What's Your Favorite Piece of Mind-Blowing Automotive Trivia?

Illustration: GMG Media

I love automotive history, and it seems so do you. Whether it’s tales of paramilitary women’s groups supporting Depression era sit-ins or the strange saga of how America’s busiest border crossing became the lynchpin in a private empire, there are tons of little interesting, mind-blowing nuggets of stories and facts out there. What are some of your favorites?

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Growing up, Henry Ford was something of a local saint, until you heard all the wild things about him. But my favorite Ford story isn’t how he got a vial of Thomas Edison’s final breath, or set up a Detroit suburb in the Amazon jungle, or even when he invented the unboxing video after buying the chair Lincoln was shot in. No, my favorite story is how the Dodge Brothers pulled a pretty epic burn on Ford’s whole family and business.

On Nov. 1, 1916, Henry Ford’s son Edsel married Eleanor Clay in a mansion in Detroit surrounded by close friends, the creme de la creme of Detroit. Mixed in with that creme were the famously rowdy and uncouth Dodge Brothers, who Ford owed a hell of a lot of his success to. The Dodge Brothers drank Ford’s wine and toasted to the newly married couple. And then the very next day, they filed a lawsuit against Ford. That lawsuit, incidentally, would lead to a win for the Brothers and the legal precedent that corporations exist only to create profits for shareholders.

Those Dodge Brothers were ice cold. Anyway, what are some of your favorite interesting tidbits of automotive lore? What’s a factoid that saved your team’s ass during a Trivia Night? What’s something you read that you can’t wait to tell your other gear heads when you see them?

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