October 21, 1897 – Autocar, the oldest surviving American vehicle company, is founded
Louis Semple Clarke completed his first vehicle in mid-1897. He named the three wheeled buggy powered by a one-cylinder gas engine Autocar No. 1. It immediately became apparent to the inventor how important the automobile would become. LS, as he was known, recruited his brothers John and James, his
October 20, 1902 – The first Cadillac is completed, maybe…
According to the book “Henry Leland – Master of Precision,” the final assembly of the first Cadillac took place on this day in 1902. This date is up for dispute. Another source points to October 17 as the day the first car reached completion. One account states car number
October 19, 1965 – MGB GT goes on sale
MG released the unitary construction MGB in 1962 to replace the seven year old MGA. While it didn’t feature the traditional body and frame assembly of its predecessor, the two cars did share many components. The brakes and suspension are traced to the MGA, while the four cylinder B-Series
Dusty & Rusty – 1917 Dodge Brothers Roadster – $8,995
Horace and John Dodge are among the most fascinating automotive pioneers, at least in this author’s opinion. They started a machine shop in 1900 that would supply engines, transmissions, axles and other parts to numerous automakers including Oldsmobile and Ford. The pair made a fortune from to Henry Ford
October 18, 1934 – Automatic transmission patented
Oscar H. Banker, an Armenian-American inventor born in 1895, filed for a patent for a new type of automatic transmission on this day in 1934. The automatic transmission wasn’t a new idea at the time, but it had hardly been perfected. General Motors and REO each debuted a semi-automatic
Dusty & Rusty – 1932 Chrysler CI – Runs & Drives – $7,600
Being alive in 1932 was tough. While the Great Depression may ring a bell, plenty of other tragedy and tribulation was playing out across the land. It was 1932 that witnessed the Lindbergh kidnapping and Adolf Hitler earning German citizenship (he was Austrian/Hungarian by birth). The same year saw
Dusty & Rusty – 1959 Chevrolet El Camino – $4,500
Yesterday we celebrated the release of the 1959 Chevrolet El Camino, so when this one came across my screen, I had to put it on blast. Though this one appears to have gone through a blast or two of its own. Listed for $4,500 on Craigslist outside of Spokane,
October 17, 1968 – Bullitt, starring Steve McQueen and a ’68 Mustang, debuts
The film Bullitt debuted on this day in 1968. In brief, I’ll let film critic Roger Ebert explain the plot, using an excerpt from his 1968 review. “McQueen plays a San Francisco cop assigned as bodyguard to a syndicate witness. The witness gets shotgunned — in the most brutally
