Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ronniej]

MOTORING TRIVIA

I find the early days of motoring very interesting and enjoy finding some off-beat snippets of information relating to these days.
I have put together a small collection of these and hope Forum members enjoy them.
I believe the information is correct but if anyone knows otherwise please let me know.
I would not wish to perpetuate myths.


1. The name “Champion” has been associated with spark plugs since the early days of motoring.
It would be reasonable to assume this name was chosen to suggest the best available but, in fact, this was the name of the founder of the company.
Albert Champion was a talented racing cyclist at the end of the 19th century. He became interested in cars and car racing while he was in the USA.
He establishing the Champion Spark Plug Company in Boston but left the company after a disagreement with his backers.
He then founded another spark plug company, this time using his initials (AC) for a name. To this day, both names survive as AC Delco (GM products) and Champion spark Plugs.

2. Kenelm Lee Guinness was a talented racing driver in the early part of the last century.
As an heir to part of the Guinness brewing fortune he had the means to indulge his expensive hobby.
However, he was no Hooray Henry, but a gifted engineer who used his talents to improve the car engine. He developed a new design of spark plug that proved very reliable in the engines of the day.
In fact, they proved so reliable they were the plug of choice for the Royal Flying Corps.
He set up a company to manufacture these commercially and used his initials as its name. Hence the KLG spark Plug Company.

3. Charles Rolls, the co-founder of the Rolls Royce Empire was a pioneer aviator who organised air shows around the country to let the public see the new technology.
He was one of the organisers of the first airshow in Scotland at Lanark in 1910.
Sadly, he never attended this show as he was killed at an airshow in Bournemouth when his aircraft broke up in mid-air. He was the first Briton to die in an aircraft accident.
His business partner Henry Royce survived until 1933 and lived to see the company name become a by-word for quality.
There is an interesting sculpture containing models of antique aircraft outside Lanark racecourse as a reminder of the airshow.

4. The Buick car company was founded by David Dunbar Buick who was born in Arbroath but moved to America as an infant with his parents.
Although his name is on millions of cars he did not remain with the company for long.
He was a talented inventor; he built the first OHV engine and developed a process for applying vitreous enamel onto cast iron.

5. The Lucas Company began by making simple household ironmongery in 1860
They saw the opportunity presented by the embryonic motor industry and began supplying components to them.
Joseph Lucas was devoutly religious and a staunch teetotaller. He was on holiday in Naples in 1902 when Typhoid broke out. Against medical advice he continued to drink water instead of wine. He contracted Typhoid and died.
6. The Rover Car Company, like many British car companies, had their beginnings in the cycle industry.
They developed the “safety bicycle” with two equally sized wheels which was far more practical than the “Ordinary” more commonly referred to as the penny farthing.
These were exported far and wide and in Poland bicycles are called Rovers in the same way we call vacuum cleaners Hoovers regardless of who made it.

7. When Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo he was travelling in a Graf und Stift car. This was a quality Austrian manufacturer in the same league as Rolls Royce and Napier.
Many stories circulate about this car being cursed and bringing death and catastrophe to all its subsequent owners.
These stories are nonsense; the car has been on display in the Vienna Military Museum along with the unfortunate Duke’s blood-stained tunic since shortly after the war it played a part in starting.

8.
It is generally known that the Rolls Royce mascot the “Spirit of Ecstasy” was modelled on Eleanor Thornton secretary to Lord Montague of Beaulie but there is a less well known aspect to this story.
In 1911 Claude Johnson manager of Rolls Royce had become annoyed at what he regarded as unsuitable mascots being fitted to their cars. They were selling these cars as the best in the world and did not want the dignity of their product to be compromised by mascots such as a comic policeman.
Lord Montague had a mascot made for him modelled on his secretary Eleanor Thornton with whom he was having an affair. This was very similar to the mascot we know today except the lady has a finger to her lips in a gesture of silence. It is believed this was a tacit reference to the clandestine affair. The mascot was called “The Whisperer”.
Rolls Royce liked this and commissioned a similar mascot modified to have the arms spread out in a flying-like pose. This became standard fitting to all Rolls Royce cars and continues today although some now have a kneeling posture to suit a lower bonnet line.
Eleanor Thornton died in 1915 when the ship she was travelling in with Lord Montague was torpedoed in the Mediterranean.


9. In the early days of the Ford Motor Company many components were made by the Dodge brothers who accepted payment in part by way of shares in the (then) struggling company.
In 1915 the Dodge Brothers decided to begin making cars for themselves.
Henry Ford objected to them becoming a manufacturing rival and ceased his business relationship.
He bought back their shares in the now successful Ford Company for $25 million and it is thought this was the biggest single transaction to go through the Wall Street Stock Exchange at the time.

10. Speaking of Henry Ford, it is often said he was the first to use mass production methods in car manufacture but this is not strictly true.
Mass production began with the manufacture of rifles during the American Civil War and was originally called “Armoury Practice”. This process was applied to the manufacture of many products most noticeably clocks and sewing machines.
Ransome Olds first used it in a limited fashion in car production but it is true that Henry Ford was the first to use it almost exclusively.

[peter scott]

Very interesting!

D4B's visit to the Champion works adds a nice modern day tale to yours.

Peter

[Billf]

Invented by a woman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscreen_wiper

[peter scott]

In German, vinscreen viper. Otherwise known as the "snake on the glass."
_________________
https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[emmerson]

Some good stuff there Ronnie. Thanks for sharing.

[V8 Nutter]

More on mass production. In 1804 it became law in America, that gun manufacturers had to be able to supply interchangeable parts for their products. Interchangeability was important in mass production. In 1908 Cadillac won the Dewar Trophy in the U.K. after an elaborate demonstration to demonstrate interchangeable parts. Henry Leland the founder of Cadillac had worked in the fire arm industry, he also worked at Brown and Sharp the inventors of the micrometer.

In the Napoleonic wars the first ever transfer machine was built. Its purpose was to make pulley blocks for the Royal Navy. The designer was an ancestor of the Archdale family who owned machine tool company until the asset strippers got their hands on it and closed it down.