| History according to a Carnut!!!
Special thanks to the History Channel |
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| Other months of Carnut's History Jan/Feb | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
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| May 1 | ||
| 1902 First gas-powered "Loco" completed | ||
| The first prototype gasoline-powered Locomobile was completed at the company's factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Francis and Freelan Stanley created the original steam-powered Locomobile in 1898. "Yankee tinkerers," the Stanley brothers had been working on designs for steam-powered carriages for many years. Success came when one of their cars appeared at a Boston fair in October 1908. The Stanley Brothers' resolve to "mass-produce" inexpensive cars marked an important transition in automobile manufacturing. But only a few months into their venture, the Stanley Brothers sold their enterprise to Amzi Barber, America's sheet-asphalt tycoon. It was under Barber's direction that the Locomobile name became a brand. The 1899 Locomobile sold for $600 and, as its advertisements boasted, it was noiseless and odorless. Refreshing to think of, but the Locomobile's water tank held only 21 gallons, enough for just a 21-mile journey. Sales of the Locomobile peaked in 1900 at 1,600, a remarkable figure at such an early date. The total was far greater than any other American automaker could produce. Sales fell the next year, however, as the primacy of gasoline-powered automobiles was established. Gas-powered cars could go farther, faster, and with fewer hassles than steam-powered cars of comparable sizes. Barber hired automobile engineer Andrew Riker to design him a gas-powered vehicle. The car he designed sold for $5,000. The new Locomobile appealed to rich consumers, and the company shifted its focus from low-cost production for the masses to high-cost production for the elite few. The last Locomobile steamers were produced in 1904. The end of the steam era saw the end of the company's importance. Other firms had been building gas-powered automobiles better, for longer. Locomobile survived through World War I producing trucks for the war market. After the war it became one in the overflowing market of luxury cars. The company died in 1929 after having been briefly incorporated into one of William Durant's holding companies. more from History Channel>> |
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Another case of the "Big Dream"...start something new and exciting and sell it before it gets really profitable. Cash in the hand is worth 2 in the bush!!! It is hard to consider being happy with a 21 mile range...Oh I forgot, the Steam Craze spawned a huge amount of specialty service stations selling "liquid steam". Although the Steam industry died off for many years it has come back with a vengeance as the new "Steam Boutiques" have learned from History and are now catering to the rich Steam consumers...thats right, I am talking about Starbucks. |
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| May 2 |
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| 1972 Baker breaks record |
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| Buddy Baker became the first stock car driver to finish a 500-mile race in less than three hours en route to winning the Winston Select 500 at the Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama. He is an inductee in numerous Motorsports Hall of Fames. After retiring from racing, Buddy Baker became a television commentator for TNN Motorsports. Now he's the premier color commentator in NASCAR racing. Mixing his knowledge of the sport with the colloquial description of a porch-front historian, Baker never fails to make his point clear. Case in point: "[Racer] Ernie Irvan could go bear hunting with a switch. He ain't never afraid." More from History Channel>> |
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| I am not sure that you are aware of my dislike of the Oval tracks....great for testing passenger cars and NoDoze products, I am horrified that it once took more than 3 hours to finish one of these races!!!! 3 Hours!!! I now realize why they want to go faster! Nascar is one example of the old adage of the fellow that bangs his head against the wall...because it feels so good to stop! | ||
| May 10, | ||
| 1841 Racing sponsor is born |
1922 1,000th Rickenbacker produced |
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James Gordon Bennett Jr., publisher of the New York Herald and sponsor of the Gordon Bennett Cup Races, which ran from 1900 to 1905, was born in New York City. An expatriate resident of Paris, in 1899, Bennett became determined to organize automobile racing. As France was the world's leading racing nation, Bennett fostered an agreement with L'Automobile Club de France to sponsor a series of races that would bear his name. In preparation for the event, Bennett drew up car racing's first set of rules. The Gordon Bennett Cup was organized for national racing teams of up to three cars each. Each car had to weigh between 400kg and 1,000kg, and each had to have all of its parts manufactured in the country of its origin. To differentiate between the teams, Bennett created the color scheme for national racing teams that has remained more or less intact to this day: Italian racing Red, British racing Green, French Blue, German Silver, and American White and Blue. Ferrari still races in red, Porsche in silver, and Jaguar, until recently, raced in green. The first Gordon Bennett Cup was held in France, and the successive cups were held in the country of origin of the defending champion. The Gordon Bennett race was the premier auto race in the world for the five years during which it was run. The inability to control race crowds, and the inevitable spectator casualties that resulted, led European countries to ban public road races. The last Bennett Cup was held in Ireland, the only European country willing to sponsor the event. The cancellation of the Bennett Cup was the impetus for the foundation of the Vanderbilt Cup. William K. Vanderbilt desired to fill the void by staging the world's greatest car race in America. More from History Channel>> No Ego here...let's name the race after me personally, not my newspaper or business...just me myself, look how important I am...what a pompous moron. More on Internation Racing colours Wikipedia Absolute Astronomy.com everything2.com |
The 1,000th Rickenbacker car was produced. Named after the company co-founder, American World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, the Rickenbacker Car Company took off in 1922. Rickenbacker, a national darling for his dogfighting exploits, passed on offers from the aviation industry in Washington and from the movie studios in Hollywood in order to start his own car company. In January of 1922, the Rickenbacker car debuted at the New York Auto Show. Priced at $1,500 and equipped with a powerful V-6 and a flywheel at both ends of the crankshaft to reduce the teeth-chattering vibration to which consumers had become accustomed, the Rickenbacker sold 1,500 units on its first day. In two years the company climbed from 83rd in the industry to 19th. "The Car Worthy of the Name," as it was called, was also the first model to introduce four-wheel braking into the economy car class. The 1925 Rickenbacker came with a V-8 and the snappy "hat in the ring" emblem that Rickenbacker's squadron had painted on their planes. In 1926, Rickenbacker marketed the Super Sport as "America's Fastest and Most Beautiful Stock Car." But Rickenbacker resigned in September of that year, and four months later his company was dead. The rapid demise of Rickenbacker owes partly to the public's mistrust of the company's early introduction of front-wheel breaking, but more to the fragile ego of its war-hero founder. During a period of cutthroat price wars, Rickenbacker came under heavy personal criticism at the hands of automobile dealers, who taunted him, "You're a hero today and a bum tomorrow." Rickenbacker could not separate his company's policies from his person and, injured, he resigned. The company was grounded without its captain's name. I have to agree with the public, that front wheel braking is just a fad, it will never last! |
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| May 11, | ||
| 1916 Durant buys Delco |
1947 Ferrari makes racing debut |
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| Charles Kettering and Edward Deeds agreed to sell their Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco) to the United Motors Corporation, a holding company founded by William C. Durant in his attempt to regain control of General Motors (GM). Originally a research and development company, Delco began manufacturing in order to meet the demand for the self-starter that Kettering invented for Durant's Cadillac Corporation. Despite the fact that Durant had spurred on Kettering to invent the self-starter, Delco would sell self-starters to anyone who ordered them. After Durant regained control of GM in the spring of 1916, he moved to make certain that GM would have primary availability to Delco's parts. In a dramatic restructuring which pulled together some of GM's most vital part suppliers, Durant integrated five previously independent companies under the name of the United Motors Corporation. All of these companies would later fall under the GM name. Kettering went on to play a vital role in GM's research and development over the next two decades. |
Ferrari made its independent racing debut at a race in Piacenza, Italy. Enzo Ferrari had been designing race cars for Alfa Romeo since the late 1920s, and it was not until after the war that he broke from Alfa to form his own car manufacturing firm. Ferrari entered his Tipo 125 car at the race in Piacenza. Featuring a revolutionary V-12 engine, the Tipo 125 led the race with two laps to go before a fuel pump failed and forced it from the race. The result pleased Ferrari. In 1947, his company built and sold three Tipo 125 cars. Also, a Ferrari first at the race in Piacenza was the prancing horse hood ornament characteristic of all Ferraris since. Enzo had adopted the logo a few years earlier in honor of Italian World War I ace Enrico Baracca. Having met Baracca's parents at a social event, Enzo decided to honor their son by taking on the prancing horse logo that he had worn on the side of his airplane. Ferrari added the canary yellow background to honor his home city of Modena. With the prancing horse hood ornament, Ferrari would go on to unparalleled racing success, including nine Formula One Grand Prix World Championships. |
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| May 12, 1947 | ||
The B.F. Goodrich Company of Akron, Ohio, announces it has developed a tubeless tire, a technological innovation that would make automobiles safer and more efficient.Pneumatic tires--or tires filled with pressurized air--were used on motor vehicles beginning in the late 1800s, when the French rubber manufacturer Michelin & Cie became the first company to develop them. For the first 60 years of their use, pneumatic tires generally relied on an inner tube containing the compressed air and an outer casing that protected the tube and provided traction. The disadvantage of this design was that if the inner tube failed--which was always a risk due to excess heat generated by friction between the tube and the tire wall--the tire would blow out immediately, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.
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| May 12, 1957 A.J. Foyt wins first major race |
May 13, 1980 |
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A.J. Foyt won his first major race, a midget car race in Kansas City, Missouri. The tough Texan raced everything from midget cars to stock cars before he finally settled on Indy Car racing. Foyt would go on to become one of the greatest Indy Car racers of all time, winning a record 67 championship races and seven championship series titles. He is one of only three men to have won four Indianapolis 500s, winning in 1961, 1964, 1967, and 1977. In Foyt's first championship, a late-fuel stop nearly cost him the race he had worked so hard to win. Fortunately, competitor Eddie Sachs, who had taken the lead from Foyt during the fuel stop, had to a make a fluke tire change in the last few laps of the race, giving Foyt his first Indy 500 crown. Foyt was so overwhelmed by the post-race excitement that he sneaked out for a burger. "We had so many people congratulatin' us, talkin' and all that," he recalled. "Hell, I was hungry, so I just pulled over to White Castle. Hamburgers, I think, were 10¢ or 12¢ apiece." His 1964 victory was marred by the tragic deaths of fellow racers Eddie Sachs and Dave McDonalds. The 1967 Indy 500 saw Foyt drive a Coyote of his own design to victory. His father, Tony, was chief mechanic. "What really made me feel good," said Foyt, "is I built my own car, drove my own car, and my father was chief mechanic." Perhaps Foyt's greatest achievement was his 1977 victory, when Foyt became the first man to win the Indy four times in front of track owner Tony Hulman. Hulman had acted as a mentor to Foyt, and he rode a victory lap with Foyt after the 1977 race. A.J. Foyt now runs A.J. Foyt Enterprises from his home city of Houston, Texas. He founded the Foyt Race Team in 1965. His multifarious business interests include car dealerships, funeral service businesses, oil investments, and thoroughbred racehorses. |
Douglas A. Fraser, president of the UAW, was named to the Chrysler Corporation Board of Directors, becoming the first union representative ever to sit on the board of a major U.S. corporation. Born in 1916 Hhe dropped out of high school and began work at a Dodge plant as a metal polisher. Fraser soon moved to the DeSoto plant in Detroit, where he began his career in labor activism. It wasn't until 1977 that Fraser was elected president of the UAW. He inherited the title as the automotive industry suffered its greatest recession since the Depression. Fraser is credited with having led the UAW through the uncertain years of the globalization of the automotive industry. As it became evident that the Big Three could build their cars wherever they wanted, Fraser fought to make sure that the union stayed flexible in its negotiations with industry executives. His flexibility owed to his desire to keep the union an open-minded and competitive organization. In 1973, Fraser helped to solidify the industry's "thirty and out" policy. During his presidency, Fraser attempted to address the less tangible hardships facing autoworkers. Gone were the days of unfair hours and dangerous conditions, but the monotony that faced the average autoworker was still a cross to bear. In 1982, Fraser enacted his most daring and visionary maneuver as UAW president. Faced with Chrysler's imminent collapse, Fraser negotiated away millions of dollars already guaranteed to his union in order to help save a company with valuable jobs. In return, Chrysler traded stock options to the union. The resurgence of Chrysler bore out Fraser's unpopular decision. Respected by his adversaries, Fraser received the unprecedented accolade of being named to Chrysler's board. "His word is enough for us," one Chrysler executive explained. "He gets into plant problems like no other union leader I know." Conceding that his position on Chrysler's board was largely symbolic, Fraser nevertheless strove to bring the issues of the laborer into the boardroom. It is one thing to vote to close a plant on paper and quite another to vote after hearing in detail the hardship the decision will cause. |
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| May 14, 1960 "Mr. Speed" breaks record |
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Mickey Thompson, a.k.a. "Mr. Speed," broke Bernd Rosemeyer's 22-year-old record for the standing mile and standing kilometer, when he drove his "Assault" car to record speeds of 149.93 and 132.94, respectively. Though Thompson raced in all kinds of events, including off-road racing, he is best known for his achievements in engineering and racing speed trial cars. In the late 1960s, Mr. Speed made numerous assaults on speed records at Bonneville. In the 1970s, Mickey became interested in off-road racing after he watched the off-road Mint 400 race from his airplane. "It was the most exciting race I'd ever seen," Thompson told a reporter. He went on to design an off-road vehicle before forming SCORE (Short Course Off-Road Events). Thompson, almost single-handedly, turned off-road racing into an indoor event. At the time of his tragic death in 1988, Thompson had led a full life of racing. He reportedly met his wife, Trudy, in a drag race; she won, so he married her. The couple was gunned down outside their home in California. In 2004, Thompson's former business partner, Michael Goodwin, was charged with the murders. Too Bad Mr. Speed was not faster than a speeding bullet.... |
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| May 15 | ||
| 1918 Nantucket lifts car ban |
1981 20,000,000th Bug produced |
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Nantucket Island voted to lift its controversial 12-year ban on automobiles. First famous as an insular whaling community off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Nantucket Island has become one of the Northeast's most exclusive tourist attractions. The original inhabitants of Nantucket were predictably resistant to the idea of automobiles overrunning their island. While the advent of the motor car didn't spell disaster for the island then, the fears of early residents may yet become a reality. As Nantucket's popularity rises, even the year-long waiting list for the car ferry can't seem to stem the tide of vehicles. The island's tourist board has attempted to institute an affordable and reliable island shuttle, but vacationers in this country want to go wherever their cars will take them. A delicate ecological structure of bogs, tidal thickets, and dune beaches, Nantucket is susceptible to the pollutants and erosion problems brought on by the increasing numbers of vehicles. Bogs and Sand dunes...just the place for Mickey Thompson!!! see above. |
The 20,000,000th Volkswagen Beetle was produced at the Volkswagen plant in Puebla, Mexico. Volkswagen first came to Mexico in 1954 as part of a museum exhibit entitled "Germany and Its Industry." That same year, 250 Beetles were assembled in Mexico. By 1962, Volkswagen had acquired its first assembly plant in Xalostoc, where the company would eventually assemble 50,000 Beetles. Pleased with the new Latin American marketplace, Volkswagen executives made plans to construct a facility in Puebla, a city an hour south of Mexico City. In 1967, the first Beetle was produced at the Puebla plant. Before closing, the Puebla plant produced more than 1.6 million vehicles. 1.6 million vehicles with only one emmission control...the gas pedal |
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| May 16, | ||
| 1956 GM dedicates new center |
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| General Motors (GM) dedicates its brand-new, $125 million GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. The Center, or at least its breathtaking style and dimension, was the product of Alfred Sloan and GM stylist Harley Earl. Born to Hollywood affluence, Earl never lost his movie-star flair. He is famous for being the automotive industry's first "stylist." In reality, he was a car architect. He achieved fame for his design of GM's 1927 LaSalle. The LaSalle was the first production car to offer a sleek, long and rounded look to its buyers. Earl was brought to GM by Alfred Sloan, the company's almighty president. Sloan created a new department for Earl, at the head of which Earl would oversee the styling for all GM cars. Earl began his incremental quest for longer, lower cars. Why? Said Earl, "Because my sense of proportion tells me that oblongs are more attractive than squares, just as a ranch house is more attractive than a three-story, flat-roofed house or a greyhound is more graceful than an English bulldog." Earl's sense of proportion never exactly fit with the other vice presidents at GM. First of all, he stood six feet, four inches tall. The well-tanned Earl kept identical suits in his office so that he would never wrinkle over the course of a workday. This stylish approach to life rubbed many of Detroit's staunch executives the wrong way. Earl's major conflicts came with the GM body division, headed by the Fisher Brothers. The Body Division was in charge of turning Earl's artwork into roadworthy realities. Earl was often dissatisfied with their product, and he showed open contempt for the Fisher Brothers, whom he dubbed "the Seven Dwarves." The Fishers, in turn, weren't sure Earl was as practical as he could have been. Earl, as much as anyone, was responsible for the glorious aesthetic renaissance of 1950s Detroit. When Alfred Sloan suggested that GM should build a compound to house the company's research activities, it was Earl who urged him to create a structure that was architecturally and aesthetically distinctive. Ignoring his peers' pleas for practicality, Sloan allowed Earl to enlist the architectural skills of Eliel and Eero Saarinen. Today, the GM Technical Center is one of the landmarks of twentieth-century architecture. The aluminum-sheathed dome that houses its stylish auditorium stands a fitting monument to Harley Earl's legacy. A $1 billion dollar renovation of the GM Technical Center was completed in 2003. A sleek, long and rounded look to its buyers...but all your buyers want big boxy SUV's now!!! A $1 billion Reno? Was the reno crew paid the same wages as the assembly line workers? Did you call Home Depot for a quote? |
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| May 17 | ||
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1890 |
1994 |
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Emile Levassor married Louise Sarazin, the widow of Edouard Sarazin and the French distributor of Daimler engines. The marriage set the stage for Levassor's business venture, Panhard et Levassor, which would use Daimler engines in its cars. Emile, France's premier car racer before the turn of the century, set an early record by driving from Paris to Bordeaux and back at an average of 14.9mph in 1895. His cutting-edge Panhard had a 2.4 liter engine and produced only 4hp. Just two years later, Levassor's Daimler engine was capable of pushing the lightweight, wood-framed Panhard to over 70mph. Imagine driving at that speed on bumpy, dusty roads, sitting on a wooden plank bolted to a frame with no suspension. The History of the automobile is filled with men doing great feats and inventing great things...but this guy is the traditionalist and made his money the old fashioned way...he married into it. |
Al Unser Sr. announced his retirement from auto racing, ending one of the greatest Indy Car careers of all time. The product of one of America's greatest racing family dynasties, the Unser family of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Al Sr. is the youngest of the second generation of Unser racers. His achievements at the Brickyard are unparalleled. Al is first in points earned, second in miles driven and total money won, and tied for second in starts. Winning the 1987 race, Al became only the second man to win the Indy 500 four times when he won the race after starting in the 20th position. The next year he broke Ralph DePalma's seemingly unbreakable record for most laps led at the 500. Al's 1970 season was one of the greatest ever, as he won 10 races on ovals, road courses, and dirt tracks to capture the national championship. He won back-to-back Indy 500s in 1970 and 1971, and in 1978 he became the first driver to win the "Triple Crown" of Indy racing by placing first in the Pocono 500 and the California 500, as well as at Indy. In 1985, Al won his third and last national championship by edging his son, Al Unser Jr., by one point in the last race of the season. The win also made him the oldest Indy Car champion ever at age 46. I bet Jr. was the happiest of all to see the Old Man retire!!! |
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| May 18 | ||
| 1958 Lotus makes Formula One debut |
1990 Cadillac Man is released |
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The Lotus made its Formula One debut at the Monaco Grand Prix with Cliff Allison finishing in fifth place. The Lotus Engineering Company was founded by Colin Chapman in 1952 as a result of Chapman's great success in building and racing trial cars. Located in Norfolk, England, Lotus has become over the last few decades one of racing's most dominant teams. Currently limited to Formula One competition, Lotus was initially a diverse racing team. Lotus dominated Le Mans in the '50s. The mid-1960s saw the Golden Age of Lotus racing as its British drivers Jim Clark and Graham Hill enjoyed great success. Jim Clark won the first World Driver's Championship for Lotus in 1963. Lotus has in recent years been represented by such virtuoso drivers as Emmerson Fittipaldi and Alessandro Zanardi. My favourite Bumper sticker was on a Lotus Europa..."All parts falling off this car are of the finest English quality" Lotus cars were light, making them easy to push for service but they were the poster child for the 70's lack of English quality craze. |
Orion films released Cadillac Man, starring Robin Williams. The movie follows a day in the life of Joey O'Brien (Williams), a shameless used-car salesman with a weakness for women. Throughout the film, the spineless O'Brien addresses the audience directly, a la Tom Jones. For the first half of the film, the plot orbits O'Brien's car dealership. The audience watches the comings and goings of the many women who make Joey confused and finally poor: his mistress (Fran Drescher), his ex-wife (Pamela Reed), the office sexpot, Donna (Annabella Sciorra), and the faithful saleswoman (Lori Petty). Just as the movie looks to be settling down into a sexually charged sales contest at a car dealership, Donna's jealous husband (Tim Robbins) comes crashing through a plate-glass window in a motorcycle wielding a machine gun. The rest of the movie is essentially a dialogue between Williams and Robbins, during which Williams tries to use his sales tactics, and some heart-rending honesty, to talk Robbins out of killing the whole bunch of them. The second half of the movie is better than the first, and the whole thing could use a few more cars. This may not be the first example of it but many movies have a cool car in the title and no Car Chases!!! Sometimes not much of the car at all? Do not go see the latest Clint Eastwood movie "Gran Torino" not a squealing tire or car chase in the whole movie...I watched it twice figuring one of the many times I fell asleep I missed the car chase. |
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May 19, 1991 |
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In a sport not known for embracing diversity, racer Willy T. Ribbs became the first African-American driver to qualify for the Indy 500 on this date in 1991. Ribbs, a Californian, objects to the obstacles placed in front of African-American racers: "Here we are, moving into a new millennium, and auto racing still looks like 1939 baseball." Ribbs's achievement at Indy is especially remarkable, as the cost of running at Indy normally deters racers who don't have powerful corporate sponsors. While stock-car racing is more accessible financially, the sport hasn't fared any better in attracting African-American participants. NASCAR officials, however, don't feel the lack of African-American racers is a reflection of racism within the sport. Longtime President Bill France explained his case: "America is what America is today. Anybody can be anything, regardless of your race or your national origin. You can't cast a wand and make everything happen that somebody wants to happen." In the 50 years of NASCAR history, only Wendell Scott ever won a race. One explanation for the dearth of African-American racers is that car racing is a hereditary sport. Most racers come from racing families. By that criterion, however, the Scott family could have continued racing. Wendell Scott, using secondhand equipment, set the sport on fire 25 years ago with his fearless attitude and abundant talent. "Had the sport offered more help to the Scotts, others would have been inspired by us in another generation," said Wendell Scott Jr. "They nipped us in the bud." An example: In 1963, Scott won a race in Jacksonville, and the race officials, fearing a reaction from the crowd, presented the trophy to another driver. They gave Scott the trophy after the crowd had left. Ribbs also believes that corporations are reluctant to offer sponsorship to African-American drivers, because they don't believe these racers will be financially beneficial to their brands. Even the NASCAR team owned by former NFL running-back Joe Washington and former NBA legend Julius Erving cannot guarantee an African-American driver behind the wheel of its car. Washington and Erving started the first wholly minority-owned team since Scott and his sons left competition over 25 years ago. Kathy Thompson, a representative for the team, explained their predicament: "To get into a Winston Cup car is dangerous. I wouldn't want to race against Dale Earnhardt or Jeff Gordon without experience. That's suicide. I wouldn't want that on my conscience, somebody getting out there who wasn't ready."
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| May 20 | ||
| 1961 Ford makes presidential limousine |
May 20, 1899 First speeding ticket issued |
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Jacob German, operator of a taxicab for the Electric Vehicle Company, became the first driver to be arrested for speeding when he was stopped by Bicycle Roundsman Schueller for driving at the "breakneck" speed of 12mph on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. German was booked and held in jail at the East Twenty-second Street station house. He was, of course, not made to hand over his license and registration, as neither item was required until two years later in the State of New York. It seems fitting that our country's first arrest for reckless driving should be leveled at a New York cabbie. 12 mph?...he must have been on company time!!! |
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| May 23 | ||
| Clyde Champion Barrow and Bonnie Parker were shot to death by Texas and Louisiana state police officers as they attempted to escape apprehension in a stolen 1934 Ford V-8 near Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Bonnie and Clyde met in Texas in 1930 while the 19-year-old Bonnie was tending bar. At the time, Bonnie was married to an imprisoned murderer. Soon after the two met, Clyde was arrested for burglary and sent to prison. Bonnie smuggled a pistol into the prison, and Clyde broke out. Over the course of their crime spree together, Bonnie and Clyde were believed to have committed 13 murders and several robberies and burglaries. For over two years, the couple evaded local police officers in rural counties of Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. Not until the FBI, then called the Bureau of Investigation, became involved in the case did law-enforcement officials gain ground on Bonnie and Clyde. It was learned that Bonnie and Clyde, along with some of the Methvins, had staged a party at Black Lake, Louisiana, on the night of May 21. Two days later, just before dawn, a posse of police officers from Texas and Louisiana, including Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, laid an ambush for Bonnie and Clyde along the highway near Sailes, Louisiana. In the early morning, Bonnie and Clyde appeared in their automobile. The officers reported that the couple attempted to flee, but more likely, owing to the fact that Bonnie and Clyde had killed five policemen, the posse opened fire without warning. For two minutes, deputies showered the car with bullets. Both Bonnie and Clyde were killed in the barrage. Their bullet-riddled 1934 Ford later became a valuable collectible. Bonnie and Clyde gained a place in popular mythology as dustbowl Robin Hoods. The 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, starring Warren Beatty as Clyde and Faye Dunaway as Bonnie, portrayed a charming and irreverent pair who took their game too far. Examination of the couple's past, as well as an examination of their victims, shows that Bonnie and Clyde were more likely carefree killers. Their popularity owed to the mistrust of the authorities of the Dustbowl during the Depression era, and to the couple's uncanny ability to elude the police for over two years. Clyde once wrote a letter to Henry Ford saying what a great car the V8 Ford was.... |
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