This Month in Automotive History
March 1
1937 Connecticut Tags
The first license plates for the purpose of identifying registered vehicles were issued by the state of Connecticut. The plates, made of plain aluminum, featured black letters and color inserts that designated the year of registration.
March 2
1925 Highway Numbers
The first nationwide highway numbering system was instituted by the joint board of state and federal highway officials appointed by the secretary of agriculture. In order to minimize confusion caused by the array of multiform state-appointed highway signs, the board created the shield-shaped highway number markers that have become a comforting sight to lost travelers in times since. Later, interstate highway numbering would be improved by colored signs and the odd-even demarcation that distinguishes between north-south and east-west travel respectively. As America got its kicks on Route 66, it did so under the aegis of the trusty shield.
- 1949 Auto Lights
The first automatic streetlight system in which the streetlights turned themselves on at dark was installed in New Milford, Connecticut, by the Connecticut Light and Power Company. Each streetlight contained an electronic device that contained a photoelectric cell capable of measuring outside light. By November of 1949, seven miles of New Milford’s roads were automatically lit at dusk by a total of 190 photoelectric streetlights. No longer would the proud men of New Milford be forced to don stilts in order to light their streetlamps.
March 3
1949 Tucker Folds
The post-war car market was so strong in the United States that a number of bold entrepreneurs formed independent car companies to challenge the established Big Three. Arguably the most remarkable such independent was the Tucker Corporation, founded by Preston "P.T." Tucker. Tucker, a gifted marketer and innovator, created a phenomenon felt through the automotive industry when he released his car, the Tucker. Along with the cars, Preston Tucker sent a magazine called "Tucker Topics" along to dealers, hoping to increase the salesmen’s enthusiasm for his automobile. The Tucker was equipped with a number of novel features. It had six exhaust pipes, a third headlight that rotated with the axle, and a "bomb shelter" in the backseat. Beyond the frills though, the Tucker packed a powerful punch, making zero to sixty in ten seconds and reaching a top speed of 120 mph. Great anticipation surrounded the awaited release of the Tucker, but in 1949, before his cars could reach their market, the Securities and Exchange Commission indicted Preston Tucker on thirty-one counts of investment fraud. Tucker had only produced fifty-one cars. On this day in 1949, the Tucker Corporation went into receivership and the Tucker automobile became merely a historical footnote.
March 4
1902 Birth of AAA
The American Automobile Association (AAA) was organized on this day. The American Motor League (AML) had been the first organization to address the problems that commonly plague motorists, but it fell apart due to a diverse membership that featured powerful car makers who wanted to limit the AML only to issues that affected car manufacturing and engineering. However, soon trade groups such as the Association of Automotive Engineers took its place, paving the way for more specialized automobile organizations. AAA was formed to deal with the concerns of the motorists themselves and has been America’s largest organization of motorists since.
March 5
1929 Fire!
Fire destroyed the Los Angeles Automobile Show on this day in 1929. Over 320 new cars, including the Auburn Motor Company’s only Auburn Cabin Speedster, were lost in the flames.
March 6
1896 Motor City Motor Car
Charles B. King tested his automobile on the streets of Detroit, Michigan, becoming the first man to drive a car in the Motor City.
March 7
1932 Protest at Ford Plant
The Communist Party of America organized the "March on Hunger"; the procession traveled from downtown Detroit to the Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge plant in order to protest the company’s labor record. When police and firemen were unable to disperse the thousands gathered at River Rouge, Ford strongman Harry Bennet, notorious for his mob tactics of labor management, ordered his "servicemen" to quell the crowd with fire hoses. Defying the freezing temperatures and icy water, the crowd refused to give up its protest. Bennet, who ruled Ford’s enterprise with nothing short of terrorist tactics, confronted the crowd, ordering them to disperse once and for all. The determined crowd, unaware that they were faced with their nemesis, began to shout, "We want Bennet. And he’s in that building." Bennett corrected their mistake and for his trouble he was showered with bricks and slag pieces. He was struck in the head during the barrage. Before he fell to the ground, the combat-ready Bennett pulled Joseph York, a Young Communist League organizer, to the ground on top of him. Seeing Bennett bleeding profusely from his head the police opened fire on the unarmed protesters. York and three other protesters were killed. Ford’s trouble with labor unions came to a head five years later when Roosevelt’s New Deal guaranteed the workers the right to join a union. Again Bennett would be at the center of a violent confrontation at the River Rouge complex.
March 8
1936 Down at Daytona
Daytona Beach, Florida, staged its first race strictly for stock cars on a combination beach and public roadway course. The race is remembered as the impetus for today’s NASCAR. However, race or no race, NASCAR never would have come into being without the efforts of Bill France. Having moved to Daytona in 1934, Bill France opened a garage there. He fixed and raced cars, finishing fifth in Daytona’s original race. The city claimed it lost money on the event and enthusiasm for city-sponsored racing waned. The next year the Daytona Elks persuaded the city to stage a Labor Day road race for stock cars. The city lost money again. At that point Bill France and local club owner Charlie Reese took over the promotion for the Daytona race. With Reese’s money and France’s work, the race established itself as a successful enterprise. Racing halted during the war, but afterward France returned to Daytona Beach and persisted at race promotion. Reese died in 1945. France went on to promote races all over the South. In 1946 he staged a National Championship race at the Old Charlotte Speedway. A news editor objected to France’s calling a race a National Championship without any organized sanctioning body. France responded by forming the National Championship Stock Car Circuit in 1946. On December 14, 1947, France called a meeting to re-organize the growing NCSCC. Racing officials gathered at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach to hear France call for major changes in the operation of the circuit. He demanded more professionalism and suggested that the organization provide insurance for drivers and strict rules for the racecars and tracks. A new organization to be incorporated later that year as the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) emerged from the meeting, with Bill France, former mechanic, as president.
March 9
1901 Olds on Fire
On this day, a fire destroyed the Olds Motor Works factory in Detroit, Michigan. Legend holds that Olds employee James Brady pushed a Regular Runabout, affectionately called the Curved Dash, out of the building to safety. Over the course of the previous year, Olds had developed over eleven models for cars, all of which varied greatly in price and design. He had reportedly not decided which Olds models on which to focus the company’s production capability, but, as the first destroyed all but one prototype, fate decided that the Runabout would be the first major production Olds. The Runabout, a small buggy with lightweight wheels and a curved dashboard powered by a one-cylinder engine not dissimilar from today’s lawnmower engines, became the Olds Motor Company’s primary automobile. The Runabout maxed out at 20 miles per hour. Olds later viewed the fire as a miracle, a sign that the Runabout would make his fortune. He expressed his enthusiasm for the little car, “My horseless carriage is no passing fad. It never kicks, never bites, never tires on long runs, never sweats in hot weather, and doesn’t require care when not in use. It eats only when it’s on the road. And no road is too tough for the Olds Runabout.” In preparation for his success, Olds contracted other companies for parts to comprise his Runabout and in doing so he revolutionized the automobile industry. Previously, all cars had been built from start to finish in one site. Olds’s methods allowed for an assembly line in which parts were produced outside his factory and systematically assembled in his own factories. Among Olds subcontracted partners were the Dodge Brothers, Henry Leland who founded Lincoln and Cadillac, and Fred Fisher whose family produced bodies for GM. The Olds Runabout sold for $650.
March 10
1964 Mustang Sallies Forth
The first Ford Mustang was produced on this day. The Mustang wasn’t released to the public until April 16, 1964, however, when it made, as one journalist described it, "the most sensational introduction of modern times." The Mustang was the result of Ford’s desire to make a small, sporty car which was inexpensive enough to appeal to young car buyers, an increasingly important market. The Mustang was the brainchild, or at least the mouthchild, of Ford executive Lee Iacocca. David Halberstam explained Iacocca’s relationship to the Mustang: "Outside the industry, Iacocca, who controlled the publicity for the car, was always considered the father of the Mustang… Within Ford, however, Don Frey, the product manager, was seen as the brains behind it." But to sell short Iacocca’s impact as a salesman would be a mistake. The car’s development never would have made it past the reluctant upper echelons of Ford management without Iacocca’s push. The Mustang was not an entirely new line of car in the traditional sense. In fact, Iacocca’s production team intended to make a car readily adaptable to existing Ford parts. By making the Mustang a Ford Falcon under the hood, Iacocca’s team cut their costs dramatically. Iacocca called the Mustang a Ford Falcon with "a whole new skin and greenhouse." He would never have called it that during its development, however. Iacocca stressed the Mustang as a whole new breed of Ford: muscular, small, and young. The base price of the car was only $2,368, but buyers averaged over $1,000 of extra features. Iacocca said, "People want economy so badly they don’t care how much they pay for it." Over it first two years the Mustang earned $1.1 billion in profits for Ford. Iacocca created an astounding media blitz surrounding the car’s release. He and the Mustang made the covers of Time and Newsweek, and the car appeared in every major business and automotive publication. Historian Gary Witzenburg explained, "No new car in history had ever received the publicity and attention that the media lavished on Ford’s sporty small car." One of America’s most popular car models, then, is a testament to one of America’s greatest salesman.
March 11
1927 Tough Customers
On this day, the Flatheads Gang staged the first armored truck holdup in U.S. history on the Bethel Road, seven miles out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the way to Coverdale. The armored truck, carrying $104,250 of payroll money for the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company, drove over a mine planted under the roadbed by the road bandits. The car blew up and five guards were badly injured
March 12
1831 Studebaker Born
Clement Studebaker was born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Clement and his brother, Henry Studebaker, founded H. & C. Studebaker, a blacksmith and wagon building business in South Bend, Indiana. The Studebaker brothers made their fortune manufacturing carriages for the Union Army during the Civil War. By the end of the war, the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company had become the world's largest manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages. With the advent of the automobile, Studebaker converted its business to car manufacturing, becoming one of the larger independent automobile manufacturers. Another major war would effect the company's fortune almost a century after its founders had benefited from the demand caused by the Civil War. During World War II, Studebaker manufactured airplane engines, trucks, and weasels (small military vehicles) for the war effort. Like many of the independents, Studebaker fared well during the war by producing affordable family cars. As their advertisement claimed, "Studebaker is building an unlimited quantity of airplane engines, military trucks, and other materiel for national defense... and a limited number of passenger cars, which are the finest Studebaker has ever produced." However, after the war, the Big Three--GM, Ford, and Chrysler--bolstered by their new government-subsidized production facilities, were too much for many of the independents, and Studebaker was no exception. Post-WWII competition drove Studebaker to its limits, and the company was absorbed by the Packard Corporation in 1954.
March 13
1969 The Love Bug
On this day, the Walt Disney studio released The Love Bug. Directed by Robert Stevenson, the film starred "Herbie," a loveable Volkswagen bug with a personality. Abused by the evil racecar driver "Thorndyke" (David Thomlinson), Herbie is rescued by the young good-guy racecar driver "Jim" (Dean Jones). Grateful for his rescue, Herbie rewards the hapless Jim by winning one race after another on his driver’s behalf. The excitement begins when the ruthless Thorndyke plots to get Herbie back by any means necessary. Based on a story by Gordon Buford, The Love Bug inspired two sequels, Herbie Rides Again and Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo. By becoming one of the biggest grossing films of 1969, The Love Bug allayed any fears that the Disney Studio would collapse without the presence of the recently deceased Walt Disney. The movie became a children’s film classic and enhanced the Volkswagen Beetle’s image as a quirky car endowed with more than solid engineering.
March 14
1914 Father of the King
Stock car racer Lee Arnold Petty was born near Randleman, North Carolina, on this day. Now famous as the father of Richard Petty--the all-time winningest racer in NASCAR history--Lee Petty was no slouch in his own day. In 1959, Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500 at the brand new Daytona International Speedway driving a new hardtop Olds 88 to a photo finish with Johnny Beauchamp. The Pettys would switch to Plymouths midway through the season that year and Lee and Richard Petty drove Plymouths, Chryslers, and Dodges for most of their remaining careers. Together the father and son team combined for 254 wins, including eight Daytona 500s. However, Lee and Richard also took father and son competition to its extremes. The embodiment of stack car racing’s hard-nosed past, Lee Petty never lost a race on account of being too kind to his competitors, even if his competitors were family. Richard Petty remembers his quest to win his first NASCAR race at the Grand National Exposition in Toronto, "Cotton Owens was leading and daddy was second. They came up on me and I moved over to let them pass. Cotton went on, but daddy bumped me in the rear and my car went right into the wall." Richard finished in seventeenth place. In 1959, Richard thought he had won his first race after finishing first in the Grand National at Lakewood, Georgia. However, Lee, who finished second in the event, protested his son’s victory. The protest was upheld and Lee won the race. Before you call Richard Petty "The King", remember "The King" isn’t an absolute monarch when his daddy is around. Richard’s son Kyle is also a successful NASCAR racer, and no doubt benefits from the family’s competitive edge.
March 15
1906 Rolls and Royce
On this day, Rolls-Royce Ltd. was officially registered with Charles S. Rolls and F. Henry Royce as directors. In 1904, Henry Royce, the founder of his self-titled electrical and mechanical engineering firm, built his first car. In May of that year, he met Charles Rolls, whose company sold cars in London. The two men agreed that Royce Limited would manufacture a line of cars to be sold exclusively by C.S. Rolls & Co. The cars bore the name Rolls-Royce. Success with their partnership led to the formation of the Rolls-Royce Company. In 1906, just after the company was organized, it released the six-cylinder 40/50 horsepower Silver Ghost. The car was enthusiastically heralded by the British press as “the best car in the world.” From its formation to the start of World War I in 1914, Rolls-Royce focused on one product--the Silver Ghost. The war forced new demands on the British economy and Rolls-Royce shifted its manufacturing emphasis to airplane engines. Henry Royce’s designs are credited with having provided half of the total horsepower used in the Allies’ air war against Germany and World War II transformed Rolls-Royce into a major force in aerospace engineering. In 1931, Rolls-Royce absorbed Bentley, and, since then, it has produced all cars bearing that name. Together Rolls-Royce and Bentley are synonymous with luxurious hand-made cars.
March 16
1958 & 1966 & 1 The Race Is On
On this day in 1958 the Ford Motor Company produced its 50,000,000th car, a Thunderbird. Ford averaged nearly a million cars each year since the company’s inception. Ford and General Motors are the United States’ largest car manufacturers. To put their relative sizes in perspective, on this day in 1966 General Motors produced its 100,000,000th car, an Oldsmobile Toronado. GM’s larger production is the result of it always having been a conglomeration of automotive companies while Ford was, for a very long time, a centrally run, vertically administered family business.
March 17
1949 Porsche’s Pride
The first car to carry the Porsche family name was introduced at the 19th International Automobile Show in Geneva, Switzerland. After serving a two-year prison sentence for his participation as an engineer in Hitler’s regime, Ferdinand Porsche and his son Ferry went to work on a car that would carry the Porsche name. The Porsche prototype, named the 356, was a sports car version of the Volkswagen that Porsche had designed at Hitler’s request. Its rounded lines, rear engine, and open two-seater design set the standard for all Porsches to come. The classic design and the incomparable engineering of Porsche cars attracted loyal customers at a record pace. In 1950, Ferdinand Porsche celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday. He had risen to fame as an engineer for Mercedes, he had developed the Volkswagen; and he had finally put his name to his own automobile. One year later Porsche suffered a stroke from which he would never recover. He died in January of 1952. Ferry Porsche, Ferdinand’s son, built the Porsche Company into the empire it is today.
March 18
1929 GM Acquires Opel
General Motors announced its plans to acquire Opel AG, one of Germany’s largest car companies. When Alfred P. Sloan became president of GM in 1923, there was already a GM of Canada, but all other foreign markets were still being served through export. Throughout the 1920s the economic nationalism of European countries made international expansion difficult for the U.S. car companies. Ford attempted to crack foreign markets by setting up manufacturing subsidiaries in other countries. GM’s Sloan decided that purchasing existing companies in countries with desirable markets was a better policy. In 1925 GM purchased Vauxhall Motors of Great Britain. Sloan’s policies allowed GM to expand its market without attracting attention as a foreign company. On this day in 1929 GM announced its plans to buy the Adam Opel A.G. GM still runs Opel under the Opel name. Alfred Sloan is credited with turning General Motors from one of the most successful car companies in America into one of the greatest industrial giants in the world.
March 19
1952 One Million Jeeps
In 1939 the American Bantam Car Company submitted its original design for an all-terrain troop transport vehicle--featuring four-wheel drive, masked fender-mount headlights, and a rifle rack under the dash--to the U.S. Armed Forces. The Army loved Bantam’s design, but the development contract for the vehicle was ultimately awarded to the Willys-Overland Company for its superior production capabilities. Bantam wound up fulfilling a government contract for three thousand vehicles during the war; but the Jeep, as designed by Willys-Overland, would become the primary troop transport of the U.S. Army. Mass production of the Willys Jeep began after the U.S. declaration of war in 1941. The name "Jeep" is reportedly derived from the Army’s request that car manufacturers develop a "General Purpose" vehicle. "Gee Pee" turned to "Jeep" somewhere along the battle lines. Another story maintains that the name came from a character in the Popeye cartoon who, like the vehicle, was capable of incredible feats. The Willys Jeep became a cultural icon in the U.S. during World War II, as images of G.I.’s in "Gee Pees" liberating Europe saturated newsreels in movie theaters across the country. Unlike the Hummer of recent years, the Jeep was not a symbol of technological superiority but rather of the courage of the American spirit--a symbol cartoonist Bill Mauldin captured when he drew a weeping soldier firing a bullet into his broken down Willys Jeep. By 1945, 660,000 Jeeps had rolled off the assembly lines and onto battlefields in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Many remained abroad after the war, where their parts were integrated into other vehicles or their broken bodies were mended with colorful impromptu repairs. Wherever the Jeep roamed, it lived up to its design as a vehicle for general use. During the war, Jeep hoods were used as altars for field burials. Jeeps also were used as ambulances, tractors, and scout cars. After the war, surplus Jeeps found their way into civilian life as snowplows, field plows, and mail carriers. Willys-Overland released its first civilian Jeep model, called the CJ (Civilian Jeep) in 1945. On this day in 1952 the one millionth Jeep was produced.
March 20
1920 Bugatti’s Sixteen-Valve
Bugatti delivered its first sixteen-valve car to a customer in Basel, Switzerland. Bugatti, a Swiss-based luxury car company, was famous for its exquisite, powerful vehicles. In the 1920s and 1930s the Bugatti car was a symbol of wealth and status and its cars were equipped with massive racing engines. A bizarre footnote in Bugatti history: the renowned American dancer Isadora Duncan was driving in a 16-valve Bugatti when her trademark long scarf caught in the rear wheel of the vehicle and she was instantly strangled to death.
March 21
1950 Tucker Turns Tables
Preston Tucker filed suit against his former prosecutors. Tucker, made famous by the 1988 film Tucker starring Jeff Bridges in the title role, was one of the car industry’s most spectacular post-war failures. Having built a reputation as an engineer during WWII, when he served as general manager of his company Ypsilanti Machine & Tool Company, Tucker looked to capitalize on the high demand that the post-war conditions offered. No new car model had been released since 1942, so the end of the war would bring four years worth of car buyers back to the market. Tucker intended to meet the new demand with a revolutionary automobile design. His 1945 plans called for an automobile that would be equipped with a rear-mounted engine as powerful as an aircraft engine, an hydraulic torque converter that would eliminate the necessity of a transmission, two revolving headlights at either side of the car’s fender along with one stationary “cyclops” headlight in the middle, and a steering wheel placed in the center of the car and flanked by two passenger seats. In the end, only fifty-one Tuckers were produced and none of them were equipped with the features Tucker had initially advertised. Still, loyal fans of Tucker claim that Tucker was the victim of industrial sabotage carried out by the Big Three. Tucker was indicted by the Securities and Exchange Commission before he could begin to mass-produce his automobiles. He was eventually acquitted of all charges. Emboldened by his acquittal Tucker filed suit against his prosecutors. Historians who argue against the conspiracy theory maintain that post-war manufacturing conditions left small manufacturers little room for success. They suggest that, if anything, Tucker’s acquittal was merciful. Tucker failed to meet the requirements for capital and production capability that his project demanded. After raising almost $15 million from stockholders, Tucker defaulted on federal deadlines for the production of car prototypes. When he finally did produce the cars, none of them were equipped with the technological breakthroughs he promised. Still, the Tucker was a remarkable car for its price tag. Whether as an innovator silenced by the complacent authorities or a charlatan better fit to build visions than cars, Preston Tucker made an personal impact in a post-war industry dominated by faceless goliaths.
March 22
1958 Pull Over
South Carolina police pulled over Alabama boat and car racer J. Wilson Morris for exceeding the speed limit as Morris attempted to race across the state in record time. The police held the nineteen year-old Morris in jail for two days, scaring him so badly that he finished his trip on the bus.
March 23
1956 The Independent Shuffle
The Studebaker-Packard Corporation halted merger talks with the Ford Motor Company to pursue talks with the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Studebaker-Packard itself was the result of a merger in which the large Studebaker firm purchased the small and successful Packard line. After World War II the independent car manufacturers had a difficult time keeping pace with the production capabilities of the Big Three, who were able to produce more cars at lower prices to meet the demands of a population starved for cars. Independents began to merge with one another to remain competitive. Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson Motors merged successfully to become American Motors (AMC). Paul Hoffman, the manager of Studebaker, realized his company would have to merge or perish. He negotiated an arduous merger between his company and Detroit-based Packard Motors. The merger took over five months to come through, as unionized labor on both sides balked at the proposal. Finally in October of 1954 Studebaker and Packard merged to become the country’s fourth largest car company. Hoffman chose Packard president James Nance to lead the new operation. Nance, spiteful of the inefficiency that Studebaker brought to his company, generally ignored the input of his colleagues, instituting his own policies in an attempt to turn around the fortune of his new company. His policies failed, and renewed labor problems brought Studebaker-Packard to it knees. In 1956 Curtiss-Wright purchased Studebaker-Packard. The failed merger between Studebaker, which had been in operation since the 1890s, and Packard was emblematic of the post-war independent manufacturers’ scramble to consolidate. While Studebaker-Packard failed, AMC was able to stay alive into the 1970s when it was bought by French giant Renault.
March 24
1954 The Making of an Independent
Stockholders of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and the Hudson Motor Car Company approved the proposed merger of the two firms. The companies would form the American Motors Corporation (AMC). AMC is recognized as the most successful post-war independent manufacturer of cars. It owed its success in large part to its remarkable president George Romney. Born to Mormon missionary parents on a Mormon colony in Chihuahua, Mexico, Romney grew up poor. His grandfather Miles Romney, who had been born in Nauvoo, Illinois, the original site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, had four wives and sired thirty children. Unlike most of the great figures of the American automotive industry, Romney had little experience actually building cars. He had made his mark as a spokesman and advocate during stints as a lobbyist. His first car-related job was the director position of the Automobile Manufacturers Association. He joined the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation in 1948 as the special assistant to then company chairman George Mason. Romney learned the business side of the automobile industry and his exceptional skills as a negotiator propelled him to the upper echelons of the company. By 1953 he was an executive vice-president and a member of the board of directors. A few months after the merger that formed AMC, Goerge Mason, company president, died and the board elected Mason’s protégé, George Romney, to succeed him. As head of AMC, Romney emphasized the independents’ need to avoid direct competition with the Big Three. The company developed the Rambler and Romney coined the term "compact car" to promote it. Romney is also credited with coining the term "gas-guzzling dinosaur" to describe the Big Three’s extravagant 1950s models. AMC recorded profits by 1958, and George Romney was rewarded for his remarkable achievement with name recognition. Still a devout Mormon, Romney used his recognition for social improvement. He led a campaign against the monopoly held by Detroit’s Big Three. Romney argued that no car manufacturer should be allowed to maintain more than 35 percent market share. He termed his business philosophy "competitive cooperative consumerism" and argued that monopoly "either by labor or by industry, is bad for America." Romney’s views, perhaps ahead of their time, were never fully taken seriously due in part to his tendency to change his stance. His career as a car manufacturer was followed by a political career during which Romney served as governor of Michigan and ran for the Republican nomination for president.
March 25
1901 Mercedes Debuts
The Mercedes was introduced by Daimler at the five-day "Week of Nice" in Nice, France. The car, driven by Willhelm Werner, dominated the events at the competition. Mercedes cars were conceived at the same venue in Nice two years earlier. After seeing a Daimler car win a race there, businessman Emile Jellinek approached Gottlieb Daimler with an offer. Jellinek suggested that if Daimler could produce a new car model with an even bigger engine then he would buy thirty of them. Jellinek also requested that the cars be named after his daughter, Mercedes. Daimler died before the Mercedes was released but the car carried his name to the heights of the automotive industry. In 1904 a Mercedes clocked 97 mph over a one kilometer stretch, an astonishing feat in its day. Mercedes cars dominated the racing world for half a decade before Karl Benz’s company could catch up.
March 26
1984 World Car
The Ford Escort was named the best-selling car in the world for the third year in a row. The Escort was the result of Ford’s attempt to design a "world car," a car that could be sold with minor variations all over the world. It was Ford’s first successful sub-compact car and its features have become standard for cars in that class all over the world. The Escort was one of the first successes of Ford’s dramatic resurgence in the 1980s.
March 27
1925 MG
Cecil Kimber registered his first modified Morris, the prototype of the MG. Kimber’s car is now known as "Old Number One", though design differences lead some to maintain that "Old Number One" was a different species from the MG. However you look at it, Kimber’s modified Morris was the first in a line of successful automobiles known for their style and performance. Known for their zippy overhead cam engine’s, MG’s were hugely popular in the U.S. as sports cars.
March 28
1941 Willit Run?
Construction of Ford’s Willow Run Plant began. Due both to his admiration of the German people and his philosophical alignment as a pacifist, Henry Ford was reluctant to convert all of his production facilities to war manufacturing. Compounding his anxiety was the fact that one of his former employees, William Knudsen, who had defected to General Motors, headed the bureau in Washington in charge of administrating Detroit’s war effort. But with the U.S. declaration of war in 1941, Ford had no choice but to participate. He contributed with his usual sense of competitive ambition. Before the war, Ford had boasted nonchalantly that Ford could produce 1,000 airplanes per day provided there was no interference from stockholders or labor unions. So when Ford was asked by Knudsen to build subassemblies for Consolidated Aircraft, it was no surprise that Ford lieutenant Charles Sorensen pushed for a deal that would allow Ford to construct the entire B-24 Liberator bomber. The contract included $200 million toward the construction of a new production facility. In exchange, Sorensen promised Ford would manufacture 500 planes per month, a quote nearly ten times what Consolidated Aircraft was then capable of producing. Ground was broken on a vast piece of land in Ypsilanti, Michigan to begin a plant called Willow Run. Over the course of the next few years Willow Run would be a source of problems for the Ford Motor Company. Squabbling within Ford over control of the company, government interference, the loss of much of the company’s labor force to the draft, and other problems deterred Ford’s war effort. By the end of 1942, Willow Run had only produced 56 B-24 bombers and the plant had been saddled with the nickname "Willit Run?" The government considered taking over the operations at Willow Run. Just when it seemed that Sorensen’s project would fail, Willow Run began rolling out B-24’s at a remarkable rate. The plant produced 190 bombers in June of 1943, 365 in December. By the middle of 1944, Willow Run churned out a plane every 63 minutes. "Willow Run looked like a city with a roof on it," remembered Esther Earthlene, one of the many women who worked there during the war. Willow Run was the largest factory of its day. Its workers built planes around the clock, rotating three eight-hour shifts. They were provided with housing and entertainment. Willow Run had a twenty-four hour movie theater. By the end of the war, Willow Run had produced more than 8,500 bombers, and it had become a symbol of the American economy’s successful response to war.
March 29
1806 Federal Highway
The Great National Pike, also known as the Cumberland Road, became the first highway funded by the national treasury. Built between 1806 and 1840, the Great National Pike stretched from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois. On this day the first appropriation of $30,000 was made by congressional act. Eventually over $6 million was appropriated for the highway. In 1856, control over the road was turned over to the states through which it ran. Roads would be left to the devices of the states almost exclusively until the dawn of the automobile. Henry Ford and other leaders of the automotive industry were instrumental in encouraging the federal funding of national highways.
- 1927 Mystery Sunbeam
Major Henry O’Neil de Hane Segrave became the first man to break the 200 miles per hour barrier. Driving a 1,000 horsepower Mystery Sunbeam, Segrave averaged 203.79 miles per hour on the course at Daytona Beach, Florida. Segrave and his contemporary, British racer Malcolm Campbell, battled for land-speed supremacy throughout the 1920s. Segrave won the most historic victory in the longstanding competition when he broke the 200 miles per hour barrier and went on to set many more land-speed records. Between his efforts and Campbell’s, Great Britain dominated the land-speed record books until jet engines usurped supremacy from internal combustion engines. Segrave died in 1930 attempting to set a new water speed record.
March 30
1947 Look at this Tucker
Preston Tucker announced his concept for a new automobile to be named "the Tucker". Having built a reputation as an engineer during WWII when he served as general manager of his company, Ypsilanti Machine & Tool Company, Tucker looked to capitalize on the high demand for cars that post-war conditions offered. No new car model had been released since 1942, and so the end of the war would bring four years worth of car-buyers back to the market. Tucker intended to meet the demand with a revolutionary automobile design. His 1945 plans called for an automobile that would be equipped with a rear-mounted engine as powerful as an aircraft engine, an hydraulic torque converter that would eliminate the necessity of a transmission, two revolving headlights at either side of the car’s fender, one stationary "cyclops" headlight in the middle, and a steering wheel placed in the center of the car and flanked by two passenger seats. However, a series of financial difficulties forced Tucker to tone down his own expectations for the cars. Production costs rose above his projections and investors became more cautious as the Big Three continued their astounding post-war success. To raise money for his project, Tucker sold franchises to individual car dealers who put up $50 in cash for every car they expected to sell during their first two years as a Tucker agent. The deposit was to be applied to the purchase price of the car upon delivery. The SEC objected to Tucker’s strategy on the grounds that he was selling unapproved securities. It was just one intervention in a continuous battle between Tucker and federal regulatory bodies. Tucker loyalists espouse the theory that Tucker was the victim of a conspiracy planned by the Big Three to sabotage independent manufacturers. More likely, though, Tucker was the victim of an unfriendly market and his own recklessness. Unfortunately for his investors, the SEC indicted Tucker before he could begin mass production of his cars. He was acquitted on all counts, but his business was ruined. In the end, only fifty-one Tuckers were produced and none of them were equipped with the technological breakthroughs he promised. Still, the Tucker was a remarkable car for its price tag. Whether as an innovator silenced by the complacent authorities or a charlatan better fit to build visions than cars, Preston Tucker made a personal impact in a post-war industry dominated by faceless goliaths.
March 31
1900 Satisfaction
The first car advertisement to run in a national magazine appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. The W.E. Roach Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ran an ad featuring its jingle, "Automobiles That Give Satisfaction."
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