1887 — Inventor of Octane Rating System is Born
On this day in 1887 Dr. Graham Edgar, developer of the octane rating system, was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas. During the pioneering era of the early automobile it was impossible to tell if a gasoline would cause engine knocking due to irregular combustion caused by a nonstandard refining processes and the use of numerous types of fuels within gas engines. The only real way to find out if a particular fuel would work in a certain car was to fill it up and crank it and just see what happens. In 1926, while working for a division of General Motors,Edgar solved this issue by developing the octane rating system. He found that the chemical isooctane would not knock in any engine, under any operating conditions, while n-heptane would always knock in any engine. By mixing isooctane and n-heptane in different amounts, he was able to create fuels of all qualities, suitable for different types of engines. The percentage of isooctane in the mixture is the octane number read on the fuel pump today.
1909 – Birth of Ferry Porsche in Wiener Neustadt
Ferdinand Anton Ernst “Ferry” Porsche was born in Wiener Neustadt on 19 September 1909, arriving into the household of a man already shaping Europe’s automotive future. The son of Ferdinand Porsche, Ferry grew up amid engineering drawings and experimental cars; that early immersion would lead him to direct and refine the sporting machines that ultimately bore the family name. His life’s work is often tied to the firm handshake between road-going finesse and motorsport engineering—the sensibility that turned prototype ideas into production cars. That combination of technical upbringing and managerial leadership made Ferry a central figure in converting his father’s designs into a coherent sports-car marque.
1932 – Ab Jenkins’ 24‑Hour Pierce‑Arrow Endurance Run
At Bonneville in mid‑September 1932 Ab Jenkins set out to prove a production-derived twelve‑cylinder could sustain relentless speed: he ran a Pierce‑Arrow V‑12 for a continuous 24 hours on a prepared circuit, covering roughly 2,710 miles at an average near 112.9 mph. The feat demanded steady pacing, careful mechanical stewardship of the V‑12 and relentless focus from Jenkins as driver and demonstrator. Publicized as a test of durability and pace rather than a short sprint record, the run helped cement Bonneville’s reputation as a venue for endurance speed trials and showcased what a large‑displacement touring car could achieve under continuous stress.
1953 – Auto Union Launches DKW 3=6 Sonderklasse
At the Frankfurt Motor Show, Auto Union introduced the DKW 3=6 Sonderklasse, a new front-wheel-drive model powered by an 896 cc three-cylinder two-stroke engine. Despite the “3=6” name, there were only three cylinders; DKW’s marketing argued that because a two-stroke engine fires on every crankshaft revolution, its power delivery could be compared with that of a six-cylinder four-stroke. The new F91 replaced the older two-cylinder Meisterklasse and produced about 34 horsepower, not 24, giving Auto Union a more modern and competitive postwar passenger car. The 3=6 became an important model for the revived company, helping stabilize sales in the 1950s and later evolving into the larger F93 and F94 series before the basic concept gave way to the Auto Union 1000.
1955 – Final Ceremonial Streetcar Run in Winnipeg
Although regular streetcar timetables in Winnipeg effectively ended on 18 September 1955, the Greater Winnipeg Transit Commission staged formal closing ceremonies and a ceremonial last-run on 19 September 1955 to mark the system’s farewell. Crowds and transit staff joined in a procession that day as historic cars were paraded for a final public viewing and commemorative ride; newspapers and transit histories later recounted the event as the symbolic end of decades of streetcar operation in the city. The ceremony underscored the ritual of urban change—a public goodbye to a familiar mode of transit even as buses took over daily service.
