Mercedes S Class, a couple of firsts

First with electronic antilock brakes
first with 3 point seatbelts,
first with sat nav,
first with airbags

Source, Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson

Dan Gurney

The only American to win a Grand Prix in a car of his own design (Gurney Eagle in the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix)
Later that year he also won te Rex Mays 300 in Riverside, making him the first to win races in Indy Car, NASCAR, Formula One, and sports car racing. Only two guys have done it since

Nascar trivia... what did a yellow rear bumper mean?

That the driver was a rookie. Used in 1973 that I know of, maybe other years.

Mopar design trivia

the Demon tailights were origninally designed for the 71 Duster 340 to match the grill. I never noticed that before

Photo from Hemmings Muscle Machines, Nov 2011 issue

Today is brought to you by the letter G

GLHS
GN
GNX
GP
GS
GSS
GSX
GT
GT40
GTO
GTR
GTS
GTU
GTX
GTZ

How many do you know? Conversely, how many have you no idea what they were?
I wonder how many I forgot... Comments by Roadster2005 are proof I forgot 2.. the GTI for one, and the GLX by Ford... an Escort with the sporty look if I recall correctly

here is the link to what they are: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/04/click-on-all-pictures-to-enlarge-them_30.html 

1965 Chevelle Malibu SS, only 201 made... out of 70,000 Chevelles that year

Only one was covertible, built for Dan Blocker, because he played a rancher on the tv show Bonanza, and his cowboy hat was huge... and he wanted to drive in parades in character with that huge hat, and Chevrolet was a big sponser of the show.

When Chevrolet released the Chevelle Malibu SS in the summer of 1965 it produced only 201 of them out of a total of 70,000 Chevelles of various models. This muscle car had all the ingredients to be a hit; stunning good looks, power, and a very limited number. And it was a major hit. Chevrolets sponsorship of the hit tv show Bonanza helped push the brand with one of the stars, big Dan Blocker, who played Hoss, being an enthusiast of the Chevelle Malibu SS. Most of the car magazines ran some sort of article on the 65 Malibu SS that year and they pretty much waxed lyrical about this special sports car.

Thanks to this heavy promotion of the 65 Chevelle Malibu and the fact that only 201 of them were made meant that it was a runaway seller. Many Chevrolet dealerships never got to see one of these babies let along get the opportunity to sell one. Those that did get one on the car-yard had no trouble selling it.

Looking at the 65 Chevelle Malibu SS today, it is one of the most sought after classic muscle cars around. There are only around 60 to 70 of them left in good to pristine condition, so if you happen to come across one of these in a car graveyard then it is well worth the effort to bring it back to life.
info in italics from http://bruizer.hubpages.com/hub/The-1965-Chevelle-Malibu-SS

Fenderwell liners, red. Not just in GM's...

1966 and 67 were the years that you could get red fenderwell liners in GM a bodies,

66-71 had them with the W-30 442 Oldsmobile

These things you probably know... but had you ever heard of the rare option on 1968 Barracudas?
They were shipped in the trunk from the factory for dealership installtion on Fastback and hardtop-only option in '68

Read about it in the Nov 2011 Mopar Muscle magazine, page 64

Why is it called a dashboard?

What we know as dashboards, not the one on your computer, in cars- are evolved from the early dashes in horse carriages and buggys. The dash board was the boards or material dropcloth that kept the horses back feet from splashing mud and muck onto the driver and carriage... the carriages became motorized and the dashboards were the best place for the first gauges, so the dashboards became the instrument panels

from the above splash guard behind the horse, to

Sparked by an article http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-is-it-called-dashboard.html