TRANSCRIPT 🔗
WEBVTT
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For the Texas Gulf Coast, this is in wheel time.
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Cars, people, and places.
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Time now to take a look at our feature.
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This week in automotive history, a look at the week ahead.
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I'm Michael Mars, so let's get right to it.
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Coming up, we're going to start with long before antelock brakes and electronic stability control, engineers were trying to answer a surprisingly basic question.
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How much distance does a vehicle really need to stop?
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On November the 8th, 1949, the Federal Public Roads Administration began a series of braking tests along U.S.
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Highway 40 near Elkton, Maryland.
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Cars and trucks were selected from regular traffic.
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They were weighed and subject to three emergency stops from 20 miles an hour.
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The testing continued on into December.
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They were gathering information about real-world braking performance.
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It was an early example of how the research that eventually helped shape modern vehicle safety standards.
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November the 9th, 1921, President Warren G.
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Harding signed the Federal Aid Highway Act, helping to establish the framework for America's modern highway network.
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Instead of scattering federal funding across countless roads, the legislation concentrated assistance on a connected system representing approximately 7% of each state's road mileage.
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The goal was to create routes that could carry people, freight, and commerce between the communities.
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It was an important step toward coordinated national highway planning decades before the interstate highway system.
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For an automobile industry that was rapidly expanding, better roads meant something equally important.
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It's more places for Americans to drive.
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Imagine if you would driving through a rainstorm and having to stop every few minutes to clear the windshield.
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On November the 10th, 1903, this is for you ladies, Mary Anderson received a patent for manually operated windshield cleaning device.
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Now this was inspired by watching streetcar operators struggle with rain and snow.
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She developed a rubber-bladed arm that could be controlled from inside the vehicle.
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Her invention was initially met with skepticism, and she never really enjoyed the commercial success it deserved.
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But the basic principle eventually became standard equipment on automobiles worldwide.
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More than a century later, we're still using a refined version of an idea that solved a simple, everyday driving problem.
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On November the 12th, 1908, General Motors expanded its young automotive empire by acquiring Oldsmobile.
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William C.
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Durant had organized GM just two months earlier, bringing Buick into what would become one of the world's largest automobile companies.
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Oldsmobile added an established manufacturer with a recognizable name and considerable engineering experience.
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Over the following decades, Oldsmobile would introduce a lot of important innovations, including the hydromatic automatic transmission.
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Although the brand disappeared in 2004, its influence on American motoring remained substantial.
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That 1908 acquisition helped establish the multi-brand strategy that defined General Motors for much of the 20th century.
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On November the 13th, 1940, Willis Overland delivered its prototype four-wheel drive reconnaissance vehicle to the United States Army.
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This was building on the pioneering work of American Bantam.
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Willis brought a more powerful engine and the manufacturing resources needed for large-scale production.
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The vehicle would evolve into the famous Willis MB, serving American and Allied forces across battlefields around the world.
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Ford also became a major producer of the wartime Jeep components.
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What began as an urgent military requirement eventually created one of the most recognizable automotive designs in history.
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That's our look at automotive history of the week ahead.
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I'm Michael Mars, and this is In Wheel Time.
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Thanks for riding along.