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You might have read that the Thunderbird was Ford’s response to the Corvette, as in this sentence from a publication: “The Ford Thunderbird was introduced in February 1953 as a response to Chevrolet’s new sports car, the Corvette, which was publicly unveiled in prototype form just a month before.” That’s not totally accurate. It’s not as if Ford saw the Corvette’s debut and then jumped into action. When Chevrolet debuted the Corvette, Ford’s project to create a sporty car had been in the works for a while. It did, however, light a fire under the project at Ford. The Corvette was conceived as a sports car from the very start. It was designed to look and drive like a sports car, something to rival popular European models—in other words, to look NOTHING LIKE anything Chevrolet had ever done. They wanted to capture the attention of American car buyers who didn’t even know they wanted something totally different, new, exciting…and sporty. Ford had a different take on their new concept car. While they too were inspired by European sports cars, they wanted to introduce a sporty new car that was also luxurious, powerful and personal. In fact, with the introduction of the Thunderbird, Ford is credited with creating an entirely new category of automobiles—the personal luxury car. The Thunderbird would go into production the in the fall of 1955 on October 22. Billed as a personal luxury car, not a sports car, it smashed expectations in its first year, selling 16,155 units. This compared favorably to the Corvette, of which only 700 sold that year. Ultimately, the Ford Thunderbird didn’t last long as a competitor to the Corvette. However, its enlargement likely saved both models. After being forced to improve the performance of the Corvette by planting a V8 under its hood, Chevrolet finally achieved desirable sales figures. Without competition from any domestic automaker, the Corvette became America’s Sports Car. AUTO4N is your local foreign car service specialist so bring in your personal luxury car and let us get it tuned up and ready for adventure!

On this day in 1985 "the Breakfast Club" made it's film debut. What happens when five strangers end up together in Saturday detention? Badass posturing, gleeful misbehavior, and a potent dose of angst. With this exuberant, disarmingly candid film, writer-director John Hughes established himself as the bard of American youth, vividly and empathetically capturing how teenagers hang out, act up, and goof off. The Breakfast Club brings together an assortment of adolescent archetypes—the uptight popular girl (Molly Ringwald), the stoic jock (Emilio Estevez), the foulmouthed rebel (Judd Nelson), the virginal bookworm (Anthony Michael Hall), and the kooky recluse (Ally Sheedy)—and watches them shed their personae and emerge into unlikely friendships. With its highly quotable dialogue and star-making performances, this exploration of the trials of adolescence became an era-defining pop-culture phenomenon, one whose influence now spans generations. If your foreign car is stuck in detention bring it to AUTO4N Cincinnati's service specialists!

The Great Race of 1908 was an event sponsored by newspaper companies to sell both press and automobiles. The Parisian daily Le Matin in conjunction with The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune sponsored the six car journey from New York to Paris. This race around the world began on February 12, 1908 in Times Square. Three Parisian cars, the De Dion, Moto Bloc, and Sizaire-Naudin, the American Thomas Flyer, the German Protos, and the Italian Zust all participated, though only three would finish. Automotive manufacturer E.R. Thomas and his "Thomas Flyer" from Buffalo won the first and only Great Race.
A crowd of over 250 000 people witnessed the adventure's start at 43rd Street and 7th Avenue in New York City. An atlas had been consulted and a very specific course laid out, leading from New York west to Chicago and across the prairie. The cars would cross the Rocky Mountains in northern Nevada and arrive in San Francisco, where they would take a steamship to Seattle. There they would change ships for Valdez, Alaska. If a car lost its lead in waiting for passage on a ship, so that other cars caught up, it would be granted its same lead on debarkation, and the other cars held back. The race cars were intended to drive across Alaska and cross the frozen Bering Strait, then push on across Russia to Europe -- to Poland, Germany, France, Paris, the Eiffel Tower. The trip was estimated at six months.
Because of the many hazards, the journey across America actually took six weeks instead of the two weeks originally envisioned. In some places, the cars resorted to riding along railroad tracks when there were no roads. In Japan, the cars faced seemingly impossible challenges. The only option was to travel on narrow trails meant for rickshaws. The mountainous terrain was twisted and filled with village obstacles, and torrential rains flooded the land. The Great Race of 1908 holds a special place in history as the longest and most difficult automobile course. But getting your foreign car serviced in Cincinnati? AUTO4N is your local specialist!

Debra Harry and BLONDIE had the number one hit from January 31, 1981 – February 6, 1981 with the song "The Tide Is High". Blondie was formed after the fall out of Debbie's previous band, The Stilettos in the summer of 1974. Debbie Harry and her partner/collaborator, Chris Stein, were Stiletto band members but the girl fronted do w*p band wasn't having much success getting gigs, let alone a record deal. Blondie was a new start, christened by the nick name passer bys always called Debbie. She liked it, thought it was catchy and suitable for the kind of music she envisioned the new band playing. The Punk rock scene from England was starting to affect New York City clubs and Blondie was hanging around with early fans of the music including Richard Hell, The Ramones and Television. Through this entire period of transition and growth towards becoming major music stars. Debbie Harry drove a classic pony car; a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro coupe. Debbie owned it from her arrival in New York in 1971. In 1977 just before Blondie was to leave for Blondie's Tour in England the car had problems The clutch failed leaving just Reverse and Park. Debbie drove backwards down the Avenue of the Americas into a garage.Blondie was in England from May to June 3rd. When they returned she asked what happened to the car. The garage said it was towed to a scrapyard for destruction as it was too far gone to repair. The scrapyard wouldn't take the car without an ownership title. Debbie didn't have it with her so the car was driven off a cliff. She wrote a song called "I'm On E"about it. Don't drive your car off a cliff AUTO4N can get your car back on the road again.

In the winter of 1957 HOT ROD editor Wally Parks and research editor Ray Brock along with engine builder Bill Likes, traveled from Los Angeles to Daytona Beach to attend the 8th annual NASCAR International Safety and Performance Trials. Towed behind Brock's 1954 Oldsmobile was a new Plymouth Savoy, provided by Plymouth and hot rodded in the course of two busy weeks with a race-built 389-cubic-inch Hemi and custom Hedman Hedders. The plan was to race the car on the Daytona sand in NASCAR's "Experimental" class. The car's maiden run was good enough to win the Experimental class top speed trophy, setting a new record of 159.893 mph for the class an all-time Daytona record for stock bodied cars and netting top MPH for the entire two week event! AUTO4N is your local foreign car service specialist so drop by and get your car ready to race on the beach!