love cars and the stories behind them? join us on the drive
to automotive enlightenment in this week’s edition of Friday fast Facts! The
sixth edition features pizza and priorities, Swedish safety and bad business.
Three-Point Seat Belts save One Life Every six Seconds.
2018 Volvo XC90 T6 available at Copart
The stat is thoroughly outstanding and highlights the
necessity for the device that transformed automobile safety. What’s more
impressive is that in 1959, in one of the most sterling cases of corporate
social responsibility, Volvo elected not to patent its revolutionary invention.
Instead of cashing in on a potential goldmine of intellectual property, the
Swedish carmaker elected to leave the patent open for other producers to
implement. According to an article
by Patrick George for Jalopnik, “They chose the innovation was so
significant, it had much more value as a lifesaving tool than something to profit
from.”
A 1966 Volvo 1800S Holds the record for highest car Mileage
browse Copart’s Volvo inventory here
Not only are Volvos safe, they are resilient as well.
According to the Guinness
Book of world Records, Irvin “Irv” Gordon and his 1966 Volvo hold the
record for putting the most miles on one car at 3,039,122. The Alaska
native purchased the car for $4,150 in 1966 (about $32,500 today) and has driven
it the equivalent of practically 120 trips around the globe.
The Cofounder of Domino’s Pizza Traded His Shares for a Volkswagen
A Volkswagen Beetle available at Copart
In 1960, brothers Tom and James Monaghan purchased a pizza
restaurant near the Eastern Michigan campus for $500. about a year later, James
traded his 50% stake in the company to his brother for a used Volkswagen
Beetle. nearly 40 years later, Tom chose to hang up his apron and sell
the majority of his stock in the company. His patience purchased him much more than a
fleet of Beetles, as his 93% stake sold for $1 billion.
Papa John’s founder sold His 1971½ Camaro to keep company Afloat
Hundreds of Camaros at Copart
In 1983, John Schnatter took the exact opposite method of
James Monaghan and sold his wheels to keep selling meals. Schnatter, founder of
Papa John’s Pizza, sold his prized 1971½ Chevrolet Camaro Z28 for $2,800
(around $7,000 today) to save his father’s tavern from bankruptcy and launch
what would grow into Papa John’s today. Schnatter’s sacrifice has yielded over
3,000 store locations and a company worth $1.6 billion. The cherry on top:
Schnatter was reunited with the car that started it all in 2009.
The founder of Chevrolet died Bankrupt, working as a Mechanic for His own Company
1951 Chevrolet 3100 available for sale at Copart
Louis Chevrolet was an exceptional racecar driver, a
masterful mechanic and a virtuoso when it concerned developing automobiles.
Business acumen however, was not a skill the Frenchman possessed. Chevrolet won
his first race in 1905 and his eponymous car manufacturing outfit sold its
first unit seven years later. problems for Chevrolet
and his company began when he and the head of parent company general Motors started
splitting hairs over the direction of the subsidiary. The disagreement
ultimately led to Chevrolet’s departure from his company and a series of poor
choices and bad company breaks. According to an Automotive
News short article by Ralph Kramer, “the ailing and destitute car pioneer was
hired as a mechanic at Chevrolet’s Detroit gear and Axle plant in 1934.”
Chevrolet suffered multiple strokes before dying from problems after his
leg was amputated in 1941.
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