Subscribe to our Newsletter!

Tag: motorcycle

March 17, 1948 – Hells Angels MC is founded
17Mar By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

March 17, 1948 – Hells Angels MC is founded

The Bishop family formed the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in Fontana, California on this day in 1948. Composed of members from a number of other local clubs, the Angels' name is supposedly inspired by WWII fighter pilots. Another possible origin could be Howard Hughes’ 1930 film “Hell’s Angels” about WWI fighter pilots. Internal club messaging states the name came from Arvid Olson, an associate of the club founders. During WWII he was a Squadron Leader of the 3rd Pursuit Squadron “Hells Angels” American Volunteer Group. Olson himself never became a member of the club. A Hells Angels clubhouse in New York City. By Beyond My Ken - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 Early knowledge of the Hells Angels is somewhat unclear, but some of the first chapters began in San Francisco, Fontana and Oakl...
Read More
November 10, 1885 – The first motorcycle ride
10Nov By Automotive History28 Comments
This Day

November 10, 1885 – The first motorcycle ride

On this day in 1885, the first test ride of what is often considered the first modern motorcycle, the Daimler Reitwagen (“riding car”), occurred. At the controls was 17-year-old Paul Daimler, son of the bike’s inventor, Gottlieb Daimler. This journey effectively made Paul the world’s first biker.  Gottlieb and Wilhelm Maybach designed the motorcycle, the first example powered by a gasoline internal combustion engine. Multiple motorcycles built before this utilized steam power. This included the Perreaux and Roper, dating as early as 1867, and the 1884 Copeland. The other significance of the Daimler Reitwagen is that this was the forerunner of all vehicles, land, sea or air, to use an engine of this type, however, it was not the first. More on that in a minute. Above: Daimler Rei...
Read More
December 9 1920 – Italian moto champion Bruno Ruffo is born
9Dec By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

December 9 1920 – Italian moto champion Bruno Ruffo is born

Italian motorcycle racer Bruno Ruffo was born on this day in 1920. In 1949 he would win the innaugural 250cc World Championship while riding for Moto Guzzi. The next year he would take third in the class, but he claimed the factory asked him to let his teammate win. The same year, atop a Mondial, he won the 125cc World Championship. In 1951, again riding for Moto Guzzi, he reclaimed the 250cc championship. The three championships were enough for Ruffo, who retired following an accident in 1952.
Read More

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!

Facebook Twitter Instagram

Contact Us

©2022 Cars & Copy Media Co.

This Day in Automotive History is product of Spare Change Multimedia LLC, DBA Cars & Copy Inc.

Proud Member of the Port Gardner Vintage Auto Club
Click the Logo to Read Our Privacy Policy

If you learned something today,

please buy me a beer!