Fast facts about cars and car history

Most Americans’ car horns beep in the key of F.

The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the “General Purpose” vehicle, G.P.

At a speed of 62 mph (100 km/h), a car covers a distance of 92 ft (28 m) during the time you take your eyes off the road to read the speedometer.

If a car is traveling at 55 mph (90 km/h) it will travel 56 ft (22 m) before the driver can shift his foot from the accelerator to the brake.

In 1895, Hampshire police handed out the first ever speeding ticket, fining a man for doing 6mph.

After having failed twice, Henry Ford’s first successful car operation opened Detroit in 1896.

Henry Ford produced the model T only in black because the black paint available at the time was the fastest to dry.

The first Ford cars had Dodge engines.

The Dodge brothers Horace and John were Jewish, that’s why the first Dodge emblem had a star of David in it.

The first mechanical four-wheel drive system for automobiles was invented by Jacobus Spyker in 1902.

The first motorcar to arrive in South Africa, in January 1897, was the one of the first cars ever made, the 1 hp Benz Voiturette.

Benz Voiturette 1897Benz Voiturette 1897

Mercedes Benz cars are named after Mercedes Jellinek.

The first neon sign was made in 1923 for a Packard dealership.

Studebaker was founded in 1852 as a wagon maker. In 1902 they launched an electric vehicle and in 1904 a gasoline-driven car.

In 1955, the Ford Thunderbird outsold the Chev Corvette 24 to one:  16,155 vs 673. The Thunderbird was produced until 1957; the Corvette is still in production.

Ford Thunderbird 1955Ford Thunderbird 1955

In 1969, the last Corvair, an Olympic Gold Monza Coupe number #6000, was painted gold.

School buses in the United States used to be Omaha Orange but now are Chrome Yellow.

The raised reflective dots in the middle of highways are called Botts dots.

The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.

In the early 1960’s, Porsche manufactured farm tractors.

At the beginning of the millennium Hong Kong was the city with the most Rolls Royces per capita.

In the first decade-and-a-half of the 21 Century, the Volkswagen Group generated almost two-thirds of its profits in China.

75% of Honda vehicles purchased in the US are manufactured in North America.

It takes six months to build a Rolls Royce… and 13 hours to build a Toyota.

A modern car generates 20 times less pollution than a car produced in the 1960s.

It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in Switzerland.

California has issued at least 6 drivers licenses to people named Jesus Christ.

Car accidents rise 10% during the first week of daylight savings time.

It’s illegal to own a red car in Shanghai, China.

In Athens, Greece, a driver’s license can be taken away by law if the driver is deemed either unbathed or poorly dressed.

In Haiti, only 1 out of every 200 people own a car.

There are more fatal car accidents in July than any other month.

About 39,000 gallons of water are used to produce the average car.

Whale oil was used in automobile transmissions as late as 1973.

According to The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, 80% of millionaires drive used cars.

In the United States, deaf people have safer driving records than hearing people.

Electric cars were introduced in 1896 and by the end of the century almost 50% of motorcars worldwide were electric.

Yet, by 1905, 80% of cars were petrol driven and by 1920 the electric car was, well, almost history.

Production of the Tesla Roadster, the first modern electric sports car, was started in 2008 and ended in 2012. in 2016, Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk admitted that the car was a disaster.

Tesla RoadsterTesla Roadster 2008 – 2012.

By 2016, one in seven new BMWs sold in the USA was an electric vehicle.

The first auto race in the United States, in Chicago in 1895, was won by J. Frank Duryea at an average speed of 7.5mph (12 km/h).

The very first motor car land speed record was set by Ferdinand Verbiest.

Ferenc Szisz from Romania, driving a Renault, won the first Formula One Grand Prix, held at Le Mans, France in 1906.

The first motorcycle speedway race was held in Maitland, Australia, in 1925.

Buddy Arrington was the last NASCAR driver to serve jail time for running moonshine.

In his time, Michael Schumacher was the highest paid sportsman (not including sponsorship endorsements), ahead of Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer.

The record for the most NASCAR wins is held by Richard Petty: 200 wins (and 7 championships).

Sébastien Loeb won the World Rally Championship a record 9 times, taking the title every year between 2004 and 2012.

Stéphane Peterhansel holds the record for most Dakar Rally wins; he won the motorcycle category (on a Yamaha) 6 times and by 2017 has won the car category 7 times.

At 120 miles per hour, a Formula One car generates so much downforce that it can drive upside down on the roof of a tunnel.

NASCAR racing cars exceed 200 mph (320 km/h) – same speed as F1 cars. A NASCAR stock car weighs 3,400 pounds (1,540 kg) – an F1 car weighs 1,400 pounds (640 kg).

Most NASCAR Teams use nitrogen in their tires instead of air.

A car traveling 100 mph (160 km/h) would take more than 29 million years to reach the nearest star.

04/21/2017. Category: fastfacts. Tags: , , , , , , .

You may also like -