Originally, I was going to write about the 1961-62 Primetime TV season (which was 60 years ago, of course), list the top five shows in the Nielsen ratings and then write about one of them. Upon reflection, I decided that was inorganic and since the top three shows were Westerns, I didn’t want to write about any of them, anyway. (By the way, Wagon Train was the #1 show in the Nielsen ratings for that season.)

I could have written about Henri Farman who on this day in 1908 became the first person to fly an observed circuit of more than one kilometer, winning the Grand Prix d’Aviation. That also seemed forced to me.

I don’t know if this is more of a Throwback Thursday or This Day In History, but on this day in 1906 the newly formed American Motor Car Manufacturer’s Association (AMCMA) held its first auto show. The event was held at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City. From Automotive History, a diagram of the layout:

 

 

Notice the mix of US and foreign manufacturers. The AMCMA shows were only held through 1910.

Although the Model T was still two years in the future, Ford led all American makes in sales in 1906 with the “lofty” figure of 8,729 cars. In some sources that number is actually shown as 2,798, quite a discrepancy and another reminder that record keeping has been imprecise for the vast majority of human history. At the larger figure that was basically equal to the combined sales for the next three makes: Cadillac, Rambler and Reo. (Of course, that analysis assumes the figures for those three makes are correct.) A far cry from today is that fewer than 1,000 trucks were produced compared to an overall industry output of over 33,000 cars.

Ford actually produced three models in 1906: the mid-level Model F, the low-price Model N, which could be thought of as the forerunner to the Model T, and the expensive ($2,500, about $80,000 in today’s dollars), six-cylinder Model K. From Wikimedia/Wikipedia a picture of a 1906 Ford Model K Tourer:

 

 

The last year the Model K was produced was 1908, the year the Model T was introduced. By 1909, Ford was only manufacturing the Model T.

I have to admit that these brass era cars pretty much all look alike to me. Automotive styling before about 1930 is not interesting to me. Different strokes for different folks, DSFDF.

 

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