Did You Know

This could be a good topic for reference if people kept adding and not just commenting.


Who opened the first drive-in gas station?
A: Gulf opened up the first station in Pittsburgh in 1913.


Q: What city was the first to use parking meters?
A: Oklahoma City, on July 16 , 1935.


Q: True or False? The 1953 Corvette came in white, red and black.
A: False. The 1953 'Vett's were available in one color, Polo White.


Q: What was Ford's answer to the Chevy Corvette, and
Other legal street racers of the 1960's?

A: Carroll Shelby's Mustang GT350.


Q: What was the first car fitted with an alternator, rather
Than a direct current dynamo?

A: The 1960 Plymouth Valiant


Q: What was the first car fitted with a replaceable cartridge oil filter?

A: The 1924 Chrysler.


Q: What was the first car to be offered with a "perpetual guarantee"?

A: The 1904 Acme, from Reading, PA. Perpetuity was disturbing in this case, as Acme closed down in 1911.


Q: What American luxury automaker began by making cages for birds and squirrels?

A: The George N. Pierce Co. Of Buffalo, who made the Pierce Arrow, also made iceboxes.


Q: What car first referred to itself as a convertible?

A: The 1904 Thomas Flyer, which had a removable hard top.



Q: What car was the first to have its radio antenna embedded in the windshield?

A: The 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix.


Q: What car used the first successful series-production
Hydraulic valve lifters?

A: The 1930 Cadillac 452, the first production V16





Q: Where was the World's first three-color traffic lights installed?

A: Detroit, Michigan in 1919.
Two years later they experimented with synchronized lights.


Q: What type of car had the distinction of being GM's
100 millionth car built in the U.S.?

A: March 16 , 1966 saw an Olds Toronado roll out of Lansing, Michigan with that honor.


Q: Where was the first drive-in movie theater opened, and when?

A: Camden, NJ in 1933





Q: What autos were the first to use a standardized production key-start system?

A: The 1949 Chryslers


Q: What did the Olds designation 4-4-2 stand for?

A: 4 barrel carburetor, 4 speed transmission, and dual exhaust.


Q: What car was the first to place the horn button in the center of the steering wheel?

A: The 1915 Scripps-Booth Model C. The car also was
The first with electric door latches.





Q: What U.S. Production car had the quickest 0-60 mph time?

A: The 1962 Chevrolet Impala SS 409.



Q: What's the only car to appear simultaneously on
The covers of Time and Newsweek?

A: The Mustang








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Here are some more Did you knows.

Almost every invention known to man has been experimented with and tried for 100 years. Nothing is new under the sun as they say.

The items below of amazingly recent dates is a list of inventions first used in a PRODUCTION vehicle on general sale to the public (not prototype or small number experimental models). These companies did not necessarily invent the device but were the first to incorporate it into a production car. Aviation had been using some of these for decades eg. fuel injection and turbocharging.

Touch Screen - Buick - 1986
ABS - Mercedes - 1971
Fibreglass Body - Corvette - 1953
Airbags - GM - 1973
Auto Transmission - Oldsmobile - 1939
Heated seats - Cadillac - 1966
Automated Assembly line - Ford - 1911
Continuously Variable Transmission - DAF - 1958 (Earlier designs go back to the 1890's but no volume production)
GPS - Toyota - 1986
Power steering - Chrysler - 1951
Retractable Hardtop - Peugeot - 1935
Fuel Injection - Mercedes - 1953
Turbo Charging - Oldsmobile - 1962
Twin Clutch Transmission - VW - 2003 (earlier twin clutch plate transmission was common but were simply two plates with an extra disc to spread the load eg F-100 and GT Falcon)
All Wheel Drive - Jensen/Ferguson - 1966
Cruise Control - Chrysler - 1958
3 Point Seat Belts - Volvo - 1959
Air Conditioning - Packard - 1940
Radio - Chevrolet - 1931 (Disputed by Hillman Minx who claim the same year)
Power Windows - Packard - 1940
All Wheel Steer - Nissan/Honda - 1982
Monocoque construction - Lancia - 1922
Disc brakes - Citroen - 1939
Safety Glass - Tucker - 1953 (earlier was laminated with a celluloid sandwich not the shattering safety glass)
CD Player - Lincoln - 1986
Syncromesh Gearbox - Cadillac - 1928

Q - Where did the last rivet go in the Sydney Harbour Bridge?




A - In the last hole.


sorry.

Only answer I new was the first alternator

Paul

Maybe you're not into American cars then Mrsmackpaul???

Tyres

The color of tires seems to be only thing consistent among today’s cars. They are all black. But they didn’t used to be. When they were invented in 1895, car tires were plain white because they were made from natural white rubber. However, the tires usually turned black as they absorbed the black soot released from the exhaust.Manufacturers later realized that the soot made the tires last longer. As they could not harvest soot for use in car tires, they turned to another material that had similar properties: carbon black. This makes car tires stronger and protects them from UV rays and ozone. It also takes heat away from the vehicle.However, this comes at a cost. Carbon black dyes the tires black.

Lamborghini

During WWII, Ferruccio Lamborghini was a young mechanic in Italy’s Royal Air Force. Following the war, the enterprising young man capitalized on all the spare military equipment lying about, converting it into farm tractors. Business took off and Lamborghini was soon a rich man, able to pursue his love of sports cars. His collection included Maseratis, Aston Martins, and Ferraris. This latter brand caused Lamborghini considerable annoyance. He loved his Ferraris, but they had several mechanical issues. Particularly troublesome was the tendency for the clutch to burn out. Examining the problem, Lamborghini found them to be the same clutches he used to operate his tractors. He aired his grievances to Enzo Ferrari himself, who dismissed him out of hand as a simple tractor builder. Insulted, Lamborghini decided to make his own cars. Automobili Lamborghini was formed in 1963 and began producing cars by the mid 60s. Most of these elite supercars were named after bulls, as Ferruccio was obsessed with the sport of bullfighting. Business declined in the 1970s, and Lamborghini sold off his interest in the company after the calamity of the 1973 oil crisis. Today, the brand is owned by the Volkswagen Group.

Cadillac (by General Motors) claimed to have the first electric headlights (rather than acetylene gas, or kerosene) in 1912.

I read years ago that the first automatic transmission was used in 1903 but it cannot have been successful, or many more would have been built. I cannot remember the brand that is said to have made them.

Morris I believe Cadillac introduced electric headlights on the 1910 model. This was about the time they introduced electric start but Overland claim the honour for that.

I had a 1915 Overland which had a reliable and powerful electric start. In the owner's manual there is a page:

Warning.

The electric self starter fitted to your new Overland will attract a lot of attention. Owners are cautioned against continual unnecessary demonstrations for curious enquirers which will cause premature wear. Owners should refer interested spectators to the nearest Overland dealer who will be more than happy to demonstrate the huge benefits of this device.

Lang

Back to the tyres,
When I left Shitme to live on the Mid north Coast I was involved in Forklift and underground mining equipment tyres. One of the many specialised tyres was non marking tyres for the food industry mainly and Johnson & Johnson in some factories also used them. Depending on brand some were an off white almost greyish look and had the same compound all the way through.
Another brand the tyre was painted white but was still black under the white and as suggested the carbon black was replaced by another compound to give it long lasting tread wear.
The other one that comes to mind and was an ongoing seller was electrically conducting tyres. Yep they had to conduct electricity. The application in Shitme was at Newington a naval base at Silverwater and at Garden Island Dock yards. It was definitely important as they were used on trailers that carried the live ammunition and torpedoes stored there on site and the trailers were towed by a mini train.

Petrol pump hose are also conductive and, I suspect for the same reason - static electricity.

Jarrod.