Onsted Car Show

06/09/2026

06/09/2026

On June 4, 1896, Henry Ford unveiled his first vehicle, the Quadricycle, in Detroit.

Weighing 500 pounds, the ethanol-powered automobile’s two-cylinder engine produced four horsepower. It also had a top speed of 20 mph, two gears (no reverse), four bicycle tires and a tiller steering mechanism like a boat.

The popularity of the Quadricycle helped lead Ford to the founding of the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899 and later the incorporation of the Ford Motor Company in 1903.

06/09/2026

On June 2, 1875, a major shareholder of General Motors and three-term mayor of Flint, Charles Stewart Mott, was born.

Growing up in New Jersey and taking over his family’s company, Weston-Mott Co., he eventually moved to Flint after an invitation from Billy Durant. A few years after this move, Weston-Mott Co. became the largest axle company in the world. Once Durant formed General Motors in 1908, Mott’s success allowed him to sell all his company stock to GM in exchange for GM stock.

He would spend the rest of his life at GM, serving as a corporate director for 60 years, as well as a vice president from 1916 to 1937.

06/07/2026

On May 31, 1929, Ford Motor Company signed an agreement to produce vehicles in the Soviet Union. In a time when the U.S. government didn’t formally recognize the Soviet Union diplomatically, the agreement with Ford was deemed groundbreaking.

Signed in Dearborn, the agreement stated that Ford would oversee the construction of a Model A production facility called the Gorky Automobile Factory, while the USSR would buy 72,000 unassembled Ford vehicles, totaling $30 million. Before the famous agreement, the Soviet Union only had around 20 thousand cars.

Always looking to grow his industry, Ford eagerly took the opportunity with the USSR. The deal led Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, to consider Henry Ford “one of the world’s greatest industrialists.” (photo credit: automotivehistory.org)

06/07/2026

46 Cadillac