Welcome to our newest feature at MotoringExposure. Our site is aimed at motoring enthusiasts, devotees of the car hobby and partakers in the automotive lifestyle. To broaden our scope and help you appreciate the car in its entirety, we have added this feature we like to call “This Week in Motoring History” where we take a look at events that shaped the industry today. Some are funny, some tragic, but all important. Let us dive in with our first installment!
This Week in Motoring History
May 27th, 1927
After building 15,007,033 examples during a 19-year model run and being responsible for putting a nation on wheels, Henry Ford’s company hammered together the last Tin Lizzie. Model T tooling was changed for Model A production.
May 28th
1928
Walter P. Chrysler pays 170 million dollars for The Dodge Brothers Company. This was an effort to expand the brand and capitalize on much-needed tooling and production facilities. The Dodge Brothers would help to produce another famous car, the Model T.
1937
The Führer demanded a “people’s car” and a people’s road. To build the car, he summoned an Austrian engineer named Ferdinand Porsche. For 140 dollars (at the time), you could have a speedy, reliable, affordable and state-owned car. Volkswagen was born.
May 29th
1977
Janet Guthrie becomes the first woman to ever make the Indy 500. She would start 26th and end 29th. The next year, she would finish 9th, the best ever for a woman at the time.
28 years later on the same day, in the 89th running or the famed Indianapolis 500, a woman, Danica Patrick would qualify 4th, the best ever for a woman, for the race. To top that, she would become the first-ever woman to lead the 500.
May 30th
1896
Henry Wells and Evylyn Thomas got together…..literally! In Springfield, Massachusettes, Wells’ Dureya collided with Thomas’ bicycle in the first recorded car accident.
1911
Ray Harroun drove a single-seat Marmon Wasp to victory at an average speed of 74.59 miles per hour in the inaugural Indianapolis 500. It took him 6 hours and 42 minutes and won him a prize of 14,250 dollars.
May 31st, 1929
Ford sides with the Russians! Well, actually it was a Technical Assistance Agreement to help build the GAZ factory – still in operation today and the AZLK plant.
What a way to end a month: History-making women, company buy-outs and high-speed dictatorship. Tune in next time for “This Week in Motoring History!”
