This Week in Automotive History: June 4-10
June 4, 1896
Henry Ford tests his Quadricycle: Edison Illuminating Co. of Detroit employee Henry
Ford makes a successful pre-dawn test of his four-wheel Quadricycle self-propelled vehicle
June 5, 1998
GM Hit Hard by Strike: At a GM metal-stamping plant in Flint, 3,400 UAW walk out. The strike had a domino effect and ultimately closed five assembly plants and lasted seven weeks.
June 6, 1932
Congress Levies Gasoline Tax: As part of the Revenue Act of 1932, a tax of 1 cent
is added to the cost of every gallon of gasoline sold in the United States.
June 7, 1962
First Drive-in Bank Opens: Credit Suisse — at the time known as Schweizerische Kreditanstalt — opens the first drive-in bank in Zurich, Switzerland.
June 8, 1948
Dr. Ferdinand Porsche tests Porsche Prototyp: Noted automobile designer and engineer Dr. Ferdinand Porsche drives the first Porsche two-seat prototype, known as 356-1, in Gmund, Austria, near the sawmill where it was built.
June 9, 1909
Woman Motorists Crosses North America: Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22-year-old wife and mother, departs Manhattan for San Francisco in a Maxwell 30. It took Ramsey, her two sisters-in-law and friend Hermine Jahns 59 days to be the first woman motorist to drive coast to coast.
June 10, 1947
Saab Builds First Car: Saab, a Swedish aerospace and defense company, introduces its first car, the two-stroke, three-cylinder Model 92, which looks more like an airplane without wings than it does a car, which surely contributed to its low 0.30 coeficient of drag.
