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Lamborgini Stats & History

Automobili Lamborghini has been manufacturing high performance sports cars since 1963. They are located in an Italian village right in between Modena and Bologna called Sant'Agata Bolognese. Although Lamborghini's are manufactured at a very small rate, they remain some of the most exotic sports cars around and their competitive performance is amazing.Originally Ferruccio Lamborghini owned a successful tractor company called Lamborghini Trattori. He was an enthusiastic sports car collector and among his collection was a Ferrari and a few other high-bred sports cars. The tale goes that he took his Ferrari back to the factory because it's clutch failed and Enzo Ferrari refused to meet him, basically telling Ferruccio that there was no way a tractor manufacturer could ever understand such a high performance car. So Ferruccio Lamborghini decides to head home and fix the clutch himself. Upon doing so with an unexpected ease he decides to go into business building the perfect GT car.Ferruccio achieved unbelievable success and managed to get his bodies designed by a handful of well known designers including Mario Marazzi, Franco Scaglione, Zagato, Bertone, ItalDesign, Mercello Gandini and Luc Donckerwolke. Ferruccio happened to be a bullfighting aficionado, and almost all his car models acquired a name that is somehow related to bullfighting.Amongst Lamborghini's products there is the Miura (1966), Countach (1974), Jalpa (1981), Diablo (1990), the Murcielago (2001) and even an off-road vehicle called the LM002 that consisted of a 5.2 liter V-12. Currently in production (2004) are the Murcielago and the cheaper, smaller Gallardo and the majority of their styling is done by the Belgian designer Luc Donckerwolke.

History of Hummers

Hummers were originally built by AM General Corporation, which was formerly AMC Jeep's General Products division, in its South Bend, Indiana assembly plant. AM General had planned to sell a civilian version of the Hum-Vee as far back as the late 1980s. In 1990, two matching white Hum-Vees were driven from London to Beijing over the rough roads of central Soviet Union. The Hummers made the trip with ease, for they were built to drive on off-road terrain. The highlights of this journey were broadcast in the United States on ESPN. This publicity would pale in comparison to the attention that the HMMWV received for its service in Operation: Desert Storm the following year.

In 1992, AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Hum-Vee) vehicle to the public under the brand name "Hummer". According to sources, they began doing so after Arnold Schwarzenegger asked them to; apparently, he was impressed by a convoy of HMMWVs that drove by during his filming Kindergarten Cop in 1990.
In 1998, AM General sold the brand name to General Motors, but continued to manufacture the vehicles. GM is responsible for the marketing and distribution of all Hummers produced by AM General. In the next few years, GM introduced two new homegrown models, the H2 and H3, and renamed the original vehicle H1. AM General continued to build the H1 until it was discontinued in 2006, and is contracted by GM to produce the H2. The H3 is built in Shreveport, LA alongside the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups, with which it shares the GMT-355 platform (custom modified and designated GMT-345).

2006 Hummer lineup: H3, H1, and H2
As of 2006, Hummer has gone international with selected importers and distributors in Europe and other markets.
Since October 10, 2006, GM has been producing the Hummer H3 at its Port Elizabeth plant in South Africa for international markets. Hummers at the Port Elizabeth plant are built both for local South African consumption and exported to Australia in the 2008 model year. In Europe, the Middle East, and Japan, the H3 is also already available. As of October 2006, Hummer vehicles are marketed by about 300 dealers in 34 countries. 173 of those are in the U.S.

The H2 is also assembled in Kaliningrad, Russia, by Avtotor, starting in June 2004. The plant produces a few hundred vehicles annually, and its output is limited to local consumption (five dealers in Russia initially).
GM CEO Rick Wagoner has said the Hummer brand of trucks will run on Biofuel Powertrains at last year's Los Angeles International Auto Show. Arnold Schwarzenegger has subsequently had one of his Hummers converted to run on biofuel and now promotes this approach.

The future of the Hummer brand is in doubt. On Tuesday 3 June 2008, one day prior to GM's annual shareholder meeting, CEO Rick Wagoner said the brand is being reviewed, and has the possibility of either being sold, having the production line completely redesigned, or being discontinued. This is due to the decreasing demand for large SUVs as a result of higher oil prices. Almost immediately after the announcement, a pair of Indian automakers have expressed interest in purchasing all or part of Hummer.

HIstory of Benz

Karl Benz was born on 25th November 1844 in Karlsruhe, the son of an engine driver. The middle of the last century, when Benz was an apprentice, was a time of widespread fascination with the"new technology". The first railway line in Germany from Nuremberg to Furth had been opened in 1835, only twenty years before, and in the space of just a few decades the railways, steamships and new production processes had ushered in a new era in technology, industry and everyday life. Karl Benz attended the Karlsruhe grammar school and subsequently the Karlsruhe Polytechnic. Between 1864 and 1870, he worked for a number of different firms as a draughtsman, designer and works manager before founding his first firm in 1871 in Mannheim, with August Ritter. But little money was to be made in the building materials trade and the economic convulsions of the 1870's caused difficulties for the young company. Karl Benz now turned to the two-stroke engine, in the hope of finding a new livelihood. After two years' work, his first engine finally sprang to life on NewYear's Eve, 1879. He took out various patents on this machine.
Equally important were the contacts with new business associates, with whose assistance Benz founded a gas engine factory in Mannheim. But after only a short time he withdrew from this company since it did not give him a free enough hand for his technical experiments. Benz found two new partners and with them founded "Benz & Co., Rheinische Gasmotorenfabrik" in 1883 in Mannheim, a general partnership. Business was good and soon the production of industrial engines was being stepped upWith this new financial security, Karl Benz could now set about designing a "motor carriage", with an engine based on the Otto fourstroke cycle. Unlike Daimler, who installed his engine in an ordinary carriage, Benz designed not only his engine, but the whole vehicle as well. On 29th January 1886, he was granted a patent on it and on 3rd July 1886, he introduced the first automobile in the world to an astonished public. In 1903, Karl Benz retired from active participation in his company. The next year however, he joined the supervisory board of Benz & Cie and he was a member of the supervisory board of Daimler-Benz AG from 1926, when the company was formed, until his death in 1929. In 1872, Karl Benz married Bertha Ringer, who was to be of major support to him in his work. The couple produced five children.
Benz lived to witness the motoring boom and the definitive penetration of his idea in to everyday life. He died on 4th April 1929. The former Benz family residence in Ladenburg is now open to the public.The Daimler-Benz foundation, founded in 1986, has its registered office here.In the late 1880s, Karl Benz put together the works of some creative engine designers, himself included, bicycle mechanics, and drivetrain innovators; elements, that when properly combined, would change the course of history.The horseless carriage was a dream that had existed throughout the ages, as far back as Leonardo da Vinci, in his Codice Atlantico. The closest thing to a surrey that could actually move under its own power dates back to 1769 and the Cugnot Carriage, a massive three-wheeled wagon powered by a steam engine. A train for two.As a viable concept, the development of the automobile as a means of personal transportation can be traced to 1885 when Karl Benz opened the doors of his Mannheim workshop and rode around the yard in a three-wheeled carriage powered by a single-cylinder internal-combustion engine. On January 29, 1886, Benz was granted German patent number 37435 for his invention - the Patent-Motorwagen - recognized today as the first automobile. Had he waited just a little longer, Benz would have had to share that distinction with Gottlieb Daimler.Karl Benz grew up in an era when few ordinary people ventured far from their hometown. Mass transport, when it finally came to be, was the steam locomotive. Personal transportation was powered by hay, and luxury meant a coach-built carriage. To the average person, the concept of driving, let alone owning a car must have seemed as unlikely in the 1880s as it is to us that someday we might pilot cars that fly above city streets.Though we celebrate the introduction of the motorcar in 1886 as a turning point in modern civilization, the automobile was not simply and suddenly invented.
Although Benz started it all, he did not single-handedly put the world on wheels. More importantly, the Patent-Motorwagen showed what was possible.Why did Benz choose three wheels instead of four as Daimler used for his Motorwagen? The answer is that Benz did not use the horse-drawn carriage as a basis for his car. Instead, he departed far from it. His tricycle configuration appeared more logical, less complicated, lighter, and easier to steer. This theory reigned until Benz designed the four-wheeled Viktoria, which appeared in 1892.The Patent-Motorwagen was powered by a water-cooled, single-cylinder, horizontal engine. The piston and cylinder were oriented fore and aft, and displacement was 954cc(58ci). Output was about 0.75hp at 400rpm, sufficient to propel the three-wheeler at speeds up to 10mph. The exposed connecting rod and crankshaft drove an attractively sculpted flywheel beneath the engine and a simple transmission above.
From here power went via belt to a rudimentary differential, then to both wheels by chain. The driver started the engine by spinning the flywheel by hand. Ignition was by coil and battery, and Benz had to invent his own spark plug. Fuel flow was adjusted by a knurled handle beneath the driver's seat, while brakes were controlled by a large lever to the driver's left. Benz made several design improvements before putting the three-wheeler into production in 1888, but the basic layout prevailed during its four years of manufacture. It is estimated that about twenty-five were made.