What If The Future Of Driving Started In 1895

Week Ahead In Automotive History

Time now for our feature on automotive history: a look a week at the head, November 1 through November the 7th. On November

Americas First Auto Organization Forms

the 2nd, 1895, the American Motor League was formed in Chicago. This became the country's earliest organization devoted to automobiles. At the time, cars were still kind of experimental machines. Roads were designed primarily for horses and wagons, and of course, motors faced considerable skepticism. Now, the new organization represented an early effort to bring automobile enthusiasts together and promote the development of motorized transportation. This was years before the automobile became very common. So organizations like this, as well as the AAA group, which the two eventually merged into, helped provide an advocacy group that would promote the use of automobiles for transportation. Then on November

Selden Patent And Fords Court Fight

the 5th, 1895, George Selden received a U.S. patent for the gasoline-powered road vehicle. Now, although Selden had never actually manufactured the automobile described as a patent, the patent eventually became the basis for demanding royalties from American automakers. Henry Ford refused to accept the arrangement, leading to a lengthy legal battle. Ford ultimately prevailed in 1911 when the patent's scope was narrowed. The decision helped protect competition in the developing American automobile industry.

Cord 810 Arrives With Future Tech

Then on November the 2nd, 1935, the Cord 810 was introduced, bringing futuristic styling and advanced engineering to American showrooms. Now the Cord featured front-wheel drive, independent front suspension, concealed headlights, and a distinctive coffin nose front end. It had a low slung appearance. It was really different from anything else that was on the road at the time. Unfortunately, there were some production difficulties and reliability concerns, so it had limited success. Even so, the Cord 810 became one of the most recognizable American automobiles of the 1930s. Today, its styling remains a favorite among collectors, and there's been a few tries at trying to bring it back, but it's never really came to fruition. And for

Paula Murphy Breaks Indy Barrier

the ladies out there, on November the 7th, 1963, Paula Murphy became the first woman to drive an indie-style race car around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Now she was known as Miss STP. Murphy completed five laps during a tire testing session. Now, this is at a time when professional motorsports remained overwhelmingly male, much like today. But her appearance at Indianapolis represented an important breakthrough for the ladies. Murphy was already an accomplished driver with experience in several forms of motorsports, including drag racing. But her historic lapse actually helped challenge the long-standing assumptions about women in racing and preceded the arrival of female competitors in the Indianapolis 500. Then,

Petty Win Overturned After Review

on November the 5th, this was really strange, I found, November the 5th, 1978, Richard Petty appeared to have won the NASCAR Winston Cup race at the Atlanta International Raceway. But after officials reviewed the scoring, the victory was awarded to Donnie Allison. Now, this was an unusual reversal, and it gave Allison what would become the Final Cup Series victory of his career. But for Petty, who was already one of NASCAR's greatest competitors, it was really frustrating. The incident serves as a reminder that racing results aren't always determined by the electronic timing and the scoring systems. Sometimes, even after the checkered flag, you got officials involved, and officials had to sort through the records of this particular event to determine who actually won. And that's

Final Takeaways And Sign Off

a look at our automotive history for the week ahead, November the 1st through the 7th. From the earliest days of automobile to the revolution designs and memorable moments in motorsports, there's always another story waiting down the road. I'm Michael Mars, and this is Ken Wheel Time.