Automobile history is rich and complex and as a result there are some pretty interesting, and also some pretty weird facts and statistics accrued over the years.
US President Lyndon B. Johnson owned an amphibious car and used to drive guests into the lake to scare them, screaming about brake failure.
There have been more Ford Fiestas sold in the UK than people in Lebanon
A 4,115,000 Ford Fiesta models have been sold in the UK, making the model the best-selling car in the UK. By comparison, the entire country of Lebanon has a total population of only 4,104,000 citizens.
Koenigsegg’s founder beat Steve Jobs to the iPod
Christian von Koenigsegg was potentially the first person that invented the concept of the MP3 player, years before Apple’s iPod surfaced.
There was a monk in the 1200s who predicted the existence of cars
Franciscan friar Roger Bacon was born in 1214, and predicted the future about 800 years or so before the combustion engine entered the public consciousness.
Flamethrowers vs Carjacking
In 1998, a South African inventor designed a way of avoiding having your car stolen, which is a considerable problem in the country.
It could be simply bang on the pedal and there would be a flame of several feet long. So for several years in South Africa, new car buyers could specify their motors complete with built-in flamethrower.
In Turkmenistan, car drivers are entitled to 120 litres of free petrol every month
One horse doesn’t have one horsepower
One horsepower equals 745 watts, which means that according to this, a real horse will produce only about 0.7 horsepower.
The Ford GT is so strong that it broke its testing machines
Constructed of a plastic frame with aluminium body panels, the Ford supercar proved so strong that it actually broke the machine that was designed specifically to obliterate cars.
Peugeot started out making coffee mills and bicycles
Founded in 1810, the French manufacturer started off in 1842 by manufacturing coffee grinders, plus salt and pepper mills among other things.
Forty years later, Peugeot extended its production to include bicycles, starting with a version of the Penny Farthing, before finally starting to produce cars in 1892 with the manufacture of a steam-powered three wheeler.
American voice actor Allen Swift, famous for voicing several characters on the original Tom and Jerry cartoons, holds the world record for owning and driving a car for the longest duration.
In 1928, Allen received a Rolls-Royce Piccadilly-P1 Roadster from his father as a graduation gift, and drove it right up until his death at 102 years old in 2010. His folks must have been pretty wealthy, as it cost $6,815 at the time, or $88,600 in today’s money.
The Kia Soul EV is bio-degradable
The most eco-friendly model ever produced by the Korean marque, the Soul EV is actually bio-degradable. Parts of it, at least.
