Car News
Ford Put 1901 Racing Colors on the Mustang GT3 — And the Story Goes Back Before Ford Existed

Ford is celebrating its racing history with a pair of Mustang GT3 race cars dressed in colors from more than a century ago. The design honors Henry Ford’s first race in 1901, when he drove a car

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Hood Ornaments Started With a Job. Then Cars Turned Them Into Jewelry

Long before carmakers filled dashboards with screens, an important piece of engine information was displayed outside the windshield. Early automobiles often carried their radiator filler caps at

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Old American Cars Could Seat Six Without a Third Row. The Shifter Made It Possible

Open the door of a large American sedan from the 1950s and the front seat looks less like a modern cockpit than a particularly comfortable sofa. There is no center console dividing driver and passe

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Cars Had Ashtrays Everywhere Before They Found a Sensible Place for Coffee

A classic car could provide a cigarette lighter within easy reach of the driver, another for the front passenger and sometimes individual ashtrays for the people in the back. Yet bring a cup of coffee

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Everyone Says Pop-Up Headlights Were Banned, but That Is Not What Actually Happened

Few automotive features can make a parked car look as alive as pop-up headlights. Turn the switch and two neat sections of bodywork rise from the hood, pause with theatrical precision and reveal the l

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Honda Built Navigation Before GPS Using Helium, Transparent Maps and a Glowing Green Dot

There was a time when getting lost required some commitment. A driver would unfold a road map across the steering wheel, locate two towns that appeared to be printed directly on top of one another, th

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Highway Rumble Strips Are Designed to Sound Awful, but Making Them Quieter Could Save Lives Too

One tire wanders across the painted line and the previously quiet cabin erupts with a harsh mechanical growl. The steering wheel trembles, the seat vibrates and, for half a second, it feels as if some

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One Rule Forced American Car Designers to Reuse the Same Headlights for Over 40 Years

Park a 1940s Jeep beside a Chevrolet sedan, an early Volkswagen Beetle and a British roadster, then look closely at their headlights. The surrounding bodies could hardly be more different. The glass c

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The First Crash-Test Dummy Had a Far More Terrifying Job Than Testing Cars

Long before a crash-test dummy sat behind the wheel of a family sedan, one was strapped into an aircraft ejection seat. Its assignment involved rocket sleds, aviation helmets and the violent forc

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A Fight Over European Chicken Created the Subaru BRAT’s Strangest Feature

The Subaru BRAT had a cargo bed, a tailgate and the general proportions of a very small pickup truck. American versions also arrived with two plastic seats bolted into the bed, facing backward and exp

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