50 Quirky Facts About Cars

50 QUIRKY CARS FACTS ABOUT PRESENTED BY carloan 40 MAKING HISTORY 1902 82 YEARS The first speeding ticket was issued; most cars could barely reach 45 mph. The number of years Mr Allen Swift, of Springfield, MA, drove his 1928 Rolls-Royce Roadster. 1907 42 SECONDS 1927 1896 The fastest time for removing a car engine, and replacing it, using a Ford Escort, on 21 November 1985. The first road The first electric traffic The world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit, Brooklands, opened in Weybridge, Surrey. lights were launched in Wolverhampton. traffic death. THE DASHBOARD 1935 was originally a piece of wood attached to the front of a horse-drawn carriage that would prevent mud from splattering the driver as the horse galloped. The first 1769 coin-operated parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City. The first automobile accident; the damaged vehicle is still preserved in the Conservatoire Nationale des Arts et Metiers in Paris. 22 HOURS, 1O MINUTES AND 33 SECONDS 19 INCHES The height of the world's lowest street-legal car. The 'Flatmobile'was built by Perry Watkins from Buckinghamshire. The time it took for Hugh Edeleanu to drive a JCB from John O'Groats to Land's End at an average speed of 40 mph. 301 VTG) STOCK CAR RACING HAS ITS ORIGINS FLAT, ASPHALT ROADS were introduced for cyclists, not motorists as is commonly believed. IN MOONSHINE RUNNERS They modified their cars so that they could outrun police cars in Prohibition-era America. MONEY MONEY MONEY THE ICONIC ROLLS-ROYCE $8.7 MILLION HOOD ORNAMENT IS CALLED 'THE SPIRIT OF ECSTASY' The price of the most expensive car ever made, a 1931 Bugatti Royale Kellner Coupe. In 2008 a special edition diamond-encrusted version was designed, with an asking price of $200,000 OICE £38 The cost to have someone else 5 SHILLINGS drive your car through a traffic jam in China. The original driver is whisked away on a motorbike. £30 1884 The fine for using a car horn whilst stationary in the UK. Taxi drivers beware! The year the world's oldest surviving car was built in France for the Count De Dion. It was sold at auction in 2011 for The fine for the first motor offence in the UK, issued to petrol engine pioneer John Henry Knight in 1895 for not having a license. $4.6 MILLION $1,000,000 The largest speeding fine ever, given to a Swedish man who got clocked doing 180 mph in Switzerland, where fines are proportionate to income. BRANDS YOU CAN PLAY PONG IN A SAAB 80% The game is included as an Easter egg in the on-board computer. of cars registered in Albania are Mercedes-Benzes. | SAAB | 19 PEOPLE can be crammed into a smart car HONG KONG VOLKSWAGEN The city with the most Rolls Royce's per capita. named many of their cars after winds. Passat (after the German word for Trade wind), ROLLS Golf (after Gulf Stream), Bora (after Bora), Polo (after Polar Winds), and Jetta (after Jet stream). HITLER While in prison, wrote to a Mercedes-Benz dealership ROYCE begging for a car loan. 'It's a doozy' DANGER! DANGER! TOP SELLER The phrase 'It's a doozy' has its origins in Dusenberg automobiles, which were regarded in the 1920s as the most luxurious cars in the world. For 4 years the Ford Fiesta has been the best-selling vehicle in the UK. Over 100,000 are bought each year. Ford KAZUNORI YAMAUCHI The creator of the Gran Turismo videogames helped develop the Nissan GT-R and has been racing professionally since 2009. South African BMWS can be NISSAN equipped with flame-throwers to prevent car-jackings FERRARI TOYOTA produce a maximum of the worlds largest car manufactured, every day produces 13,000 14 cars per day. AROUND THE WORLD 99 DAYS 90% will be spent stuck in traffic by the average British driver over the course of their lifetime. of drivers sing behind the wheel THE 'NEW CAR SMELL is composed of over 50 volatile organic compounds. Fortunately, they are non-toxic. Many British traffic police carry teddy bears to console children with after car crashes. THE AUTOMOBILE Drivers over the age of 75 must display the Köreisha (elderly car) mark in the back of their vehicle in Japan is the most recycled product in the world. The average British car is parked up 90% of the time. 60 SIX MONTHS 1 OUT OF 4 The time it would take cars produced in the world comes from China. It is compulsory to carry a breathalyser kit in France. to reach the moon if you could drive straight upwards at 60 mph. STEVE JOBS' 960 MILLION HOURS car never had a license plate due to a loophole in Californian state law. The amount of time Britons collectively waste in traffic jams each year. TECHNOLOGY 256 A modern F1 car can drive upside down in a tunnel at 120 mph The amount of times you can press an out-of-range car remote key before it will stop working. This is due to the method of encryption between the car remote and the receiver in the vehicle. 60 MILLION CARS Holding a remote car key to your head doubles its range because the human skull acts as an are produced in a single year. That's 165,000 cars a day. AMPLIFIER 80% A car has been developed in Germany which is controlled solely by the thoughts of the driver. 1 BILLION cars are in active use across the world today. of Formula One teams use an exhaust pipe coating originally developed for NUCLEAR REACTORS Sources Ten Surprising Car Facts You've Probably Never Heard Before - www.jalopnik.com Car Facts - 10 Interesting Facts About Cars - www.ianallanford.co.uk 20 Most Interesting Facts About Cars - www.blog.carid.com Fun & Useless Car Facts - www.automopedia.org Kent Traffic Trial 'Trauma Teddies' - www.policeoracle.com I was fined for honking at man who stepped in front of my car - www.dailymail.co.uk More About Farnham, Surrey (Influential Citizens) - www.weyriver.co.uk Incredible - Man Owned, Drove Same Car For 82 Yrs - www.rense.com World's Fastest Engine Change -www.metacafe.com Top Gear Series 16, Episode 5 - www.topgearbox.com Flamethrower now an option on S. African cars - www.edition.cnn.com Weird Car Facts - www.weird-facts.org Interesting Car Facts - www.buzzle.com Volkswagen Model Names - members.iinet.net.au Formula for Success - Aerodynamics - www.bbc.co.uk Chicago Times-Herald Race of 1895 - www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org IF YOU COULD DRIVE A CAR UPWARDS AT 60MPH, HOW LONG WOULD IT TAKE TO GET TO THE MOON? - www.sciencefocus.com Know your JDM Marks - www.slidewaysonline.com Tech Myth: Holding the Car Remote to Your Head Increases Its Range - www.apartmenttherapy.com Parking: It's what your car does 90 percent of the time - www.autoblog.com 19th century cyclists paved the way for modern motorists' roads - www.guardian.co.uk Dashboard - www.worldwidewords.org Revealed: How an imprisoned Hitler wrote to a Mercedes dealership begging for a car loan - www.dailymail.co.uk Why Steve Jobs' Mercedes Never Had a License Plate - www.cultofmac.com German research team demonstrates thought-controlled car - www.traffictechnologytoday.com Motoring History 1907-1914-www.brooklandsmuseum.com That New-Car Smell? Not Toxic, Study Finds- www.livescience.com It's a Doozy - www.gizmag.com Chinese traffic jams: Hire an imposter! - www.asiancorrespondent.com Speed of a Stock Car - www.hypertextbook.com Yesterday was a... (May, 1997) - www.independent.co.uk How Remote Entry Works - www.howstuffworks.com Driving in France. French motoring laws. - www.driving.drive-alive.co.uk Koenigsegg uses nuclear tech - www.topgear.com World's oldest car (owned by one family for 84 years. and a few more for the other 43) sells for $4.6 million - www.dailymail.co.uk 1st traffic lights start to operate - www.information-britain.co.uk First Parking Meter Installed July 16, 1935 - www.theexpiredmeter.com www.worldometers.info UK Car Sales Booming - www.autoexpress.co.uk $200,000 Rolls Royce hood ornament - www.motorauthority.com Gran Turismo 5 is out now! Honestly - www.topgear.com www.flatmobile.co.uk How many cars are made in one day? - www2.toyota.co.jp Ferrari - www.blogs.motortrend.com Reports on Motoring - www.rac.co.uk Stuck in traffic for 66 hours: Britain's jams are among the worst in Europe (and they're particularly bad on Fridays) - www.dailymail.co.uk Brought to you by carloan 4u