Interesting Car Facts

Here at Lookers Leasing, we love a good fact. We’ve been scouring the internet to find the best and here they are:

1. Who do you think the most prolific tyre maker in the world is? Michelin? Pirelli? No, it’s Lego! Yes really. They made 318 million tyres in 2011, with the second largest manufacturer, Bridgestone, producing a mere 190 million
2. Peugeot started out making pepper grinders, and in fact, still do! In 1810, the Peugeot brothers converted the flour mill to steel. In 1840 they made their first coffee mill which remained in production until 1975, with the peppermill following soon after, and soon they were making all kinds of appliances, including washing machines, radios and food processors. Eventually the company was divided in two, with one half creating automobiles and the other carrying on with kitchen appliances. In 1905, members of the Peugeot family started another car brand, Lion Peugeot, and in 1910 the companies merged once more.
3. The world’s first speeding fine was issued in 1896. The speed limit at the time was a paltry 2mph and you had to have someone walking in front of you waving a red flag to warn the public of your approach! The person in question was Walter Arnold, who was spotted doing 4 times the speed limit (8mph!) through the streets of Kent, with no red flag bearer in front. The policeman who spotted him chased him on his bicycle and he finally caught up with him five miles later, where Arnold was fined a shilling. Later that year, the Locomotives Act binned the red flag bearer and raised the speed limit to 14mph.
4. The first ever car accident was recorded in 1891 (if you define a car as a gasoline powered automobile). James Lambert was driving one of his inventions, an early gasoline powered buggy, when he hit a tree root sticking out of the ground. He lost control and crashed into a post. Both him and his passenger suffered minor injuries. The first recorded pedestrian death was in 1896, in London, when Bridget Drsicoll stepped off a curb and was hit by a gas-powered car driven by Arthur Edsall. The car only had a maximum speed of 4mph
5. Have you had a speeding fine recently? As annoying as it is to have to pay a fine, spare a thought for a man in Sweden, who was issued with the largest speeding fine ever – a huge 1,000,000 euros! He was caught doing 180 miles an hour, and in Sweden, the fines are based on an individual’s income.
6. According to Guinness World Records, the highest mileage clocked by a single car is 3,039,122 miles. Irvin Gordon from the USA clocked the incredible mileage in a 1966 Volvo 1800S by 1^st May 2014. He drives his car on a daily basis and covers an estimated 140,000-160,000 km (85,000-100,000 miles) a year. The furthest he has driven in one go is from New York to Vancouver, but in total his miles add up to nearly 120 complete circumnavigations of the Earth!!! He bought his Volvo on 30^th June 1966 for $4,150 when he was 25. He now drives an XC60 he was given by Volvo for the incredible feat.
7. Supercar manufacturer Lamborghini was started after a disagreement between Ferruccio Lamborghini and Enzo Ferrari, founder of the car company of the same name. Lamborghini was born into a farming family but didn’t share the farming passion. Instead, he was a keen mechanic, and began repurposing old military machines after World War 2 into agricultural machines like tractors. This made him wealthy and allowed him the luxury of buying several luxury cars, including a Ferrari. After using a couple for racing, he decided that some changes were needed, and took these directly to Enzo Ferrari. Ferrari didn’t appreciate this and told hm he didn’t want advice from a tractor mechanic. After this disagreement, Lamborghini was so insulted he started working on his own type of luxury car, and so Lamborghini was born.
8. Do you know how long it would take to drive to the moon? Well not that long in the great scheme of things. If you were able to drive upwards at 60mph, it would take just under 6 months to drive the 250,000 miles there. You might struggle to refuel or stop for a rest though!!
9. Nils Bohlin, an engineer at Swedish car manufacturer Volvo, invented the three-point seatbelt. Because it was such an important discovery, Volvo made the design available to other car manufacturers for free. It has saved thousands of lives since
10. Volkswagen sold more sausages than cars in 2015! Randomly, they sold over 7 million of their branded currywurst and 5.82 million cars. Their sausages are sold in the company’s canteens and factories but also in supermarkets.