City. However, just before midnight on April 14, the ship hit an iceberg, and five of the Titanic's compartments were ruptured along its starboard side. At about 2:20 a.m. on the morning of April 15, the massive vessel sank into the North Atlantic.

Because of a shortage of lifeboats and the lack of satisfactory emergency procedures, more than 1,500 people went down in the sinking ship or froze to death in the icy North Atlantic waters. Most of the approximately 700 survivors were women and children. A number of notable American and British citizens died in the tragedy, including the noted British journalist William Thomas Stead and heirs to the Straus, Astor, and Guggenheim fortunes. The announcement of details of the disaster led to outrage on both sides of the Atlantic. The sinking of the Titanic did have some positive effects, however, as more stringent safety regulations were adopted on public ships, and regular patrols were initiated to trace the locations of deadly Atlantic icebergs.

Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2013, 08:19:23 am »



On this day, April 15

At 7:22 a.m., Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, dies from a bullet wound inflicted the night before by John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer. The president's death came only six days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox, effectively ending the American Civil War.

Booth, who remained in the North during the war despite his Confederate sympathies, initially plotted to capture President Lincoln and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, the president failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth hatched a desperate plan to save the Confederacy.

Also on this day

1452  -    Renaissance painter, architect, engineer and scientist, Leonardo da Vinci, is born
1892  -    Dutch Christian, Corrie ten Boom, who helped to save hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust, is born
1865  -     President Lincoln dies
1998  -     Pol Pot dies
1990  -     Greta Garbo dies
1984  -    Tommy Cooper, famous British comic, dies while performing on stage1
1823  -    Allan Cunningham departs Bathurst to find an easier overland stock route to the Liverpool Plains
1912  -     The unsinkable Titanic sinks
1940  -     English author and politician Jeffrey Archer is born
1944  -    WORLD WAR II, Soviets capture Tarnopol in Poland

Offline jiffy

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2013, 11:21:20 am »
Only a couple of weeks late:
1st April 1968 - the 428CJ Mustang is released for sale after dominating the Winternationals, variously mis-quoted as "the fastest running pure stock in the history of man"
Black '69 CJ 4SPD car under construction (425/504)
Black 2002 SVT Cobra - 2003 Terminator Clone (575rwhp/716rwtq - SOLD)
Black ‘63.5 Galaxie 4SPD fastback (just you wait...)

Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2013, 04:36:50 am »



On this day April 16 1946

Arthur Chevrolet, an auto racer and the brother of Chevrolet auto namesake Louis Chevrolet, commits suicide in Slidell, Louisiana.

Louis Chevrolet was born in Switzerland in 1878, while Arthur's birth year has been listed as 1884 and 1886. By the early 1900s, Louis and Arthur, along with their younger brother Gaston, had left Europe and moved to America, where they became involved in auto racing. In 1905, Louis defeated racing legend Barney Oldfield at an event in New York. Louis Chevrolet's racing prowess eventually caught the attention of William C. Durant, who in 1908, founded General Motors (GM). Chevrolet began competing and designing cars for GM's Buick racing team. In 1911, Chevrolet teamed up with William Durant to produce the first Chevrolet car. The two men clashed about what type of car they wanted, with Durant arguing for a low-cost vehicle to compete with Henry Ford's Model T and Chevrolet pushing for something more high-end. In 1915, Chevrolet sold his interest in the company to Durant and the following year the Chevrolet Motor Company became part of General Motors.

Throughout this time, Louis Chevrolet's brothers continued racing and building cars. Arthur Chevrolet drove in the inaugural Indianapolis 500, held in 1911, although mechanical problems forced him out of the race and he failed to finish. He made another attempt at the Indy 500 in 1916, but once again dropped out due to mechanical issues. Gaston Chevrolet won the Indy 500 in 1920 in a Monroe car designed by his brothers; he died later that year in a racing accident.

Despite Louis and Arthur's talent for racing and design (in addition to building cars, they also designed aircraft engines) they had little gift for finance and often were pushed out of their endeavors before they could reap the rewards due to them. By the 1930s, both men were broke and their racing careers were over. Louis returned to Detroit to work in GM's Chevrolet division. He died on June 6, 1941. His brother Arthur committed suicide five years later.




1908.   
The first Oakland car was sold to a private owner. Oakland Car Company was the creation of Edward Murphy, the founder of the Pontiac Buggy Company. Murphy was one of the most respected designers in the carriage industry. He decided to enter the car industry, and he invited Alanson Brush, the designer of the Brush Runabout to join him. Brush had been a chief engineer at Cadillac. His contract with Cadillac included a no-competition clause that had just ended when he met Murphy. Anxious to get back into the design race, Brush built a car for Murphy that was ready in 1908. Oakland ran independently for less than a year before it was purchased by William C. Durant and absorbed into Durant's holding company, General Motors. Durant's purchase of Oakland is often regarded as mysterious, considering the company had enjoyed little success and had produced less than a 1,000 cars at the time Durant purchased it. Often accused of "intuitive" business practices, Durant claimed that his purchase of Oakland, while exhausting his cash flow, provided GM with a more impressive portfolio on which to base their stock interest. Nevertheless, his decision to purchase Oakland, later called Pontiac, forced Durant out of control of GM.


Offline peter9231

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2013, 08:36:37 pm »
In Basel, Switzerland, Albert Hoffman, a Swiss chemist working at the Sandoz pharmaceutical research laboratory, accidentally consumes LSD-25, a synthetic drug he had created in 1938 as part of his research into the medicinal value of lysergic acid compounds. After taking the drug, formally known as lysergic acid diethylamide, Dr. Hoffman was disturbed by unusual sensations and hallucinations. In his notes, he related the experience:

"Last Friday, April 16, 1943, I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant, intoxicated-like condition characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away."

After intentionally taking the drug again to confirm that it had caused this strange physical and mental state, Dr. Hoffman published a report announcing his discovery, and so LSD made its entry into the world as a hallucinogenic drug. Widespread use of the so-called "mind-expanding" drug did not begin until the 1960s, when counterculture figures such as Albert M. Hubbard, Timothy Leary, and Ken Kesey publicly expounded on the benefits of using LSD as a recreational drug. The manufacture, sale, possession, and use of LSD, known to cause negative reactions in some of those who take it, were made illegal in the United States in 1965.
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Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2013, 10:01:00 pm »
On this day, April 17 1964

The Ford Mustang, a two-seat, mid-engine sports car, is officially unveiled by Henry Ford II at the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York, on April 17, 1964. That same day, the new car also debuted in Ford showrooms across America and almost 22,000 Mustangs were immediately snapped up by buyers. Named for a World War II fighter plane, the Mustang was the first of a type of vehicle that came to be known as a “pony car.” Ford sold more than 400,000 Mustangs within its first year of production, far exceeding sales expectations.

The Mustang was conceived as a “working man’s Thunderbird,” according to Ford. The first models featured a long hood and short rear deck and carried a starting price tag of around $2,300. Ford general manager Lee Iacocca, who became president of the company in October 1964 (and later headed up Chrysler, which he was credited with reviving in the 1980s) was involved in the Mustang’s development and marketing. The car’s launch generated great interest. It was featured on the covers of Newsweek and Time magazines and the night before it went on sale, the Mustang was featured in commercials that ran simultaneously on all three major television networks. One buyer in Texas reportedly slept at a Ford showroom until his check cleared and he could drive his new Mustang home. The same year it debuted, the Mustang appeared on the silver screen in the James Bond movie “Goldfinger.” A green 1968 Mustang 390 GT was famously featured in the 1968 Steve McQueen movie “Bullitt,” in a car chase through the streets of San Francisco. Since then, Mustangs have appeared in hundreds of movies.

Within three years of its debut, some 500 Mustang fan clubs had cropped up. In March 1966, the 1 millionth Mustang rolled off the assembly line. In honor of the Mustang’s 35th anniversary in 1999, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating the original model. In 2004, Ford built its 300 millionth car, a 2004 Mustang GT convertible 40th anniversary model. The 2004 Mustangs were the final vehicles made at the company’s Dearborn production facility, which had been building Mustangs since their debut. (Assembly then moved to a plant in Flat Rock, Michigan.)

Over the decades, the Mustang underwent numerous evolutions, and it remains in production today, with more than 9 million sold.

PICTURED BELOW
Mustang Serial #1 at the The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI produced in 1964, titled as a 1964 1/2 Mustang due to the fact that the first Mustangs did not come out until the middle of the year.



Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #11 on: April 18, 2013, 06:39:11 am »



On this day, April 18th, 1882
Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach reached an agreement to work towards the creation of a high-speed internal combustion engine. Daimler had purchased a house with 75k goldmark from his Deutz compensation. In its garden they added a brick extension to the roomy glass-fronted summerhouse which became their workshop.Working in Daimler's greenhouse, the two men finished their first gas-powered engine in 1883. Four years later the two men achieved a major breakthrough when they constructed the first water-cooled, gas-powered internal combustion engine. Their activities alarmed the neighbours who suspected they were engaged in counterfeiting and, in their absence, the police raided the property using the gardener's key, but found only engines.


18th April 1906
Sunset Automobile Company, a startup company in San Francisco was totally destroyed by fire. Production of the Sunset never resumed, and the firm was legally dissolved in 1909. Throughout the history of American automobile production no company ever succeeded on the West Coast. they developed one of the most silent engine of that time.


18th April, 1936
Tommy Ivo, also known as "TV Tommy" was born in Denver, Colorado He is an actor and drag racer, who was active in the 1950-60s racing community. In the late 1950s, Ivo raced a twin (side by side) Nailhead Buick engined dragster which was the first Gasoline Powered dragster to break the nine second barrier. The Twin Buick also was the first gas dragster to record speeds of 170, 175 and 180 mph.


18th April, 1942
Karl Jochen Rindt was born in Mainz, Germany. He was a German racing driver who represented Austria over his entire career. He is the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship (in 1970), after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix. Away from Formula One, Rindt was highly successful in other single-seater formulae, as well as sports car racing. In 1965 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, driving a Ferrari 250LM in partnership with Masten Gregory from the United States of America.


18th April, 1949
18 times Nascar winner Geoff Bodine was born.


18th April, 2009
On this day in 2009, driver Mark Martin wins the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at the Phoenix International Speedway in Avondale, Arizona, and becomes the first 50-year-old to claim victory at a National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) Sprint Cup race since Morgan Shepherd did so at a race in Atlanta in 1993. Besides Martin and Shepherd, only two other drivers age 50 or older have won Sprint Cup events.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2013, 06:45:34 am by Shermatt »

Offline peter9231

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #12 on: April 19, 2013, 06:50:17 am »
 
 
 
 

On April 19, 1897, John J. McDermott of New York won the first Boston Marathon with a time of 2:55:10.

The Boston Marathon was the brainchild of Boston Athletic Association member and inaugural U.S. Olympic team manager John Graham, who was inspired by the marathon at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. With the assistance of Boston businessman Herbert H. Holton, various routes were considered, before a measured distance of 24.5 miles from the Irvington Oval in Boston to Metcalf's Mill in Ashland was eventually selected.

Fifteen runners started the race but only 10 made it to the finish line. John J. McDermott, representing the Pastime Athletic Club of New York City, took the lead from Harvard athlete Dick Grant over the hills in Newton. Although he walked several times during the final miles, McDermott still won by a comfortable six-minute, fifty-two-seconds. McDermott had won the only other marathon on U.S. soil the previous October in New York.

The marathon's distance was changed in 1908 in accordance with Olympic standards to its current length of 26 miles 385 yards.

The Boston Marathon was originally held on Patriot's Day, April 19, a regional holiday that commemorates the beginning of the Revolutionary War. In years when the 19th fell on a Sunday, the race was held the following Monday. In 1969, Patriots Day was officially moved to the third Monday in April and the race has been held on that Monday ever since.

Women were not allowed to enter the Boston race officially until 1972, but Roberta "Bobbi" Gibb couldn't wait: In 1966, she became the first woman to run the entire Boston Marathon, but had to hide in the bushes near the start until the race began. In 1967, Kathrine Switzer, who had registered as "K. V. Switzer", was the first woman to run with a race number. Switzer finished even though officials tried to physically remove her from the race after she was identified as a woman.

In the fall of 1971, the Amateur Athletics Union permitted its sanctioned marathons (including Boston) to allow female entry. Nina Kuscsik became the first official female participant to win the Boston Marathon in 1972. Seven other women started and finished that race.

In 1975, the Boston Marathon became the first major marathon to include a wheelchair division competition. Bob Hall won it in two hours, 58 minutes.
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Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #13 on: April 20, 2013, 07:11:39 am »


On this day, April 20, 2008

26-year-old Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Montegi in Montegi, Japan, making her the first female winner in IndyCar racing history.
Danica Patrick was born on March 25, 1982, in Beloit, Wisconsin. She became involved in racing as a young girl and as a teenager moved to England in pursuit of better training opportunities. In 2002, after returning to the United States, she began driving for the Rahal Letterman Racing team, owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 champ Bobby Rahal and late-night talk-show host David Letterman. In 2005, Patrick started competing in IndyCar events, which include the famed Indianapolis 500 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana.

April 20, 1925
Pete Depaolo, wins his first Indy 500 in cluver city, California for Dusenberg family averaging an impressive 135mph.

April 20, 1927
Phil Hill, american F1 racer was born in Miami Florida, He won the 1961 F1 championship racing for Scuderia ferari, driving the famous 'sharknose' Ferari 156

April 20, 1931
Matilda Dodge Wilson, the widow of John Dodge, was named to the board of the Graham-Paige Motors Corporation, becoming the first woman to sit on the board of a major auto-manufacturer. Graham-Paige was founded by the Graham brothers, whose initial car-making endeavor, Graham Brothers Truck Company, had been purchased by Dodge in 1926.

April 20, 1946
Gordon Smiley, another Indy 500 racer was born. Though he raced twiced in 1980,81 in Indy500 but never won. He tragically died during qualifying run in 1982 Indy500, and to date is the last driver ever to die during qualifying run.

April 20, 2003
Dajiro Kato, Japanese MotoGP racer died at Suzuka, crashing hard at 125mph to a wall at final chicane of the circuit.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2013, 07:13:41 am by Shermatt »

Offline peter9231

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #14 on: April 20, 2013, 07:27:18 am »
Sunday, April 20, 1862. :   Louis Pasteur completes the first test of pasteurisation.

     Louis Pasteur was born on 27 December 1822 in Dole, Jura, France. Known as the founder of microbiology, he moved into this field when he discovered the role of bacteria in fermentation. Pasteur's research showed that some microorganisms contaminated fermenting beverages. Extrapolating from this knowledge, Pasteur then developed a process in which liquids such as milk were heated to kill all bacteria and moulds already present within them. This process became known as pasteurisation. The first test of pasteurisation was completed by Louis Pasteur and his associate, Claude Bernard, on 20 April 1862.

 His experiments with bacteria conclusively disproved the theory of spontaneous generation and led to the theory that infection is caused by germs. Recognising that infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms, Pasteur's research soon led others to investigate sterilisation, disinfection, vaccines, and eventually antibiotics. Pasteur created and tested vaccines for diphtheria, cholera, yellow fever, plague, rabies, anthrax, and tuberculosis.
"If you are not prepared to be part of the solution you forfeit your right to criticise"

Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #15 on: April 21, 2013, 06:03:58 am »



On this day April 21, 1933

Frederick Henry Royce, who with Charles Stewart Rolls founded the luxury British automaker Rolls-Royce, dies on this day in 1933 at the age of 70 in England.
Royce was born on March 27, 1863, near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. He grew up in a family of modest means and worked a variety of jobs, eventually becoming an electrician. In the mid-1880s, he founded a business that made electric cranes and electrical generators. In the early 1900s, after purchasing his first car, Royce began designing cars of his own, deciding he could build something better. Royce met British automotive dealer Charles Rolls, who agreed to sell Royce’s cars; the two men later formed a company, Rolls-Royce Limited. Royce, who was known for his attention to detail and perfectionism, served as head engineer. The six-cylinder Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, which debuted in 1906, was dubbed by the British press the world’s “best car.”
In 1910, Charles Rolls died at the age of 32 while piloting his own plane. Royce continued on with their company and during World War I, designed aircraft engines for the Allied forces. Following the war, Rolls-Royce returned to making cars, launching the Phantom I , a vehicle that was “powered by an all-new, pushrod-operated overhead valve engine with detachable cylinder heads--cutting-edge technology for its time,” according to the automotive information Web site Edmunds.com. In 1931, Rolls-Royce acquired rival luxury automaker Bentley. Frederick Henry Royce died on April 22, 1933, at West Wittering, West Sus***, England.
In 1950, Rolls-Royce introduced the powerful and highly exclusive Phantom IV. Only 18 of these cars were produced, according to Edmunds.com, and they all went to royalty and other VIPs. The automaker continued to thrive during the 1950s and 1960s; however, in 1971, Rolls-Royce Ltd. declared bankruptcy after financial troubles related to the development of a jet engine. The company was restructured into two separate businesses: automotive and aircraft. In 1980, the auto company was acquired by a British defense business, Vickers. The following year, the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit, a car designed to attract a new generation of buyers, launched.
In the late 1990s, when Vickers decided to sell Rolls-Royce, German automakers Volkswagen and BMW each made a play for the business. VW ended up acquiring the Rolls-Royce production facilities in Crewe, England, while BMW got the rights to the Rolls-Royce car brand. BMW licensed the Rolls-Royce name to VW until the end of 2002, then BMW began producing Rolls-Royce cars in 2003. VW continued to make Bentleys at the Crewe plant.


April 21, 1967

On this day General Motors (GM) celebrates the manufacture of its 100 millionth American-made car. At the time, GM was the world’s largest automaker.
General Motors was established in 1908 in Flint, Michigan, by horse-drawn carriage mogul William Durant. In 1904, Durant invested in the Buick Motor Company, which was started in 1903 by Scottish-born inventor David Dunbar Buick. Within a few years of forming his company, Buick lost control of it and sold his stock, which would later be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. (In 1929, Buick died at age 74 in relative obscurity and modest circumstances). Durant made Buick Motors the cornerstone of his new holding company, General Motors, then acquired Oldsmobile, Cadillac and Reliance Motor Company, among other auto and truck makers.
In 1911, Durant founded Chevrolet Motor Company, which by 1918 was part of GM. By the early 1930s, GM had passed the Ford Motor Company to become the world’s biggest automaker. Although Ford sold more than 15 million Model Ts between 1908 and 1927, the company was criticized for not responding quickly enough to consumer demand for new models, as GM did. GM also offered financing options to consumers, while Henry Ford objected to credit.
GM went on to experience decades of growth. The company pursued a strategy of selling a vehicle “for every purse and purpose,” in the words of Alfred Sloan, who became GM’s president in 1923 and resigned as chairman in 1956. In 1940, the company commemorated its 25 millionth American-made car, and by its peak in 1962, GM produced 51 percent of all the cars in the U.S. Its 75 millionth U.S.-made car rolled off the assembly line that year, while the 100 millionth car followed in 1967.
However, according to The New York Times, during the 1960s the automaker “began a long and slow process of undermining itself,” as it failed to innovate fast enough in the face of competition from foreign car manufacturers. In 2008, GM, hard hit by the global economic crisis, lost its title as the world’s top-selling automaker; that year, GM sold 8.356 million cars and trucks compared with Toyota’s 8.972 million vehicles. On June 1, 2009, GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It was a move once considered unthinkable for the company that became a giant of the U.S. economy in the 20th century.

Reading Eagle Newspaper, April 16 1967 Edition




April 21, 1985

The legendary Ayrton Senna won his first of 41 F1 Championship victories driving a Lotus-Renault at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2013, 06:43:28 am by Shermatt »

Offline Ash

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #16 on: April 21, 2013, 08:34:40 am »
April 20, 2003
Dajiro Kato, Japanese MotoGP racer died at Suzuka, crashing hard at 125mph to a wall at final chicane of the circuit.

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/tribute+to+kato

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Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #17 on: April 23, 2013, 01:45:54 am »



On this day, 23rd April 1987

On this day in 1987, the Chrysler Corporation purchases Nuova Automobili F. Lamborghini, the Bologna, Italy-based maker of high-priced, high-performance cars. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the media reported that Chrysler paid $25 million for Lamborghini, which at the time was experiencing financial difficulties.
Lamborghini was established in 1963 by Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916-1993), a wealthy Italian industrialist who made his fortune building tractors and air-conditioning systems, among other ventures. Lamborghini owned a variety of sports cars, including Ferraris. According to legend, after experiencing mechanical problems with his Ferraris, he tried to meet with Enzo Ferrari, the carmaker’s founder. When Enzo Ferrari turned him down, Ferruccio Lamborghini decided to build cars that would be even better than Ferrari’s. Lamborghini’s first car, the 350 GTV, a two-seat coupe with a V12 engine, launched in 1963.
The company’s logo featured a bull, a reference to Ferruccio Lamborghini’s zodiac sign, Taurus the bull. Various Lamborghini models had names related to bulls or bullfighting, including the Miura, a mid-engine sports car that was released in mid-1960s and gained Lamborghini an international following among car enthusiasts and a reputation for prestige and cutting-edge design. The Miura was named for a breeder of fighting bulls, Don Eduardo Miura.
In the early 1970s, Lamborghini’s tractor business experienced problems and he eventually sold his interest in his sports car business and retired to his vineyard in the mid-1970s. Automobili Lamborghini changed hands several times and in 1987 was sold to Chrysler.
In 1994, Chrysler sold Lamborghini to a group of Indonesian investors. Four years later, German automaker Audi AG owned by Volkswagen took control of Lamborghini. The company has continued to build high-performance cars, including the Murcielago, the Gallardo LP560-4 and theSpyder.






April 23 1992
Smithsonian Museum bought one of Miller 91 Packard Cable Special Car. Harry Miller was one of very famous race car builder of his times. Cars and engines built by him won Indy500 12 times which was then dominated by Dusenberg family. This car bought was one of 12 racing cars built by Harry A. Miller. Its 1500cc supercharged V8 rated at 230 horsepower drives front wheel. Strangely it weighted only 108kgs. This particular car was driven by Ralph Hepburn in the 1929 Indianapolis 500 and set speed records of 143mph. In 1991 the car also won two of the most rigorous antique auto competitions in the world: the Pebble Beach Concourse in California and the Bagatelle Concourse Paris.

Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #18 on: April 24, 2013, 06:08:45 pm »






On this day, April 24, 1995
After producing about 6939 cars Lotus tuned Chevy Corvette ZR1's production was ceased. The heart of this car was lotus built LT5 V8 engine, which had a very unique intake manifold. It had 4 valves per cylinder and 4 camshaft to control them. It could shut off half of the intake valves and fuel injectors when the engine was at part-throttle, It was rated at 375bhp-405bhp in later models. In 2009 Chevy again revived ZR1.

April 24, 1983
Rolf Stommelen, a German race car driver fatally crashed in his porsche 935 while racing in Camel GT trophy on Riverside Raceway, California.
He was one of the best race car drivers of the '60s and '70s, He won the Daytona 4 times and the pole position for the 1969 Le Mans in a Porsche 917, during which he became the first person to reach speeds exceeding 350 km/h. In 1970, he made his Formula One debut with Brabham and raced both sportscars and F1 throughout the 1970s.
Unfortunately, he is also remembered for killing 5 spectators when he crashed his car, Embassy-Hill- Lola during the 1975 season Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #19 on: April 26, 2013, 12:03:58 am »
Apart from being Anzac Day

On this day, April 25, 2001

On this day in 2001, 44-year-old Italian race car driver Michele Alboreto is killed on a track in Germany during a test drive. Alboreto collected five Grand Prix wins on the Formula One (F1) circuit, where he competed during the 1980s and early 1990s, and also claimed victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in 1997.
Michele Alboreto was born in Milan, Italy, on December 23, 1956, and began his racing career in the mid-1970s. He made his F1 debut in 1981 and took home his first victory at the Caesars Palace Grand Prix Las Vegas in 1982. From 1984 to 1988, Alboreto drove for the Ferrari team, the first Italian to do so in more than a decade. In 1985, his most successful year, he won the Canadian Grand Prix and the German Grand Prix and came in second place for the F1 drivers’ championship behind the iconic French driver Alain Prost, who collected the crown again in 1986, 1989 and 1993.





April 25, 1926
Alfieri Maserati's first car, the Tipo 26, made its racing debut by winning its class at the Targa Florio. Alfieri Maserati drove the car himself.

April 25, 1901
Registration of vehicle which is today mandatory for all vehicle first started on this day in the state of New York. The fee to register the vehicle was $1. Total registration fees collected amounted $954 for very first year.
However France is considered the first to introduce a license plate, in 1893, followed by Germany in 1896. The Netherlands was the first country to introduce a national license plate, called a "driving permit", in 1898. But uniform registration and charging the owner for it was first introduced in the city of New York.

Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #20 on: April 26, 2013, 10:41:16 pm »

1937 Pierce Arrow

On this day, April 26, 1906
Pierce Arrow purchased 16 acre of land to create its new manufacturing unit. The factory that was constructed on it was of reinforced concrete and was absolutely fireproof. Albert Kahn, the architect of the factory, achieved a breakthrough with his single story, top-lit modular design. With its uniform lighting and physical flexibility, it rapidly became the prototype for American factory design, particularly in the emerging motor industry.
Pierce was the only luxury brand that did not created a lower price car. Its cars are collectors item world over.

April 26, 2009
On this day in 2009, Chrysler and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union reach a tentative deal that meets government requirements for the struggling auto manufacturer to receive more federal funding.
As part of the deal, the UAW agreed to let Chrysler reduce the amount of money it would pay toward health care costs of its retired workers. The month before the deal was announced, President Barack Obama issued an ultimatum to Chrysler that it must undergo a fundamental restructuring and shrink its costs in order to receive future government aid. Obama also gave Chrysler a month to complete a merger with Italian car maker Fiat or another partner. Although Chrysler reached a deal with the UAW as well as its major creditors shortly before the one-month deadline, Obama announced on April 30 that Chrysler, after failing to come to an agreement with some of its smaller creditors, would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, then form a partnership with Fiat. The move made Chrysler the first big automaker to file for bankruptcy and attempt to reorganize since Studebaker did so in 1933.
The current stake holders are in New Chrysler are: Fiat, 20 %; U.S. government, 9.85 %; Canadian government, 2.46 %; and the UAW retiree medical fund 67.69 %.

Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #21 on: April 27, 2013, 11:45:34 pm »




On this day, April 27, 2009
On this day in 2009, the struggling American auto giant General Motors (GM) says it plans to discontinue production of its more than 80-year-old Pontiac brand.
Pontiac’s origins date back to the Oakland Motor Car, which was founded in 1907 in Pontiac, Michigan, by Edward Murphy, a horse-drawn carriage manufacturer. In 1909, Oakland became part of General Motors, a conglomerate formed the previous year by another former buggy company executive, William Durant. The first Pontiac model made its debut as part of the Oakland line in the 1920s. The car, which featured a six-cylinder engine, proved so popular that the Oakland name was eventually dropped and Pontiac became its own GM division by the early 1930s.
Pontiac was initially known for making sedans; however, by the 1960s it had gained acclaim for its fast, sporty “muscle cars,” including the GTO, the Firebird and the Trans Am. The GTO, which was developed by auto industry maverick John DeLorean, was named after a Ferarri coupe, the Gran Turismo Omologato. Pontiacs were featured in such movies as 1977’s “Smokey and the Bandit,” in which actor Burt Reynolds drove a black Pontiac Trans Am, and the 1980s hit TV show “Knight Rider,” which starred a Pontiac Trans Am as KITT, a talking car with artificial intelligence, alongside David Hasselhoff as crime fighter Michael Knight.
By the mid-1980s, Pontiac’s sales reached their peak. Experts believe GM hurt the Pontiac brand in the 1970s and 1980s by opting for a money-saving strategy requiring Pontiacs to share platforms with cars from other divisions. In 2008, General Motors, which had been the world’s top-selling automaker since the early 1930s, lost the No. 1 position to Japan-based Toyota. That same year, GM, with sales slumping in the midst of a global recession, was forced to ask the federal government for a multi-billion-dollar loan to remain afloat. On April 27, 2009, as part of its reorganization plan, GM announced it would phase out the Pontiac brand by 2010. A little over a month later, on June 1, GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, becoming the fourth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Pontiac became the second brand General Motors has eliminated in six years. Oldsmobile met the same fate in 2004 after being more slowly phased out over four years. Pontiac also became the ninth North American automobile brand since 1987 to be phased out, after Merkur, Passport, Asüna, Geo, Plymouth, American Motors (AMC) (renamed Eagle in 1988, only to be phased out a decade later), and Oldsmobile.
The last American Pontiac, a 2010 G6, was built on November 25, 2009 at the Orion Assembly plant. No public farewell took place, although a group of plant employees documented the event. In December 2009, the last Pontiac-branded vehicle to roll off an assembly line was in the Canadian-market Pontiac G3 Wave, manufactured in South Korea by GM Daewoo.


April 27, 1952
Ari Vatanen, a Finnish rally driver turned politician was born in Tuupovaara. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times.

Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #22 on: April 28, 2013, 07:53:12 am »




On this day, 28th APril 1916
Legendary Ferruccio Lamborghini was born in a small Itallian village called Renazzo. His interest in automobile began early, modding and racing his souped up Fiat Topolino. His racing career ended when he crashed his fiat in Milli Migelia.
After the WWII he achieved great success manufacturing tractors and air conditioners. Race became his passion and collecting race cars became his hobby, including bunch of Ferraris.
Lamborgini jumped into making sports cars after a very ironic situation when he went to Enzo to advice on Ferarri's clutch issue. Enzo insulted him by saying that he doesn't need any advice from a tractor maker.
In order to achieve his goal, he hired ex-Ferrari engineers Gianpaolo Dallara and Bob Wallace to design and develop his own sports cars. The output was outstanding mid engined beauty like Lambo 350gt and Muira, which were way ahead of its time.
The company’s logo featured a bull, a reference to Ferruccio Lamborghini’s zodiac sign, Taurus the bull. Various Lamborghini models had names related to bulls or bullfighting, including the Miura (named for Don Eduardo Miura, a breeder of fighting bulls), a mid-engine sports car that was released in mid-1960s and gained Lamborghini an international following among car enthusiasts and a reputation for prestige and cutting-edge design.
In the early 1970s, Lamborghini’s tractor business experienced problems and he eventually sold his interest in his sports car business and retired to his vineyard. Automobili Lamborghini changed hands several times and in the late 1990s was purchased by German automaker Volkswagen. The company continued to build high-performance cars, including the Murcielago (capable of 250 mph) and the Gallardo. Ferruccio Lamborghini died on February 20, 1993, at the age of 76.

28th April 1939
Powel Crosely, an American industrilaist produces first American compact car. Initialy it was offered as a two-door convertible that weighed just 450 kg and sold for $250. It was powered by a 580cc 2 cylinder air cooled engine. It was mated with a 3speed gearbox The chassis had an 80-inch wheelbase, half elliptic springs with beam axle in front and quarter elliptics in the rear.
Later many body style were released viz., four-passenger convertibles, a convertible sedan, a station wagon, a panel truck , a pickup , and two models called "Parkway Delivery" (a mini-panel with no roof over the front seat) and "Covered Wagon" (a convertible picion wagonkup truck with a removable back seat).

Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #23 on: April 28, 2013, 11:17:35 pm »



On this day, April 29, 1951
Dale Earnhardt Sr., popularly known as "The Intimidator" was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina. He is considered as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. He died on February 18, 2001, when he was fatally injured in a last-lap at the Daytona 500. Earnhardt, age 49, died instantly of head injuries.


April 29, 2004
On this day in 2004, the last Oldsmobile comes off the assembly line at the Lansing Car Assembly plant in Michigan, signaling the end of the 106-year-old automotive brand, America’s oldest. Factory workers signed the last Oldsmobile, an Alero sedan, before the vehicle was moved to Lansing’s R.E. Olds Transportation Museum, where it went on display. The last 500 Aleros ever manufactured featured “Final 500” emblems and were painted dark metallic cherry red.
In 1897, Ransom E. Olds (1864-1950), an Ohio-born engine maker, founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in Lansing. In 1901, the company, then known as Olds Motor Works, debuted the Curved Dash Oldsmobile, a gas-powered, open-carriage vehicle named for its curved front footboard. More than 400 of these vehicles were sold during the first year, at a price of $650 each (around $17,000 in today’s dollars). In subsequent years, sales reached into the thousands. However, by 1904, clashes between Olds and his investors caused him to sell the bulk of his stock and leave the company. He soon went on to found the REO (based on his initials) Motor Car Company, which built cars until 1936 and produced trucks until 1975.
In 1908, Oldsmobile was the second brand, after Buick, to become part of the newly established General Motors (GM). Oldsmobile became a top brand for GM and pioneered such features as chrome-plating in 1926 and, in 1940, the first fully automatic transmission for a mass-market vehicle. Oldsmobile concentrated on cars for middle-income consumers and from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, the Oldsmobile Cutlass was America’s best-selling auto. However, in the decades that followed, sales began to decline, prompting GM to announce in 2000 that it would discontinue the Oldsmobile line with the 2004 models. When the last Oldsmobile rolled off the assembly line in April 2004, more than 35 million Oldsmobiles had been built during the brand’s lifetime. Along with Daimler and Peugeot, Oldsmobile was among the world’s oldest auto brands.

April 29th 1992
An jury of 10 whites, one Hispanic, and one Filipina in the Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley acquits four police officers who had been charged with using excessive force in arresting black motorist Rodney King a year earlier. The announcement of the verdict, which enraged the black community, prompted widespread rioting throughout much of the sprawling city. It wasn't until three days later that the arson and looting finally ended.

Immediately after the verdict was announced that afternoon, protestors took to the streets, engaging in random acts of violence. At the corner of Florence and Normandie streets, Reginald Denny, a white truck driver, was dragged from his truck and severely beaten by several angry rioters. A helicopter crew caught the incident on camera and broadcast it live on local television. Viewers saw first-hand that the police, woefully unprepared, were unwilling—or unable—to enforce the law in certain neighborhoods of the city.

As it became evident that breaking the law in much of South Central Los Angeles would yield little, if any, consequences, opportunistic rioters came out in full force on the night of April 29, burning retail establishments all over the area. Police still had no control of the situation the following day. Thousands of people packed the streets and began looting stores. Korean-owned businesses were targeted in particular. For most, the looting was simply a crime of opportunity rather than any political expression.

The acquitted police officers were later convicted of violating Rodney King's civil rights in a federal court trial. Reginald Denny's attackers were identified through the helicopter videotape, arrested, and convicted of assault and battery. However, the jury declined to convict on attempted murder charges, apparently due to the defense's argument that the defendants had only fallen prey to uncontrollable mob rage.

Offline Shermatt

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Re: This day in History
« Reply #24 on: April 30, 2013, 04:58:06 am »





On this day, 30th April 1925
The Dodge widows sold Dodge Brothers Inc to the New York City banking firm of Dillon, Read & Company for $146 million plus $50 million for charity. It was the largest cash deal in history at that time. The sale of Dodge was not the result of a downturn in the company's fortune as Dodge was still selling well. The sale of the company was rather the result of the unwillingness of the Dodge Brothers' offspring to manage the company's affairs. Both Horace and John Dodge died in 1920. During their lifetimes, they had run the company personally, explicitly excluding their family members from participation in the company's management. After the brothers' deaths a brief depression in the stock market in 1921 scared the family members into "cashing out" of the company's affairs.
After running it unsuccessfully for three years Dillion Read & Company approached Chrysler for takeover.

April 30th 1948
Land Rover was unveiled for the first time in Amsterdam Motor Show. Land Rover was developed as a result of necesscity when Maurice Wilks, a Rover engineer was unable to procure parts for his constanly breaking WW2 american Jeep while working on his farm in Wales.
He thought there could be a huge demand of such vehcile, as there were a very limited option in that segment namely, Jeep and Kubelwagen only.
He had very limited resource, as Steel was rationed and available to company that exported and at that time Rover didn't. So he thought of using Alumunium, as they were plenty as WWII surplus used to built aircraft. Ironically this had added advantage, one it was cheap, other it was rust proof, just right for Britain's weather.
Its said that 75% of Landy that left the Solihull is still alive.

April 30th 1963
Micheal Waltrip, two time Daytona 500 champion was born in Kentucky. He is retired and currently lives in North Carolina. He owns a racing team, Michael Waltrip Racing and do ocassional commentary for race events.

April 30th 1975
Elliot Sadler, a Nascar race driver was born in Virginia. He currently drives No19 Dodge Charger for Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

April 30th 1991
The last Trabant rolled out of assembly line after 34 years of production and and nearly three million example produced. The model hardly had any significant change during its 34 years of lifecycle. It is commonly used as a handy symbol by the advocate of free market for everything wrong with government planned economies and communism.

April 30th 1993
Roland Ratzenberger, an Austrian racecar driver crashed fatally during the qualifying run for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, In the same event the very next day three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna died.

April 30th 2003
Possum Bourne, A kiwi rally driver succumbed due to head injuries sustained on 18th April in non-competitive circumstances while driving on a public road, that was to be the track for an upcoming race. He was driving his Subaru Outback and collided with a Jeep Cherokee driven by another rally driver Mike Baltrop. At the time of his death, Possum had just re-entered the world stage, driving a production-class Subaru Impreza.