This Day in Auto History: 02 AUGUST

8.2.1900 Horace Elgin Dodge Jr. is born in Detroit, MI

8.2.1917 A special Chalmers Speedster driven by Joe Dawson and Joe Gardham at the Sheepshead Bay Speedway in New York City completes a 24-hour run that set 15 speed and endurance records for stock cars

8.2.1943 William Grover-Williams, a British secret agent who raced as “Williams”, is arrested in France by the Gestapo - the two-time winner of the French Grand Prix would be executed in Paris later in the year

8.2.1950 The Ford Motor Company creates the Defense Products Division to hand government contracts related to Korean War material

8.2.1971 The 1972 Mercedes-Benz models are introduced to the United States market

Source: Automobile History Day By Day, by Douglas A. Wick