Thursday, May 5, 2011

Random - Interesting Facts - part two.


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The first car race seen in the USA was held in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day of 1895. The track ran from Chicago to Evanston, Illinois and back. The winner of this Times-Herald newspaper sponsored race, as well as one of the early pioneers of car industry was J. Frank Duryea. The average speed of his automobile then was 5 miles per hour - In comparison, an average running speed for a human is around fifteen mph. This race lasted for ten hours.

There were five entrants in addition to Duryea; two of them were electric cars and three were gasoline powered Benz machines, imported from Germany.
In the end, J. Frank Duryea took home a winning prize of 2,000 dollars, which is somewhere near 45,000 dollars today.

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The first ever auto insurance policy was issued in Ohio.
In 1897, Gilbert J. Loomis, Dayton, Ohio resident, bought a liability insurance policy from the Travelers Insurance Company for the sum of one thousand dollars. This policy protected Gilbert L. in case his car injured or killed someone or if it damaged someone’s property.

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Enzo Ferrari was at one point awarded an honor from the Fascist regime, the “ Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy”, and elevated to the rank of Commendatore. Ferrari was bestowed with these honors because he had won,in Mussolini’s eyes, numerous races for Italy . 
In 1947, after World War II, Enzo designed the first car that would carry his name (Ferrari 125 S), it was powered by a V12 engine.

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No, first James Bond car was not the Aston Martin DB 5! It was in fact a Sunbeam Alpine convertible, driven by Sean Connery in “Dr. No” (1962), - and it didn't have a single alteration made on it that could help Bond catch, or run away from bad guys. This flaw was corrected in the second movie. In “Goldfinger” (1964), 007’s Aston Martin Silver Birch was fully integrated with gadgets from Q’s laboratory. It had machine guns, bullet proof windshield, oil slick dispensers, smoke screen, a freakin radar and the legendary - passenger ejector seat.





39 comments:

  1. i wish i can make my car do all types of shieet

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  2. Really interesting post. Nice read

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  3. I laughed at the woman driver picture. Also, a race that long? I would have put a brick on the gas and taken nap and eaten a sandwich.

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  4. The Aston Martin may not have been the first Bond car, but it was definitely the best ;)

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  5. The name is Bond... James Bond! Sorry, had to say it. lol.

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  6. Some very interesting facts there.

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  7. Henry Ford once said, if I would have listened to what the customer wanted they would have said a faster stronger horse.

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  8. Oh yeah, you gotta love the classic Aston Martin. Seems like a lot of people are blogging about cars today!

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  9. Love the protruding bumper, on the video. I wonder if this was all done to one car, or if they had different cars for different functionalities...

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  10. And now I know who to blame for the insurance industry. Just have to find his relatives and slap them once or twice now.

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  11. thats pretty cool

    btw check me out!

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  12. Very good read, thanks for posting :)

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  13. These are very interesting. Great read, love stuff like this.

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  14. didn't know that about mr. bond

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  15. That was indeed random but also interesting ^^

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  16. Hahaha wow, I can't imagine racing cars that move slower than we run.

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  17. Car history isn't old but very rich. Thank you.

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  18. haha, that would be an interesting race to watch for about 10 minutes, and then you could go watch couple movie for the race was even half-way finished! Bond always seems to have the sweetest cars.

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  19. that indeed interesting.
    i love these old cars. there's something about them i really love.

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  20. Hah, Mr. Bond is a badass.

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  21. Very informative, thanks for the post!

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  22. Very informative history lesson, the Aston Martin DB5 has to be my favorite bonds car though :D

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  23. That would be the most boring race ever!

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  24. thats very amazing

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  25. cool blog. and great info.

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  26. I'm not a car person, but I would spend the cash (If I had it) on an aston martin. keep it up dude.

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  27. I love bond and everything about the films. I felt good to know all of this stuff already :D haha

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  28. The 64 Aston DB5 was a standout show of class - Looked amazing for the time, and looks even better now. Ages like a good whisky.

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  29. ever hear the story of the girl who heard a giant POP and thought she had been shot and could feel/see her brain goop everywhere? And then it turned out to be cookie dough that had exploded?
    Just though Id throw that in there.

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  30. Bond cars have always had a place in my heart ever since I watched Goldfinger, great post!

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