Dashboard Bites
WORDS BY ANTONINA JOSON
Almost 75 % of all Rolls-Royce cars are still in use.
Rolls-Royce has been a household name in the automotive world for decades. Known for creating some of the world’ s most expensive cars, Rolls- Royce ' s products have also stood the test of time. In fact, nearly 75 per cent of all the cars the brand has produced is still in use today. There are three“ oldest known Rolls-Royce " cars recorded. These are the 1904 Paris Salon, 1905 Olympia Motor Exhibition Display Car, and the 1904 Rolls-Royce 10hp Two Seater.
Power windows are older than you think!
The first set of power windows were installed in the 1940 Packard 180 series. Before this, car windows could only be opened with human intervention. According to Kelley Blue Book, the 1940 Packard used a hydro-electric mechanism to power its windows. Though power windows are extremely common now, this mechanism was innovative for its time.
LEGO is both the world’ s largest and smallest rubber tyre manufacturer.
Move over Goodyear and Michelin, this tiny powerhouse is actually the world’ s largest tyre manufacturer! LEGO produces over 300 million( tiny) rubber tyres per year. Not only that, LEGO’ s new formula comes from recycled fishing nets, engine oil, and ropes.
France was once the no. 1 country in auto manufacturing.
In the early 1900s, France led the world in auto manufacturing. As early as 1769, French inventors made great strides in automotive innovations. By 1890, Armand Peugeot developed a four-wheel car with an internal combustion engine. Eight years later, the Renault brothers had sold their first car. This all built up to 1903, where France produced 30,124 cars— almost 49 per cent of the world’ s total cars manufactured that year.
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