Little Known Facts about Antique Cars
October 28th, 2005Gangster John Dillinger looked for Fords when he was out to steal a car.
Snap-on fenders were introduced by Studebaker in 1934.
Chrysler was the third place automobile manufacturer in 1928.
Rearview mirrors became standard equipment on all cars in 1916.
The first speeding ticket ever written in the US was issued in 1902.
Ford exposed the horn for the last time in 1935.
Detroit prohibited gasoline pumps at the curb in 1914.
In 1908, the Model T Ford offered the largest automobile engine.
In 1937, Ford introduced a two piece windshield. It remained on their cars until 1952.
In 1929, the Buick was dubbed, “the 11/4 bulge that killed a car.”
Demountable tires were introduced in 1915.
In the song Deadman’s Curve, the Stingray had six taillights.
In 1921, nickel was used to plate radiators and lamps.
In 1926, Rickenbacker introduced laminated safety glass for automobiles.
Buick’s first car was the Model B.
In 1900, the first national automobile show was held in New York City.
In 1915, the American Red Cross chose to have Buicks as their ambulances.
The Model A Ford offered a sun visor on the outside of their cars in 1928.
In 1928, Canada had one million cars in operation.
In 1915, Oldsmobile offered “tops” as standard equipment.
In 1898, New York City’s finest chased speeders on bicycles.
In 1905, there was a hit tune called, In My Merry Oldsmobile.
In 1923, windshield wipers were introduced as standardized equipment.
In 1913, the Gulf Oil Company offered free road maps to all who wanted them.
In 1922, gas gauges were offered as standard equipment on cars.
The Franklin automobile had an air cooled engine.
In 1919, Templar Touring Roadster offered a camera and a compass as standard equipment.
by Mary M. Alward
October 28th, 2005 at 10:50 am
I didn’t know any of these things. I have seen a picture of a Model A. My great-grandfather’s picture was taken in front of one in his army uniform. Those were cool cars. I can’t imagine what it would be like not to have a roof or windshield wipers on a car. Wouldn’t this be dangerous?
October 28th, 2005 at 12:42 pm
This is great trivia and much of it happened before our time. Even the Baby Boomers are out of the loop. Very interesting. How about an article on the canoeing or sport fishing. Maybe a family fishing article? I really like the way the admin tries to fulfill our requests. That allows us to learn about things that we’re interested in. Thanks. I rate this site 9 out of 10.
October 29th, 2005 at 10:23 pm
Just exploring the site and finding a lot of interesting things here. I loved the bass fishing article and would like to see more like that. There’s so many different types of fishing that you could actually have a fishing category all of its own.
Enjoyed this blurb on antique cars and would like to see more. I own a 1959 Chev. It is the one with the big fins at the back.
October 31st, 2005 at 1:31 pm
It’s very interesting to find out when all of these things were added to cars as standard equipment.
November 1st, 2005 at 11:37 pm
Frank, I agree. I found these facts intriguing. We never really think about all of these things not be standardized equipment.
November 14th, 2005 at 10:42 pm
Well, I learned a lot about cars of the past from this article. I can’t imagine driving a car without all of the standardized equipment. It must have been tricky.
November 15th, 2005 at 10:52 pm
I may be a golden girl, but I’m not so old that I ever did without any of this standard equipment when driving. I’ve been driving since 1950. We had standard transmissions, clutches and a lot of finicky things, but those cars beat the ones made today by a long shot. No computers to worry about, no signal lights - we used hand signals - no heaters either for the most part, but they were still the best. I remember my 1959 Chevy with the HUGE fins. That was the finest car I ever owned. The second finest was a 1963 Meteor. It was black and a real looker when you washed and waxed it. Yes, manually, by hand. No car washes in those days. We used elbow grease. You could see your reflection in that car when she was polished up. Wish I could find another like that one.
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:35 am
I love the look of older cars… but you have to admit… at least if you’ve been the one who had to maintain some of those older cars… today’s cars are far better mechanically… I remember dad having to change his spark plugs and tune-ups every 6,000 miles… and by time his cars had 75k miles on them they were ready for the junk heap… today you can drive 100k miles before you even think of a tune-up… and most cars today are just getting broken in at 100k miles.