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March 23, 1968 – The Lincoln Continental Mark III is introduced
23Mar By Brian CoreyNo Comments
Business

March 23, 1968 – The Lincoln Continental Mark III is introduced

1971 Continental Mark III. By DaveLphx8 - CC BY-SA 4.0 Hoping to woo race fans at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Lincoln introduced their new flagship model, The Continental Mark III, on this day in 1968. The development of the Mark III can be traced back to 1965 when Lee Iacocca, then vice president of Ford's car and truck group, tasked a design team with creating a high-end vehicle that would compete with European luxury brands. Iacocca was known for his bold and imaginative ideas, and in this case, he famously said, "Put a Rolls-Royce grille on a Thunderbird." This statement was the inspiration behind the design of the Mark III. The result was a stylish and sophisticated car that was unlike anything else on the market. Continental Mark III. By GPS 56 from New Zealand CC BY 2.0 It a...
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February 18, 1898 – Enzo Ferrari is born
18Feb By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
Business

February 18, 1898 – Enzo Ferrari is born

Enzo Ferrari Enzo was fascinated by cars from a young age. He began racing them as a young man, and quickly gained a reputation as a skilled and daring driver. Enzo's love of cars led him to a job with a small car manufacturer, where he quickly became an expert in car design and mechanics. In 1929, Enzo founded his own company, Scuderia Ferrari. It produced race cars and provided technical support to other racing teams. Later it became the in house race team of Alfa Romeo. He left Alfa in 1939 under the provision he could not place his name on a car for at least four years. The next year he produced two vehicles, the Auto Avio Costruzioni 815. Then in 1947 he unveiled the first car to dawn a Ferrari badge, the Ferrari 125 Sport. This signaled the beginning of something truly special...
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Celebrity Car Collections You’ve Got to See to Believe
18Jan By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
Business, Features

Celebrity Car Collections You’ve Got to See to Believe

Rowan Atkinson, AKA Mr. Bean, racing his classic Jaguar Mark VII M Many celebrities are known for their extravagant lifestyles, and for a lot of the ones who fit the category, that includes a love for luxury cars. Here are five celebrities with some of the biggest car collections in the world. Jay Leno Car Collection Jay Leno in 1993 in his Hispano-Suiza Aero. By Alan Light, CC BY 2.0 It's no secret that the comedian and former host of "The Tonight Show" is a well-known car enthusiast. What you may not know is that the joker's collection includes more than 150 vehicles. Some of his most notable cars include a 1931 Duesenberg Model J, a 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K, and a 1949 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport. Jerry Seinfeld Car Collection (therichest.com) Another funnyman with...
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December 24, 1801 – The Puffing Devil
24Dec By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
Business

December 24, 1801 – The Puffing Devil

British inventor and mining engineer Richard Trevithick introduced a steam powered contraption he named the Puffing Devil on this day in 1801. Trevithick, who would go onto patent the first high powered steam engine, demonstrated his transportation system by carrying six passengers up Fore Street and up Camborne Hill in Camborne, UK. Just three days later the machine broke down and operators left it unattended with the first still burning. The water evaporated and the engine burned, destroying the vehicle. He would continue to build a series of locomotives, furthering development of the modern railroad. Portrait of TrevithickA replica of Trevithick's Puffing Devil, built by the Trevithick Society and regularly demonstrated in Cornwall. By Chris Allen, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://co...
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December 15, 1967 – Silver Bridge collapse
15Dec By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
Business

December 15, 1967 – Silver Bridge collapse

It was rush hour on this day in 1967 when the Silver Bridge that spanned the Ohio River between Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio collapsed. The disaster took 46 lives, two of the victims were never recovered. In the wreckage of the eyebar bridge it was found that a 0.1 inch (2.5 mm) deep defect in one of the eyebars caused the collapse. Further analysis showed the bridge, which opened in 1928, was carrying heavier loads that it had been designed for. In wake of the tragedy legislation was created that required the regular inspection and analysis of bridges across the United States, ensuring safer roadways for commuters.
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December 13, 1939 – The first Lincoln Continental
13Dec By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
Business

December 13, 1939 – The first Lincoln Continental

A first generation Lincoln Continental When Edsel Ford requested a personal luxury vehicle to use while vacationing in Florida, designer Bob Gregorie put pen to paper. Within an hour he sketched out what would eventually become the Lincoln Continental. That initial design, essentially a two-door channeled and sectioned Lincoln Zephyr, featured a convertible top and no running boards. Workers hand built the car, which sat 7 inches lower than the original Lincoln, and delivered to to Edsel in Florida. He loved it -- and so did his rich friends. He telegrammed headquarters stating he could sell 1,000 of them. The dubbed the car the Lincoln Continental due to its European styling queues and put it in production. The first Lincoln Continental left the factory on this day in 1939. 1941 Li...
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December 4, 1955 – József Galamb, Designer of the Ford Model T, dies
4Dec By Brian CoreyNo Comments
Business

December 4, 1955 – József Galamb, Designer of the Ford Model T, dies

The answer to the question, who built the Model T, is not simple. Sure, you could say Ford Motor Company, and you wouldn't be wrong, but it doesn't answer the deeper question. Who really created and built the car. Was it Henry Ford? Well, he was a solid businessman with good ideas, but at that early point in his automotive career, he was hardly an engineer. Of course, it was his company afterall and he is the one who stated he'd build a car for the masses. József Galamb The Ford Model T, is exactly that. However, he needed help to bring it to fruition. Heck, even Clara, his wife, is the one who became adament about placing the steering wheel on the left side so she didn't have to step in horse poop getting out of the car on a street. But if not Henry, or Henry alone, then who? C. H...
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October 15, 1970 – The West Gate Bridge collapse
15Oct By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
Business

October 15, 1970 – The West Gate Bridge collapse

The West Gate Bridge after it collapsed. By Petersod - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 On this day in 1970, during the second year of construction on the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne, Australia, a section of the bridge collapsed into the Yarra River and mud flats below, killing 35 workers. The tragedy marks the largest loss of life in any industrial accident in Australian history to date. Many of the workers that died were crushed in the workers huts below, while others fell from the span as it dropped 165 feet. A Royal Commission set up to find the cause of the West Gate Bridge collapse released its findings in July of 1971. The report pointed to two faults: the structural design by designers Freeman Fox & Partners, and an unusual method of construction by World Services and Constructi...
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October 4, 1983 – Thrust 2 sets new land speed record
4Oct By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
Business

October 4, 1983 – Thrust 2 sets new land speed record

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA If you found yourself in The Black Rock Desert in Nevada on this day in 1983 you would not find yourself at Burning Man. However, youwould have witnessed the land speed record being broken by Richard Noble driving the Thrust 2, a jet propelled car designed by Britain's John Ackroyd. The vehicle hit a top speed of 650.88 mph but held the record at 633.468 mph, as that was the average of its two runs held within one hour of each other.  The vehicle is powered by a single Rolls-Royce Avon jet engine from an English Electric Lightning fighter plane from the Cold War era. The land speed record set by Thrust2 held steady until Andy Green drove ThrustSSC to 714 miles per hour in September 1997. He topped that, hitting 760 miles per hour, a month later. Today bot...
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September 26, 1982 – Knight Rider debuts
26Sep By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
Business

September 26, 1982 – Knight Rider debuts

On this day in 1982 the TV show Knight Rider made its prime time debut. The show starred David Hasselhoff as crime fighter Michael Knight who drove a customized 1982 Pontiac Trans AM named K.I.T.T., which stood for Knight Industries Two Thousands. The following is a previously written description of the car from Wikipedia: K.I.T.T. was designed by Michael Scheffe using Pontiac's 1982 Trans Am. Michael Scheffe had worked for Mattel designing toys, and had done some design work on Blade Runner. Scheffe had around 18 days to create his first mock up of K.I.T.T. for the network.  Stuntman Jack Gill says the car was dropped about an inch and a half from GM's stock height. The car also had around $2,000,000 worth of modifications. Spare cars were always on hand, and Universal eventually ...
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This Day in Automotive History is a transportation history, car history and general automotive history website dedicated to providing informative and entertaining content. Our goal is to enlighten our readers by producing and publishing automotive content on a wide range of topics, including famous cars, important automotive inventors and engineers and other historic automobile related events, places and people. We encourage you to share our page and connect with us on Facebook or sign up for our automotive history newsletter at the top of this page. If you have any questions about the content we publish, including our car videos and car history pictures and text and the use of them, please don’t hesitate to contact us using the below email address. On occasion we post classic cars for sale from Craigslist, Facebook and other online marketplaces. We utilize imagery from those ads in a fair use fashion. This includes barn finds for sale, muscle cars for sale, vans for sale, station wagons for sale, trucks for sale and other affordable old cars for sale. If you’d like your car featured, reach out to us!

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