25 Amazing Facts About Cars That You Probably Never Knew in Olive Branch, MS

Cars are a huge part of our everyday lives. The automobile transformed society, created an entire culture centered around what we drive, and built an enormous industry that employs millions of people across the globe.

But what most people know about vehicles isn’t as interesting as what they don’t know. There are some mind-blowing facts about cars that we never even consider. Here are fifteen of them:

1. There are over a billion cars currently in use worldwide
2. The most expensive car ever sold at auto auction was a 1962 Ferrari GTO 250 that fetched $38,115,000 in 2014
3. The founder of Chevrolet died bankrupt and working as a mechanic for the company that bears his name
4. Only 18% of Americans are able to drive a car with a manual transmission, and that number is declining every year
5. The average American spends about 38 hours a year in traffic
6. In 1900, 40% of American cars were powered by steam, 38% by electricity, and 22% by gasoline.
7. There are more cars in Los Angeles than there are people
8. The first car accident ever occurred in 1891 in Ohio
9. In 2015, Volkswagen sold more sausages than cars
10. The average American eats one out of every five meals in a car
11. The very last car to come with a standard cassette deck was the Lexus SC430 in 2010
12. The co-founder of Domino’s Pizza traded his shares in the company for a Volkswagen Beetle in 1961
13. Whale oil was used in some transmissions until 1973
14. In 1916, 55 percent of all the cars in the world were the Model T Ford, which is still an unbroken record
15. The world’s first-ever traffic signal was launched in Wolverhampton, England in 1927
16. Approximately 60 million cars are produced every year
17. Singer legend Bob Marley once owned a BMW, because the initials coincided with his band name, Bob Marley and the Wailers
18. The first victim of vehicular manslaughter ever was H.H. Bliss, a real estate man from New York, who was hit and killed by an electric taxicab in 1899
19. The automobile is the most recycled product on the planet
20. The highest mileage ever measured on a single car is 2,850,000 miles
21. The average family sedan’s tires only touch about as much road as your two feet placed next to each other
22. The average car contains over 30,000 unique parts
23. The world record for removing and replacing a car engine is 42 seconds, set in 1985 by a group of mechanics working on a Ford Escort
24. 16% of people never wash their cars
25. 1 out of every 4 cars in the world comes from China