America On Wheels

This Day in Auto History 12.10.1970 Fifty years ago, Lee Iacocca was elected President of the Ford Motor Company. A graduate of Allentown High School and Lehigh University, Iacocca joined Ford as an engineer in the 1940s, but quickly moved into marketing, where he gained influence quickly as he championed the Mustang project as Ford Division general manager. Iacocca was eventually ousted from Ford on October 15, 1978. He went on to become president and board chairman of the struggling Chrysler Corporation. In May 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Iacocca to head the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, which was created to raise funds for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and the renovation of Ellis Island.[30] Iacocca continued to serve on the board of the foundation until his death on July 2, 2019.

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This Day in Auto History 12.9.1875 Race car designer Harold Arminius Miller was born in Menomonie, WI. Ccommonly called Harry, was an American race car designer and builder who was most active in the 1920s and 1930s. Griffith Borgeson called him "the greatest creative figure in the history of the American racing car". Cars built by Miller won the Indianapolis 500 nine times, and other cars using his engines won three more. Millers accounted for 83% of the Indy 500 fields between 1923 and 1928.

This Day in Auto History 12.8.1940 Racer George Snider was born. Snider, a USAC regular for many years, often teamed with A.J. Foyt at Indianapolis. Known as "Ziggy", Snider started 22 Indianapolis 500's, the most starts without winning the race. His best finish was 8th place in 1975.

This Day in Auto History 11.3.1930 At 12:05 A.M the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel between the United States and Canada was officially opened to car traffic. It was the third underwater vehicular tunnel constructed in the United States, following the Holland Tunnel, between Jersey City, New Jersey, and downtown Manhattan, New York, and the Posey Tube, between Oakland and Alameda, California. Its creation followed the opening of cross-border rail freight tunnels including the St. Clai...r Tunnel between Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario, in 1891 and the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel between Detroit and Windsor in 1910. The cities of Detroit and Windsor hold the distinction of jointly creating both the second and third tunnels between two nations in the world. The DetroitWindsor Tunnel is the world's third tunnel between two nations, and the first international vehicle tunnel. The Michigan Central Railway Tunnel, also under the Detroit River, was the second tunnel between two nations. The St. Clair Tunnel, between Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario, under the St. Clair River, was the first. See more

This Day in Auto History 12.7.1965 Chevrolet produced its 3,000,000th car for the year. It was the first time Chevrolet had produced an annual total surpassing 3,000,000 vehicles.

This Day in Auto History 11.2.1895 One hundred twenty five years ago, the first American Automobile Competition to feature gasoline-powered vehicles was held, although it was just preliminary event. Earlier in 1895, Chicago Times-Herald Publisher Herman H. Kohlstaat announced that his newspaper would sponsor a race between horseless carriages. It would be the first race in America to feature gasoline-powered automobiles. Kohlstaat, who was offering $5,000 in prizes, includin...g a first-place prize of $2,000, received telegrams from European racing enthusiasts and from automobile tinkerers across America. After delaying the event for several months at the request of entrants who were still working on their racing prototypes, Kohlstaat finally ran a preliminary race on November 2 for those who were ready. But on a snowy Thanksgiving morning of November 28 only six vehicles were at the starting line for the actual race. They were a Duryea which had crashed in the November 2 event, two Benz automobiles, two electric vehicles, and the car of H. Mueller and Company. The race course ran from Chicago to Evanston and back, a distance of about 50 miles. The November cold and the terrible road conditions took their toll early. The two electrics dropped out as their batteries died. The two Benz automobiles also broke down. The Duryea, however, made consistent, steady progress, but at a rate of under 10 m.p.h. It crossed the finish line just after 7 pm. An exhausted Frank Duryea climbed down from the vehicle. He had been driving for over nine hours. The Mueller car arrived 2 hours later. See more

This Day in Auto History 2.6.1955 The Federal government standardized the size of license plates throughout the U.S. Previously, individual states had designed their own license plates, resulting in wide variations.

This Day in Auto History 11.1.1895 One hundred twenty five years ago, the first automobile club in the United States, the American Motor League, held its first planning meeting in Chicago, Illinois. There were 60 members at that time. Dr. J. Allen Hornsby was named president of the new organization, and Charles Edgar Duryea, the car manufacturer, and Hiram P. Maxim, car designer and inventor, were named vice presidents. Charles King, who constructed one of the first four-c...ylinder automobiles in the following year, was named treasurer. The main goal of the new AML was to encourage experimenters and inventors to manufacture horseless carriages. They had two obstacles to overcome to accomplish this. The AML had members in over 600 towns, however only existed for a few years. One of the reasons was the diversity of interests of the members. The AML could not cater to all these interests. Those that wanted an association that represented just automobile manufacturers associated themselves with trade associations. Those that wanted representation for just the engineers of the mechanical aspects associated themselves with the Society of Automotive Engineers. Motorists were represented by the American Automobile Association ("AAA"), newly formed in 1902. In 1904, the AAA merged with the very first American automobile organization, the American Motor League, under the direction of the first chairman, Augustus Post. See more

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This Day in Auto History 10.31.1895 One hundred twenty five years ago, John Henry Knight, who built Britain’s first gas-powered motor vehicle, a three-wheeled, two-seater contraption with a top speed of 8 mph, was fined half a crown plus 10 shillings costs at Farnham Petty Sessions for using a locomotive with neither a license nor a man walking in front with a red flag. Knight was restricted to using the car only on farm roads until the Locomotive Act was replaced by the Loco...motives on the Highway Act in November 1896. He was also later responsible for the repeal of the notorious Red Flag legislation. Knight’s single-cylinder vehicle, known as ‘Trusty’, was said to be ‘almost silent’ when it was running and entered a limited production run in 1896. It was the only British car at the 1896 Horseless Carriage display at Crystal Palace, and is now on display at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, England. (This item is courtesy of 365daysofmotoring.com) See more

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Just a month away...our annual Holiday Trains. Plan to attend with your family.

Come in out of the weather this weekend and do something fun with the family. Explore America On Wheels Transportation Museum, and see if you can spot this sign while you are here!!!

This Day in Auto History 10.30.1900 The Remington Automobile was introduced for sale. Philo E. Remington, grandson of the founder of Remington Arms , and Peter A. Stubbebein founded the Remington Automobile & Motor Company in 1900 .They moved into a plant in Ilion NY, and bought the equipment of the dissolved Quick Manufacturing Company . William A. Schmidt was the engine designer. In the same year the production of automobiles began, which were sold from October 30, 1900. T...he brand name was Remington . James S. Holmes became general manager. By the spring of 1901, only seven vehicles had been made. Then the company moved to Utica, also in New York. In November 1902, financial problems became known that led to bankruptcy a few weeks later. The first vehicles had a small four-cylinder engine , while many competitors relied on single-cylinder engines . They were available in strengths of 4 hp and 6 hp. There was a choice of open bodies with two and four seats. The new prices were between $750 and $1500. In 1901, the vehicles received single-cylinder engines with the same engine power as before. Some of the bodies were made by the Willoughby Company. For 1902 a model was added with a two-cylinder engine that developed 10 hp. From 1903 there was only the two-cylinder model. Two different chassis lengths with different bodies are mentioned. The shorter wheelbase vehicle was a $ 850 runabout . There was also a $ 1,350 tonneau on the longer wheelbase chassis. In July 1904 everything was sold to the Black Diamond Automobile Company. See more

This Day in Auto History 10.29.1995 Ricky Rudd scored his first win of the season in the Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Rudd started 29th. It was the first time in NASCAR Winston Cup history that a driver has come from 29th to win a race. (This item is courtesy of 365daysofmotoring.com)

This Day in Auto History 10.28.1955 Col. Elbert J. Hall died in Los Gatos, CA at age 73. His Hall-Scott aviation engines powered the super luxury Fageol car of 1917 and in 1930 was a cofounder with Norman DeVaux of the DeVaux-Hall Motors Corporation, manufacturers of the economy DeVaux of 1931-1932.

This Day in Auto History 10.27.1945 Seventy five years ago, Ferdinand Porsche was arrested by U.S. military officials for his pro-Nazi activities, and was sent to France where he was held for two years before being released. After the Allied victory in World War II, Porsche, like other German industrialists who participated in the German war effort, was investigated on war-crime charges. Meanwhile, the Allies approved the continuation of the original Volkswagen program, and... Volkswagen went on to become a highly successful automobile company. As his brainchild Volkswagen grew, Porsche himself returned to sports-car design and construction, completing the successful Porsche 356 in 1948 with his son Ferry Porsche. In 1951, Ferdinand Porsche suffered a stroke and died, but Ferry continued his father's impressive automotive legacy, achieving a sports car masterpiece with the introduction of the legendary Porsche 911 in 1963. See more

This Day in Auto History 10.26.1970 Fifty years ago, California became the first US state to offer vanity license plates as Governor Ronald Reagan presented the special plate 'AMIGO' to Mr and Mrs Robert E Klees of Fullerton. (This item is courtesy of 365daysofmotoring.com)

This Day in Auto History 10.25.1970 Fifty years ago, Australian Jack Brabham announced his retirement as a racing driver. Brabham was Formula One World Champion in 1959, 1960, and 1966. He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name. He was a Royal Australian Air Force flight mechanic and ran a small engineering workshop before he started racing midget cars in 1948. His successes with midgets in Australian and New Zealand road racing e...vents led to his going to Britain to further his racing career. There he became part of the Cooper Car Company's racing team, building as well as racing cars. He contributed to the design of the mid-engined cars that Cooper introduced to Formula One and the Indianapolis 500, and won the Formula One world championship in 1959 and 1960. In 1962 he established his own Brabham marque with fellow Australian Ron Tauranac, which in the 1960s became the largest manufacturer of customer racing cars in the world. In the 1966 Formula One season Brabham became the first (and still, the only) man to win the Formula One world championship driving one of his own cars. Brabham retired to Australia after the 1970 Formula One season, where he bought a farm and maintained business interests, which included the Engine Developments racing engine manufacturer and several garages. See more