MotorCities

MotorCities is dedicated to preserving, interpreting and promoting the automotive and labor heritage of the state of Michigan.

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

#ThrowbackThursday: The 1940 @Ford Standard, where pre-war elegance met Flathead V8 muscle! 🚗💨

Styled by Bob Gregorie, it adopted the sleek 1939 DeLuxe grille while adding sealed-beam headlights & a column shifter. A timeless classic that later fueled early hot-rodding! 🏁✨

#MotorCitiesNHA #ClassicCars #AutomotiveHistory #FlatheadV8 #VintageFord

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

🏁 Start 2027 in the driver's seat!

Join MotorCities National Heritage Area by Dec. 12, 2026 and you'll be entered into our Early Bird Prize Drawing for members. 🎁

Win museum passes, historic tours, automotive gear & more!

Memberships start at $35.

Join today: https://t.co/bBE8LFZwQ7

#MotorCities #MichiganHistory

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

#OTD in 1908, the newly-established @GM bought Oldsmobile, which had been losing money due to lagging sales for their six-cylinder model compared to the earlier success of the popular Curved Dash.

Following the purchase, GM introduced the Oldsmobile Model 20 for 1909, which was a 1908 @Buick Model 10 with a longer wheelbase and a slightly different exterior. The vehicle was a four-door, rear-wheel drive model with a four-cylinder engine mounted at the front. A total of 6,575 Oldsmobiles were made in 1909, including 5,325 Model 20s. Image: 1909 Oldsmobile Model 20 (GM Heritage Collection) #ThisDayInAutoHeritage

[The Henry Ford @thehenryford]

There’s no place like Holiday Nights in Greenfield Village presented by @keybank. ✨ Across 80 acres, lantern-lit streets glow alongside historic homes and shops, live music fills the air and the scent of roasting chestnuts follows you through the night. https://t.co/LE1d6Hg5lF

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

Rev up your holiday spirit at Christmas with the Cars at Stahls Motors & Music Experience! 🎄🚗✨

📸 Free photos with Santa, Mrs. Claus & the Grinch (12-3 PM)

🍪 Milk, cookies & festive holiday crafts

🎶 Majestic automated musical instruments playing Christmas classics

🏎️ Dazzling classic cars lit up under holiday lights

📅 Saturday, Dec 5 | 📍 Chesterfield, MI | 🎟️ Free Admission

#MotorCitiesNHA #ExploreMotorCities #StahlsAutomotive #PureMichigan #ClassicCars #MichiganEvents #HolidayFun

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

#TripTuesday: Discover the rich history of vehicle manufacturing at the Pontiac Transportation Museum! 🚗🚛✨

Located in Pontiac, MI, this museum celebrates over a century of innovation, from horse-drawn carriages to classic Pontiacs.

A must-visit for auto history buffs! 📍📍

#MotorCitiesNHA #PureMichigan #AutomotiveHistory #PontiacMI #ClassicCars #RoadTrip

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

#OTD in 1903, a Birmingham, Alabama woman named Mary Anderson received a U.S. patent for a "window cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles to remove snow, ice or sleet from the window."

Anderson's inspiration was drawn from a visit to New York City. She was riding in a streetcar on a freezing, wet winter day and noticed that the driver could not see through his icy windshield.

Anderson began to sketch her concept for a windshield wiper right on the spot. After a number of attempts, she came up with a working prototype featuring a set of arms made of wood and rubber attached to a lever near the steering wheel on the driver's side. When the driver pulled the lever, the spring-loaded arm ran across the window and back, clearing away moisture or other debris.

Naysayers rejected Anderson's invention, claiming the wipers' movement could impair the driver's vision and cause accidents.

After receiving the patent, Anderson tried to sell it to a Canadian company, but they refused. Though mechanical windshield wipers became standard equipment in cars by around 1913, Anderson never profited from the invention. #ThisDayInAutoHeritage

[The Henry Ford @thehenryford]

All active-duty military personnel, veterans and their families are invited for a complimentary visit to Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation this Wednesday, November 11, in honor of Veterans Day as a small token of our appreciation. Learn more: https://t.co/6LqMbXRCMO

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

Every road has a story! 🚗📍

Explore the @MotorCities Wayside Exhibit Program, a network of 300+ outdoor historic markers bringing Michigan’s legendary automotive & labor history to life right where it happened.

Find a sign near you & take a mini road trip through history! 👇

#MotorCitiesNHA #PureMichigan #AutomotiveHistory #MichiganHistory #RoadTrip

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

#OTD in 1883, Carl Breer, who distinguished himself as @Chrysler's first head of Engineering and Research, was born in Los Angeles. Inspired by seeing a Duryea steam-powered Motor Wagon in his teens, Breer decided to build one of his own, and he succeeded at age 17, producing a vehicle with a two-cylinder steam engine made with parts he designed and machined.

Breer received a mechanical engineering degree from @Stanford University in 1909. He took a job at Allis-Chalmers in West Allis, Wisconsin, where he met another promising engineer named Fred Zeder. In 1916, Zeder recruited Breer to join him at Studebaker, where Zeder was building an engineering department that also came to include Owen Skelton, rounding out a trio that came to be known as "The Three Musketeers." This trio built a reputation of automotive engineering innovation first at Studebaker, then at Willys-Overland -- where they first worked with Walter Chrysler -- until Willys bankruptcy in 1922.

After working on their own for a year, the Breer-Skelton-Zeder team was asked by Chrysler to join him and produce a car for Maxwell, which became Chrysler Corporation in 1925.

At Chrysler, Breer became known for a number of innovations, including the creation of the Chrysler Engineering Institute, where engineers hired at Chrysler were trained on the company's systems and procedures. He also was responsible for the creation of the Airflow, a revolutionary-designed car introduced in 1934. While it was a sales failure and discontinued three years later, the AIrflow's aerodynamic design later became an industry-wide standard. #ThisDayInAutoHeritage

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

Step back into the glamorous 1950s! 🚗✨ From towering tail fins to gleaming chrome, the decade transformed the car from a basic utility into an American icon. Explore how bold colors, new designs, and surging showroom demand reshaped automotive culture forever. 👇

Read the full story here: https://t.co/s5IwSuNf4j

#MotorCitiesNHA #1950sCars #AutomotiveHistory #ClassicCars #VintageStyle #CarCulture

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

#OTD in 1998, President Bill Clinton signed the Automobile National Heritage Area Act into law, creating the organization we know as MotorCities today. Happy 28th Birthday to us! #ThisDayInAutoHeritage #28yearsstrong

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

Join @thehenryford for this interesting book talk on November 21st!

[The Henry Ford @thehenryford]

Join us for a free talk, Q&A and book signing with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Eric Moskowitz as he discusses his new book, “The Hardest, Longest Race: Henry Ford and the Cross-Country Contest That Changed America.” @ELMoskowitz 🔗 RSVP at https://t.co/MAaLZuMy58

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

#ThrowbackThursday: Preston Tucker’s 1948 Tucker 48 was decades ahead of its time! 🚘✨

Built with a swiveling "Cyclops" center headlight, a rear-mounted helicopter-derived engine, and pop-out safety glass, only 51 were ever made.

A true icon of American innovation! 🛠️

#MotorCitiesNHA #AutomotiveHistory #ClassicCars #TBT #PureMichigan

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

#OTD in 1895, George Selden received a US patent for an “improved road engine” powered by a “liquid-hydrocarbon engine of the compression type.” Selden’s design was based on a two-cylinder internal-combustion engine that he had seen at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1872.

In 1899, Selden sold his patent to a group of investors known as the Electric Vehicle Company. They immediately turned around and sued the Winton Motor Carriage Company, the largest car manufacturer in the United States at the time, for infringing on the Selden patent simply by producing gas-powered cars. Winton settled, and the court upheld Selden’s patent in 1903.

The Selden patent ended up being used by Eastern high-end carmakers, who had joined with the EVC to form a group called the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM), to limit competition and collect dollars from new members not wanting to fight a lawsuit as they entered the industry.

The one mistake the ALAM made was not including Midwestern car manufacturers who made lower-priced cars for the mass market, most specifically, Henry Ford. On October 22, 1903, the ALAM sued Ford for infringement of the Selden patent, but the case was not heard until 1909, seven months after Ford's Model T was introduced. The court ruled that any gas-powered vehicle unlicensed by the ALAM violated the Selden patent and was illegal. However, Ford, not wanting to pay licensing to the ALAM, challenged the ruling and appealed to a higher court.

On January 11, 1911, the appeals court overturned the previous ruling in Ford’s favor. Their opinion stated that Selden's patent only applied to replicas of the specific engine that Selden had seen in 1872. #ThisDayInAutoHeritage

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

@OliverPolus We sure have!

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

Before the Assembly Line, cars were built one by one. Henry Ford changed everything right here in Detroit! 🚗💨

Built at the Piquette Avenue Plant, the Ford Model T put the world on wheels and established Michigan as the epicenter of global manufacturing.

#MotorCitiesNHA #MadeInMichigan #ModelT #AutomotiveHistory #Ford #Detroit #PureMichigan

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

As part of @thehenryford's Celebration of Indigenous History programming, join acclaimed author David Treuer (Leech Lake Ojibwe) for an insightful presentation and discussion on his book, The Savage Mind: An American Legacy.

Blending memoir, history, and journalism, Treuer reflects on the personal origins of the work, conceived following the murder of George Floyd and the January 6 insurrection to examine how frontier violence, his upbringing on the Leech Lake Reservation, and American history shape our contemporary lives.

Audiences are invited to explore questions of identity, community resilience, and the possibility of national healing, followed by an audience Q&A and book signing with copies of The Savage Mind available for purchase.

#MotorCitiesNHA #ExploreMotorCities

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

Which seasonal event are you most excited to experience this winter? 🎄✨

Cast your vote below and let us know what's at the top of your holiday bucket list!

#MotorCitiesNHA #HolidaySeason #WinterWonderland #MichiganEvents

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

#TripTuesday: Ready for the ultimate automotive road trip? 🚗💨

Head to Hickory Corners, MI to explore the @GilmoreMuseum, America’s largest auto museum!

Walk through 90+ acres, 400+ classic vehicles, historic barns, and an authentic 1940s diner. A must-visit for every car lover! 📍
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#MotorCitiesNHA #PureMichigan #AutomotiveHistory #ClassicCars #GilmoreCarMuseum #RoadTrip #MichiganTravel

[MotorCities @MotorCities]

#OTD in 1911, @chevrolet Motor Company was incorporated by William Crapo “Billy” Durant, the founder of @GM in 1908, and Swiss racing car driver and engineer Louis Chevrolet (pictured).

The Classic Six models produced in 1912, 1913 and 1914 were almost identical. In Chevy’s first production year, 1912, the price for their models was $2,150, a lot of money during the early days of automobile manufacturing. #ThisDayInAutoHeritage