Auto Factoid for Week of Nov. 30, 2014

Hope you all had a great Turkey Day!!

Here is the line up of Auto Factoids for the first week in December!!!

 

Nov 30 1960  De Soto ceases production.  The last De Soto produced were really the Chrysler Windsor, most did not sale, even though dealerships continued to received cars after the brand was terminated.

1961 Windsor

1961 Windsor

1961 DeSoto

1961 DeSoto

 

Way before that on Nov 30, 1900 Germany patented an automobile front wheel drive.  Although this is a common historic fact, there is some evidence that the first production car with front wheel drive was a French car.  There exists a French Patent around 1898 or 1899.  The manufacturer was Société Parisienne and the car was the Victoria Combination.

It was a lightweight two-seater trailer,known as a ‘Victoria’, combined with the back axle and mechanical components of a motor tricycle, but this axle was placed in front of the trailer and steered by a long tiller on which the controls were located. The first examples were powered by 1.75 or 2.5 horsepower De Dion Bouton engines geared directly to the differential, but larger engines of this make were fitted as they became available.

1900 Victoria Combination

1900 Victoria Combination

 

December 1, 1925 GM purchased Vauxhall.  Vauxhall started out as engine manufacturer mainly for pumps and marine use (1857 – Alex Wilson).  They began making cars in 1903.  Here is a video of a 1903 Vauxhall.  They are still producing cars using the Opel name under GM.

One more of it on a road test.

Back 1913 (just over 100 years ago) on Dec 1, Ford fired up the first continuous assembly line.

Ford's Production Line

Ford’s Production Line

And just one day and 14 years later (Dec 2, 1927) Ford began selling Models A off this assembly line.

1927 Model A

1927 Model A

 

Dec 3, 1951 is Rick Mears birthday – one of only three drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 3 times.

Rick Mears in his Formula 1 car

Rick Mears in his Formula 1 car

 

That round out the week.  Thanks for reading Auto Factoids.

Tim

 

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Petersen Museum hosts hot rod stamps dedication | ClassicCars.com

I didn’t realize there were models for the stamps!

This is an older article.

The two ’32 Ford highboy roadsters that posed for the U.S. Postal Service’s new Hot Rods Forever Stamps will be shown today at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles during a dedication ceremony of the limited-edition collection.The cars – the red ’32 McGee Roadster owned by well-known collector Bruce Meyer and the black-with-flames ’32 Frank Rogers Roadster owned by Mark Graham – will be at the museum with their owners for the 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ceremony, along with U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and emcee Barry Maguiar, host of the TV show Car Crazy.

via Petersen Museum hosts hot rod stamps dedication | ClassicCars.com.

 

HotRod

Thanks for reading.

Tim

32 McGee Roadster.

32 McGee Roadster.