Cars being one of the most recognizable inventions of the modern era, everyone has the curiosity to know about the various facts of cars more or less. So, here are a few facts about cars and their colorful past:

• Top fuel dragsters accelerate at up to 5g from standing start.
• The nitromethane injection produces 6000 BHP.
• Initially, cars did not have steering wheels and then drivers steered with a lever.
• A record was set on November 21, 1985, when the engine for a Ford Escort was being removed and replaced in only 42 seconds.
• Airbags deploy up to 4500 mph within a second. At that time a force of 200g is generated. Airbags inflate within 40 milliseconds of a crash.
• The Ferrari Formula 1 team is unique since it produces both chassis and engines for its cars.
• Ferrari builds about 14 cars every day.
• Seven models out of total 107 models of the Ford GT40 are road cars.
• The world’s longest traffic jam occurred in 1980 over 110 miles long stretch of the French Autoroute between Paris and Lyon. In 1993, a 100-mile traffic jam occurred near Hamburg in Germany.
• The first known automobile was built in 1668, which was a two foot long steam powered model. It was constructed by Ferdinand Verbiest.
• In Europe, Luxembourg has the most crowded roads with 570 cars per 1,000 people.
• In the United States, the first car race was held in Chicago in 1895. Its track ran from Chicago to Evanston. The winner was J. Frank Duryea whose average speed at the race was 71.5 miles per hour.
• The cost of a Ford automobile was $265 in 1924. 
• The first ever auto insurance policy was bought in Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1897.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 6:46 am and is filed under Buying a Car. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.