1: STAYED ON THE GAS, MADE A BIG SPLASH:
According to Keith Martin’s book STRANGE BUT TRUE TALES OF CAR COLLECTING, if you're going to deliberately destroy your $2.2 million Bugatti Veyron by driving it into a lake and then claim you tried to steer clear of an oncoming seagull...you’d best be sure nobody is filming you and your exotic car at the time. The story gets uglier when it’s revealed that you only paid $1 million and change for it but insured it for $2.2 million. One other thing: You insured it as a collector car which means very few miles will be put on it yet you drive it everyday to work, to meetings and to run errands. This whole mess goes to the jury soon and we suspect the owner/driver will not be collecting $2.2 million. He’ll be lucky to escape jail time for the attempted fraud.
2: BUT WE ALWAYS THOUGHT HE DID:
Little known fact about Henry Ford and confirmed in Joey Green’s book CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, Henry Ford did not invent the automotive production assembly line, nor did ever claim to. Ransom Olds actually created the very first auto assembly line, yet it was Henry and his team who refined and perfected it. In later years when Japan became the source for automotive production, they took it up another level with what they refer to as “just in time delivery," wherein required parts for assembling a vehicle arrive at the assembly station when needed, not stored there. Most automotive manufacturers today have adopted that method.
3: NEVER TRUST HOLLYWOOD FOR A HISTORY LESSON:
Despite two major motion pictures depicting such, the band on the sinking Titanic did not play “Nearer, My God to Thee.” According to the book CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, before tumbling down the deck with their instruments, the band was playing the Episcopalian hymn “Autumn.” This was confirmed by Harold Bride, the surviving wireless operator on the Titanic.
4: GRANDPA SAID TO ALWAYS STEER INTO A SKID:
Grandpa’s advise wasn’t all wrong, but it falls short of all the information required to effectively correct a skid and in fact may do more harm than good. Steering into a skid is a fine notion, however by how much and for how long are the important facts to take into account. By steering too much or holding that steering too long, all you’ve accomplished is relocating the point of impact. The best advice given in broad strokes is very little counter steer and for far less time than you would think.
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