The Crittenden Automotive Library

On This Day in Automotive History: November 20

On This Day in Automotive History
November 20

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Birthdays: Paul Bablot (1873), Joe Baker (1905), Frank Luptow (1905), Hal Cole (1912), Johnny Roberts (1915), Lem Svajian (1916), Alan Brown (1919), Johnny Zeke (1920), Gene Glover (1934), Samuel Smith (1935), Leonard Blanchard (1936), Dick Smothers (1939), Herve Bayard (1944), Charlie Saied (1945), Keith Cavanagh (1947), Frank Hill (1948), Gunnar Nilsson (1948), Bill Lawrence (1950), Robin Tucker (1950), A.J. Smith (1955), Stefan Bellof (1957), Andy Belmont (1957), Carlos Guerrero (1957), Terry McMahan (1957), Tracy Schuler (1958), Tim Harvey (1961), Deake Lyndall (1961), Greg Rayl (1963), Nigel Greensall (1964), Jimmy Vasser (1965), Chad Coleman (1967), Steve Prescott (1967), Gary Griswold (1970), Chris Prey (1979), Ferdinando Monfardini (1984), Jimmy Weller III (1985), Andrew Ranger (1986), Spencer Gallagher (1989), Anthony Nocella (1992), Ryan Booth (1992), Kris Richard (1994)

1936: Commissioner Thomas MacDonald, after a European tour, addresses a AAA luncheon in Detroit, Michigan, providing his impressions of Germany's Autobahn and roads in England and France. "Germany," he notes, "stands out among all the countries of Europe in the magnificent conception of a national system of major highways . . . . The highways which have been completed are wonderful examples of the best modern road building."

1942: In Canada, a ceremony at the south end of Soldiers Summit, Kluane Lake, marks completion of the pioneer trail of the Alaska Highway. Representing Canada is Ian Mackenzie, Minister of Pensions and National Health. Four U.S. soldiers--Corporal Refines Sims, Jr., Private Alfred Jalufka, Master Sergeant Andrew Doyle, and Corporal John T. Reilly--hold the ribbon, which is cut by Mackenzie and Alaska's Secretary of State, Bob Bartlett. Sims and Reilly are African-American soldiers, and their participation reflects the important contribution African-American soldiers made to the project.

1943: PRA's Willis Grafe leaves Alaska on a CPA Lockheed Lodestar, headed home after 2 years of work as a surveyor on the Alaska Highway. In a memoir 50 years later, he says, "The going rate for people like me, long on enthusiasm and short on knowledge, was $1,260 per year, or $105 per month, with a temporary civil service rating of SP-2, the bottom rung of the ladder." (An Oregon Boy in the Yukon, Chesnimus Press, 1991).

1990: The final 14.5-mile link of I-15 opens near Tremonton, Utah, completing the 1,437-mile route from Great Falls, Montana, to San Diego, California. During the opening ceremony, Regional Administrator Louis MacDonald reads a message from Secretary of Transportation Samuel K. Skinner, who notes that with the opening this year of the final segments of I-10, I-35, I-40, and now I-15, "1990 is the greatest year for major highway completions in the history of the interstate system." Director Eugene Findlay of the Utah Department of Transportation puts it in simpler terms: "We've done it!"

1998: The French film Taxi was released in the U.S.

2000: 007 Racing was released on the Sony PlayStation in North America (initial release).

2001: Mac Dre released his album It's Not What You Say... It's How You Say It, which included the song “Chevs and Fords.”

2013: The U.S.-spec second generation Chevrolet Colorado was revealed at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

On This Day in Automotive History: November 20