Tom is right about the Mercedes Benz tri-star. It was for their desire to lead in the air, on the ground, and on the sea.
This one is prob obvious to all, but Chrysler wasn't the first to have a hemi-head for automobiles. Likewise, in 1960, the corporation wasn't the first to have monocoque construction – far from it. But the 1960 Imperial remained body-on-frame.
Again, EVERYONE believes Chev was the 1st. to have 1 or more HP per CID. In actuality it was Chrysler in 1956.
EVERYONE believes the GTO was the 1st. muscle car. Buick started with the 1932 Model 56S. The Special body with one of the larger straight 8's.
Buick was the 1st. of the Big 3 to have Multiple carburation. The 1941 compound 4bbl. Two 2bbl. carbs.
Buick was the 1st. with a HARDTOP. The 1949 Roadmaster. ALSO the 1st. with a 4bbl. carb. The 1952 Roadmaster.
I'm just glad I'm not EVERYONE. I enjoy going to the Gilmore Car Museum and reading the placards by the vehicles. Some very interesting facts, and features, about the vehicles.
Here's another one: Buick never built a flathead. All of their engines were "valve in head". I don't know who sourced Marquette's engines, they were flatheads, but even though it was a Buick division I don't think Buick had much to do with their design.
My service manual lists the gap as "approximately 1/32". BTW do you know where the name Toyota came from? Hint: Toyota's founder was Kiichiro Toyoda.
There is a Toyota City in Japan, which has a population over 400,000, and is named for the company. The Toyota emblem has all the letters of the company in it.
Was hoping you would chime in, thanks! So that dime thing wasn't in the manual. He stopped by to pick up his belt... it is a Model A, not T.
I did a google search for "mercedes" "The automobile design would later be called the Mercedes 35 hp. Emil Jellinek was an Austrian diplomat based in Nice who ran a profitable business selling cars, and, as a racing enthusiast, had been racing DMG automobiles under the pseudonym Mercédès, after his daughter, Mercédès Jellinek"
I think Nissan is the parent company and wanted to distinguish its production cars from other things it manufactured. Someone else may need to confirm. Not quite true – what about the Oldsmobile 98 Holiday and the Cadillac Coupe de Ville?
I'll answer my own question about the Toyota name. Toyoda (obviously) contains the letter D; in Japanese, the letter D is an extremely complex character. The D was changed to T because it sounds pretty much the same and the T is a simple character in the written Japanese language.
I'm not going out on a limb and call you wrong on the M-B automatic transmission comment, but I spent quite a bit of time looking for corroboration of your post about Mercedes using the GM Dual-range auto tranny and could find none. MB did buy some automatics from Borg-Warner, but as far as I know, the only major foreign brand to use the Dual range Hydromatic was Rolls-Royce. In any event, the architecture of MB transmissions is not the same as The old THM. The THM used a fluid coupling with bands and clutches; MB uses a torque converter with only clutches. The five-speed NAG1 RWD Chrysler transmission is basically a MB transmission.
