A history of the motor car – General History

Popular Myths and the Conspiracy Theory: ‘the stab in the back’ 1918

Friedrich Ebert did not believe in the Allies’ victory / en.wikipedia.org

Learnéd, and sometime not so learnéd people have started myths right down through the centuries almost since the human race was ‘uncivilized’. King Alfred ‘burning the cakes’, ‘Robin Hood and Maid Marian’, Richard III ‘murdering his nephews’, changelings occupying thrones in Europe, what lay behind the sinking of the Titanic, foreknowledge of Pearl Harbor, was the Russian royal family killed in a cellar in Siberia? Plus a long line of etceteras. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-03-27T11:07:10+00:00 March 27th, 2013|A History of North America, A history of the motor car, British History, English History, German History, Philosophy, Spanish History, The Arab races, Today, US History, World History|0 Comments

A brief history of spectator sports

Le Mans 1955: Pierre Levegh lies near his crashed car that killed over 80 spectators /documentingreality.com

Most (but not all) of the sports which are super-popular with the public today were invented, improved and regulated in the independent private schools of Victorian Britain; that is to say, what in England are still called ‘the public schools’, as opposed to state ones. The most popular of all – Soccer – was being played in early medieval England, and has always been an almost entirely working-class game. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-03-17T19:47:01+00:00 March 17th, 2013|A History of North America, A history of the motor car, British History, English History, French History, German History, Greek History, History of New Zealand, Italian History, Spanish History, Today, World History|0 Comments

A classic Anglo/American sports car, almost forgotten

The original Jensen Interceptor / joc.org.uk

The Jensen Interceptor came in two phases; Jensen made the original Interceptor between 1950 and 1957 at the Carter’s Green factory in West Bromwich in the north of England. The newly established Jensen Motors then built another high-powered sports car between 1966 and 1976 at the Kelvin Way factory.

The first model had used fibre-glass a great deal in the 1950s model, but the later model returned to a steel pressed body-shell, with a new design by the Italian firm Carrozzeria Touring. The 1950s model was also Italian designed and built (by Vignale) until Jensen began production themselves with some faint but subtle modifications. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-02-13T11:21:09+00:00 February 13th, 2013|A History of North America, A history of the motor car, British History, Italian History, Today, US History|0 Comments