This Day in Automotive History for August 28 – September 2

Hello, friends. I will likely be unable to provide content after today until September 3 as my fiancee`and I are moving to a new home (feel free to send gifts – haha)! In the meantime, here’s a couple of quick This Day in Automotive History facts.

August 28, 1937 – Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. is officially established. The company was a branch of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. The company produced its first engine in 1934 and its first car, a model A1 in May of 1935. It’s design was heavily based on the DeSoto Airflow. The name was changed from Toyoda to Toyota because the number of strokes to write Toyota in Japanese characters (Kanji) is eight, a lucky number in East Asian culture, while Toyoda was nine strokes. (Model A1 pictured above).

August 29, 1927 – The precursor to the modern breathalyzer, the Drunkometer, was first tested by US law enforcement officials.

August 30, 1945 – Hudson produced its first post WWII vehicle, a green Super Six coupe.

August 31, 1956 – The Oldsmobile Golden Rocket show car debuted.

September 1, 1941 – The 1942 DeSoto was introduced, which featured Air-Foil powered pop up headlights that were hidden when not in use. This was the first mass produced car to feature this power option. Seven years prior the Cord 810 introduced pop up headlights, but they were opened with a hand crank.

September 2, 1994 – The National Corvette Museum opened in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where the Chevrolet Corvette is manufactured.

Thanks for reading This Day in Automotive History!