hrug:
The swing axle rear suspension used in the original VW `bug' was patented in 1903 by Edward Rumpler, an engineer working at the Adler Automobile Company.
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Prior to the launch of the 1966 models, Pontiac announced that their new overhead camshaft inline six cylinder engines would be the first time that such a power plant was used on an American passenger car. Unfortunately, no representatives of Duesenberg, Stutz and Wills Saint Claire (all dating from 1924) were available to protest.
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Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1799-1813), a contemporary of Lewis & Clark was commissioned in 1805 to chart additional portions of Thomas Jefferson's "Louisiana Purchase". His journeys were frought with errors and omissions, including losing all his charts to the Spanish when he was arrested as a spy. He is best remembered as the man who put Pike's Peak on the map as he discovered it and deemed it "insumountable".
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1951 was the year crash helmets became compulsory in FIA-sanctioned events and Ford Motor Company starts the first car crash test program in USA.
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1955 was the first year European cars were offered with safety belts. By 1957 Volvo fitted them as standard.
;p
