Trivia Tuesday–September 8th, 2015

Welcome to the first ever installment of Rod Authority’s Trivia Tuesday. In this weekly feature we’re going to delve into automotive and motoring history and bring you what we hope will be some interesting pieces of information that you’ve never heard before. Since this is going to be a weekly fare for the foreseeable future, drop me a line in the comment section if you’ve got questions or have something you’d like me to look into for future installments.

The First Presidential Limousine

Thomas H. White started his manufacturing career making sewing machines shortly after the end of the Civil War. His sons Windsor and Walter got were inspired by the invention of a semi-flash boiler in the 1890s and decided to start manufacturing automobiles. Four of their first cars were entered in the New York to Buffalo Endurance Run of 1901 and each was awarded a first class certificate.

Thee autos were driven by chain and steered by a tiller and had their two cylinder engines mounted under the floorboards. 1902 saw them add a condenser to recycle the exhaust steam, making it a closed-loop system. There was a White Auto in Teddy Roosevelt’s inauguration parade-the only auto in the parade. Teddy was also the first US president to drive an auto, also a White Steamer. The year 1909 say his successor, William H. Taft, order a White Steam as the first official White House automobile. John D. Rockefeller and Buffalo Bill Cody were also owners of White Steamers.

The First Drive-In Gas Station in the US

This is a matter of debate. Standard Oil makes claim to this fame, but most historians will tell you it was the Good Gulf Oil Company that opened the first drive-in gas station, in 1913. This station was opened in Pittsburgh. S.F. (Sylanus Freelove-now you know why he preferred to use his initials) Bowser is the inventor of the first pump designed for “such liquids as kerosene-oil, burning-fluid, and the light combustible products of petroleum.” However, this wasn’t the first store where gasoline could be pumped. That honor goes to a grocery store in Indiana.

A Culinary Delight- Royce Hailey’s Pig Stand

Drive-in and drive-thru restaurants are common fare these days. However, back in the early 20s, they were non-existent. Royce hit upon a gold mine when he opened his first Pig Stand in Dallas back in 1924. According to company history, before three years were up, they had sold over 50,000 pig sandwiches from only ten locations in Dallas, TX. Remember, this was at a time when the population of Dallas was only around 250,000.

The Pig Stand sandwiches were based upon a Tennessee-style barbecue pork recipe. The Pig Stand is also credited with being the first restaurant to employ carhops-How else are customers to get their food at a drive-in? Mr. Hailey, millions of fast food lovers thank you!

Shocking! The First Car to Use an Alternator to Charge the Battery

Many Mopar fanatics may have owned a Plymouth (Originally Chrysler) Valiant or two in their lives. But how many of them know the Valiant was a technological wonder in its time? Before Chrysler released the Valiant to the motoring public in 1960, cars were equipped with noisy generators that powered the car’s electrics and kept the battery charged. The Valiant started life a basically an “import-killer”–a car that could, and did, compete with the flood of imports the US was starting to see. It was so good at this that it took a number of awards in NASCAR compact car classes. The Valiant was also responsible for more firsts, but you’ll have to come back next week to see what some more of those are.

The “Most Wanted Car” of “America’s Most Wanted”

Henry Ford received a letter from one of “America’s Most Wanted” back in 1934. Although the letter was high praise for his new V-8, it’s probably not praise Henry wanted, or at least not from the source. An excerpt from this letter reads “ I have drove Fords exclusively when I could get away with one. It has got every other car skinned, and even if my business hasn’t been strictly legal it don’t hurt anything to tell you what a fine car you got in the V-8” The author? Clyde Darrow. Yes. Of Bonny and Clyde fame.

Want more fun trivia? Come on back next week for the next installment. If there’s a piece of automotive trivia you’d like us to explore, drop me a line in the comments section.