On October 3, 2010, NASCAR driver Greg Biffle won the Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, KS. Earlier in the year, the U.S. Census Bureau was the primary sponsor [PDF 41.9KB] of Biffle's Ford Fusion Sprint Cup car as part of the national advertising campaign for the 2010 Census.
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J. Frank Duryea and his brother Charles [pictured] founded
the Duryea Motor Wagon Company in 1895,
in Springfield, MA.
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.
When the Ford Motor Company introduced the Model T on October 1, 1908, Detroit, MI, was already a bustling hub for automobile development with factories producing sleek new Detroit Electrics, Cadillacs, Hudsons, and Oldsmobiles. Michigan's "Motor City" did not have a monopoly on automobile manufacturing, though, as many legendary automobiles called other states home. For example, Indianapolis, IN, was home to Duesenberg, Stuz, and Marmon, and Auburns were manufactured in their namesake, Auburn, IN. Metz and Orient automobiles were built in Waltham, MA, and Connecticut factories produced the Locomobile in Bridgeport and Mercer in New Britain.
Although factory workers are no longer manufacturing Mercers and Duesenbergs, the automobile manufacturing and sales employed nearly 4 million people in August 2014. Some of these employees were responsible for building Teslas in Fremont, CA, Nissans in Smyrna, TN, and Cadillacs in Arlington, TX. In 2012, the total value of shipments for the automobile manufacturing industry was $108.8 billion, up 28.4 percent from 2007, and more than 3,000 percent since the first Model T rolled out of Ford's Piquette Avenue factory in 1908 [PDF 139KB].
encouraged the nation's 77,658,826 [PDF 379KB] licensed drivers to buy a new Chevrolet. By years end, 5,816,000 [PDF 379KB] new vehicles were purchased and 64,383,000 [PDF 379KB] privately owned automobiles were registered in the United States.
When the Ford Model T was introduced in October 1908, 93 percent of the nation's
2.2 million miles [PDF 96.2KB] of public roads were dirt. Even though 7 percent of
the nation's public roads were paved, driving in the rain generally carried a
100 percent chance of getting stuck!
Photo courtesy of the National Park Service
From Appersons to ZiLs, automotive history is on display in Hershey, PA, when the Antique Automobile Collectors Association hosts its 2014 Fall Meet October 8-11, 2014. This annual event is considered one of the largest antique car shows and flea markets in the United States.
On October 13, 1904, approximately 50,000 spectators watched George Heath win the innaugural Vanderbilt Cup Race after achieving an average speed of 52.6 mph on the 284.4 mile course in Nassau County, NY. Auto racing has grown considerably in the 110 years since Heath's victory, with approximately 4.4 million [PDF 61.9KB] people attending NASCAR or other automobile races in 2009.
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