Slideshow: Cool & interesting auto facts

"The title for the longest car in the world is taken by a custom-built limousine by California car guru Jay Ohrberg. The car is 100 meters long and is recorded by the Guinness World Records as the longest car ever built in the world. Surprisingly, the car has a swimming pool and a helicopter pad as well." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"There are currently about a billion cars in use around the world." (SOURCE: Engieapp.com)

"Many new cars manufacture engine noises through the speakers so they make noise when the car starts, then are quiet the rest of the ride." (SOURCE: Engieapp.com)

"Flip-out headlights on the Dodge Charger were used for the last time in 1973. Apparently, they didn’t seem very family friendly." (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

"Each member of The Monkees was given a new Pontiac GTO. As part of their contract, everyone on the hit TV show got a hot car for personal use." (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

"First time in America and the world: the world’s first electric traffic signal is put into place on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, on 5th August in 1914." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The original 'Dukes of Hazzard' show featured a total of 309 Dodge Chargers – all 1969 editions. How can you tell a 1969 Charger from a 1968? Look for the split grille on the front of the ’69 model." (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

"Surprisingly, 80% of an average car is recyclable. In the U.S. alone, 12 million vehicles are recycled every year. Interestingly, automotive recycling is the 16th largest industry in the U.S." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Carjacking in South Africa is very common. Hence, BMW cars are fitted with flamethrowers on the side to avert the theft." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The average cost of car ownership in the U.S. amounts to $8,876 per year for a sedan car or an average car for that matter." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The Ford Mustang made its debut in 1964. It was officially unveiled at the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York. That same day, the car also debuted in showrooms across America, and close to 22,000 Mustangs were purchased." (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

"Astonishingly, by the mid-1960s, American made cars were delivered to retail buyers with an average 24 defects a unit, and many of these defects were safety related." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Interestingly, the Beetle (from 1938 until 2003; total 21,529,464 units produced) came into existence when Adolf Hitler inspired by Henry Ford ordered the German carmaker, Dr. Ferdinand Porche, to develop a people’s car or “Volks Wagen” called the KDF (Kraft durch Frende)." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Did you know that the Rolls Royce HP-15 is one of the rarest cars on the planet? Wondering why? Learn that a total of 6 of these cars were made. Only one of these cars is still available in the world. And it is estimated worth is $35 million. The car had 3 cylinders and a top speed of 39 miles per hour." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The world’s first automobile was developed by Carl Benz in 1885. The top speed of the motor car was 16 km per hour. It had a one cylinder four-stroke engine installed horizontally on a specifically designed chassis. It was known as the Benz Patent Motorwagen." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"In October 2013 a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO racer became the world’s most expensive car, selling to a private buyer for $52 million." (SOURCE: JustFunFacts.com)

"The world’s first long-distance journey (from Mannheim in southern Germany to Pforzheim) in the history of the automobile was undertaken by Bertha Benz (wife of Carl Benz) and her two sons in August 1888." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"It is a criminal offense to drive a dirty car in Russia." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"A recent study estimates that mass-adoption of self-driving cars could reduce over 90% of traffic accidents." (SOURCE: FactSlides.com)

"Ralph Teetor – the inventor of cruise control (also known as a speedostat or tempomat) – was blind. He invented the cruise control in 1948." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"In 1916, 55% of all the cars in the WORLD were Model T Fords. This record has never been broken." (SOURCE: UlmersAutoCare.com)

In 1908, the Model T developed by Henry Ford became the first car available to the masses. This was a low-cost car. It cost around $850 in 1908 and $260 in 1925 (the reduction in the cost of the car was mainly because of the invention of the assembly line)." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Almost three-quarters of the Rolls Royce cars ever produced are still on the road today." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The most expensive car ever sold at a public auction was a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R Formula 1 race-car. In 2013, it went for a staggering $30 million." (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

"The top speed at the world's first real automobile race in 1895 was just 15 mph." (SOURCE: FactSlides.com)

"In 1980, Japan became the world’s leading auto producer. However, currently, it is the world’s third largest producer of cars (behind China and the US)." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Ralph Teetor – the inventor of cruise control (also known as a speedostat or tempomat) – was blind. He invented the cruise control in 1948." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"In 1925, you could purchase a Ford automobile for less than $300. 55% of all cars driven at this time were a Ford." (SOURCE: carcoversdirect.com)

"The Toyota Corolla is by far the best-selling model of car ever made, with close to 50 million units sold since its launch in 1966." (SOURCE: JustFunFacts.com)

"Chrysler’s 426 HEMI engine was called 'the elephant.' It was extremely large and extremely powerful. In fact, at Daytona in 1964, the vehicles that placed first, second and third all had this engine – which is why NASCAR would eventually change its engine-related rules." (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

"Statistics show that there is a 1 in 4 chance that a car accident in the United States involved a cell phone." (SOURCE: FactRetriever.com)

"Only 11 prototypes of the Porsche 916 exist. It’s one of the rarest cars in the world, as it was soon replaced by the less expensive Porsche 911." (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

"A 1977 Pontiac Trans Am starred in the movie 'Smokey and the Bandit.' Four were provided for the movie – all of which were badly damaged during production." (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

"The 1964 Pontiac GTO is widely regarded as the first 'muscle car.' Pontiac owned the muscle scene in the early 1960s, but by 1968, that car had plenty of competition." (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

"The 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona was banned by NASCAR. The car was named for the Daytona 500, and with its record-breaking speed, it won the first race it was entered in. Unfortunately, however, it was just too fast to last." (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

"The first Chevrolet Camaro to ever come off the production line was black. And originally, the Camaro was going to be called the Panther." (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

"Pontiac’s 'The Judge' (a 1969 GTO) was named after a TV show skit. At the time, John DeLorean was the man in charge, and he chose to name the car after a show he watched and liked: 'Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.'" (SOURCE: Fmins.com)

There were no 'speed cops' in this county. So drivers were on their 'honor.' Take a look at the sign. Pretty interesting. (SOURCE: ChiltonCommunity.com)

"The Porsche 911 was originally going to be called the 901 but Peugeot had already trademarked all the numbers with a zero in the middle and stopped them." (SOURCE: JustFunFacts.com)

"Irvin Gordon from the United States is the person who has achieved the highest vehicle mileage ever in his 1966 Volvo 1800S. Driving his car on a daily basis, he covers (85,000–100,000 miles) per year. By May 1, 2014, he had driven 3,039,122 miles." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"1 out of every 7 cars sold in the United States are sold in southern California." (SOURCE: carcoversdirect.com)

"The world’s most profitable car manufacturer is Porsche." (SOURCE: carcoversdirect.com)

"Hong Kong is home to the most Rolls Royce’s in the world." (SOURCE: Carcoversdirect.com)

"It takes half an ounce of gas to start the average vehicle." (SOURCE: carcoversdirect.com)

"Car dashboards were originally designed to prevent mud from splattering the driver of a horse-drawn carriage." (SOURCE: carcoversdirect.com)

"You pay 8 times more for a gallon of Grande Latte Starbucks than for a gallon of gasoline." (SOURCE: carcoversdirect.com)

"While in prison, Hitler wrote a letter to Mercedes pleading for them to loan him a vehicle." (SOURCE: Engieapp.com)

"It takes about 25 hours to build a car, a whopping 10 hours of that 25 is spent painting the car. (wonder how long this one took below? yikes!)" (SOURCE: carcoversdirect.com)

"Drivers are entitled to 21 free liters of gas per month in Turkmenistan." (SOURCE: Engieapp.com)

"About 90% of drivers sing at some point while driving." (SOURCE: Engieapp.com)

"Approximately 60 million cars are produced annually, about 165,000 per day!" (SOURCE: Engieapp.com)

"The top speed at the world's first real automobile race in 1895 was just 15 mph." (SOURCE: FactSlides.com)

"In 1948, Harley Earl introduced the tail fin on the Cadillac. Fins don't go away for over a decade." (SOURCE: Anythingaboutcars.com)

"80 percent of millionaires drive used cars." (SOURCE: factsd.com)

"There was a monk in the 1200s who predicted the existence of cars. Roger Bacon was a Franciscan friar who lived from around 1214-1292... He also predicted airplanes, steamships, submarines and scuba diving suits!" (SOURCE: Ulmer's Auto Care)

"The average American eats 1 in every 5 meals in the car." (SOURCE: FactSlides.com)

"Roundabouts reduce fatalities from accidents by 90 percent. They also lower wait times and save on gas." (SOURCE: FactSlides.com)

"Traffic accidents kill 1.25 million people per year." (SOURCE: FactSlides.com)

"Louis Chevrolet, the founder of Chevrolet, died bankrupt and poor working as a mechanic for the company he started." (SOURCE: FactSlides.com)

"Only 18% of Americans can drive a car with manual transmission." (SOURCE: FactSlides.com)

"Texting while driving increases the chances of a crash by 23 times." (SOURCE: FactSlides.com)

"There's one place in the world where a boat can sail underneath a train, while the train is driving underneath a car that is driving underneath an airplane." THE PLACE: Boston University Bridge in Boston, Massachusetts.

"The world’s lowest street-legal car at just 19 inches high was built by Perry Watkins of Buckinghamshire, England. The flatmobile has a ground clearance of just 2 inches." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The average American driver curses about 32,000 times over the course of their life while driving (yes, average)!" (SOURCE: Engieapp.com)

"In 1916, 55% of all the cars in the WORLD were Model T Fords. This record has never been broken." (SOURCE: UlmersAutoCare.com)

"Approximately 5 months of a person’s life is spent waiting in a car at red lights." (SOURCE: FactRetriever.com)

"Washington D.C. has the worst traffic in the United States, with commuters waiting 82 hours a year in traffic." (SOURCE: FactRetriever.com)

"During a car crash, 40 percent of drivers never even hit the brakes." (SOURCE: Factslides.com)

"Car crashes rank as the 9th leading cause of death and account for 2.2% of all deaths globally." (SOURCE: FactRetriever.com)

"Sir Alec Guinness warned James Dean one week before he died not to get into his new Porsche 550 Spyder or 'You’ll be dead in it by this time next week.'” (SOURCE: FactRetriever.com)

"The late M. Allen Swift of West Hartford, Connecticut, owned the 1928 Phantom I, S273 FP for 77 years... M. Allen Swift is credited with owning his 1928 Rolls-Royce longer than any other Rolls owner." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Interestingly, higher speed limits or no speed limit does not have any correlation to people driving faster." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"It is illegal to slam a car door in Switzerland after 10 p.m. This law is just about not disturbing other people from the sound of the cars door closing." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Carjacking in South Africa is very common. Hence, BMW cars are fitted with flamethrowers on the side to avert the theft." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Did you know that the Rolls Royce HP-15 is one of the rarest cars on the planet? Wondering why? Learn that a total of 6 of these cars were made. Only one of these cars is still available in the world. And it is estimated worth is $35 million. The car had 3 cylinders and a top speed of 39 miles per hour." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"If a car remote’s button is pressed 256 times consecutively when the car is out of range, the remote will become dysfunctional as it will lose its sync with the car." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The world’s first ever speeding ticket was received by Walter Arnold when he was driving at four times the allowed speed – 2 miles per hour. This happened on Jan. 28, 1896 in Paddock Wood, Kent in England." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Statistics show that there is a 1 in 4 chance that a car accident in the United States involved a cell phone." (SOURCE: FactRetriever.com)

"In Japan, there are different stickers which are used on the cars to identify the driving capabilities and experience of a car’s driver. These stickers help other car drivers to be a little more patient when driving around such cars. (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), drivers ages 16-19 are three times more likely to crash than drivers over 20." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"According to the data analyzed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, crashes involving male drivers often are more severe than those involving female drivers. And many more men than women die each year in motor vehicle crashes." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"In 1940, the first four-wheel drive car for the U.S. military was produced. It was called the Jeep." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Dubai has the world’s fastest police car (certified by Guinness World Records). It is a Bugatti Veyron — just one of its 14-strong fleet of supercars. The car uses a 16-cylinder engine which produces 1,000 horsepower. The car has a staggering top speed of 253 mph (407 km/h) and the ability to climb from 0 to 60mph in just two and a half seconds." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"It is a criminal offense to drive a dirty car in Russia." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Interestingly, more than a 100 million lines of code is used to program the computer system used in a Bentley Bentayga." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Did you know that an average American car contains 55 pounds of copper wiring? And an electric car can have three times this amount of copper in them." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The average cost of car ownership in the U.S. amounts to $8,876 per year for a sedan car or an average car for that matter." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The title for the longest car in the world is taken by a custom-built limousine by California car guru Jay Ohrberg. The car is 100 meters long and is recorded by the Guinness World Records as the longest car ever built in the world. Surprisingly, the car has a swimming pool and a helicopter pad as well." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Tata Nano, manufactured by the Indian automotive giant Tata Motors, is the world’s cheapest car. It is a rear wheel drive car and can run at a top speed of 105 km per hour." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The 1994 Honda Accord is the most stolen car in the history of the U.S." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Did you know that wheels were invented around 3500 B.C in Mesopotamia and surprisingly no one knows how they were invented? However, initially, they were not used for transportation. It took 300 years after the invention of the wheels that someone realized they could be used to serve a larger purpose." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Denmark is one of the most expensive countries in which to buy a new car. Denmark collects 150% tax on all new car purchases. However, according to a source, the country is recently looking to cut the tax rate to 100% for new vehicle purchases." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"New car smell is actually the smell of various volatile organic compounds that are used to manufacture the car. The smell is intoxicating and the manufacturers are adopting measure and techniques to get rid of this smell." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"In 2012, Nevada became the first U.S. state to issue the license to self-driving cars. Self-driving cars are autonomous cars that can drive from point A to point B without a driver. They use maps and sophisticated technology to accomplish the task. Researchers agree that these cars could help reduce road accidents in the future." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Leonardo da Vinci invented the first car in 1478 on paper. In 2004, a replica of the car was crafted and was kept in the Institute and Museum of the history of Science in Florence, Italy." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"In 1941, Henry Ford made a car out of soybeans. The car weighed 2000 lbs and had a tubular steel frame that had 14 plastic panels attached to it." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"On 15 September 1938, the Railton Mobile Special is the first car in the history to go faster than 350 mph (563.27 km/h). After further development, On 16 September 1947, John Cobb was able to break 400 mph (640 km/h) in a measured test." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"There are more cars than people in Los Angeles." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Did you know that how the world famous brand ‘Mercedes’ came into existence? Interestingly, the name ‘Mercedes’ was adopted from the name of a customer’s daughter ‘Mercedes Jellinek.'" (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Almost three-quarters of the Rolls Royce cars ever produced are still on the road today." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The Toyota Corolla is the world’s best selling car. The Corolla is sold over 150 countries and regions and the company sells 1 Corolla every 15 seconds. Since its launch in 1966, the company has sold more than 44.1 million of these cars and that is roughly equivalent to 20% of the company’s overall sales." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Did you know that in 1982, the automobile industry provided one of every 6 jobs in the U.S? Thus, the automobile industry became a key force for change in the 20th century America." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"In 1980, Japan became the world’s leading auto producer. However, currently, it is the world’s third largest producer of cars (behind China and the US)." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"In case of a crash or an impact, airbags inflate in just 30 milliseconds." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"In 2017, Tesla became the world’s second most valuable car company." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"... more than 95% of the cars in the U.S. have automatic transmission. On the other hand, in Europe and Japan, more than 80 percent of cars sold have manual transmissions" (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"A crash typically happens within an average of three seconds after a driver is distracted. According to a source, texting while driving increases the chances of an accident by 23 times." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Almost 65% of the world’s population drives on the right side of the road." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"Almost 95% of a car’s lifetime is spent parked." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"An average car has 30,000 parts. About 9,770,000 cars were made in Japan in 2014. Of this total, Toyota made about 3,270,000 cars." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"There are an estimated 1.2 billion cars in the world today while there were only 500 million in 1986. According to a report released by a research house Bernstein, there will be a total of 2 billion cars on the planet by 2040." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The world’s first IC engine – The Pyréolophore – was probably built by Nicephore Niepce in 1807. The inventor is also credited with the invention of photography." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)

"The first self-propelled vehicle–Cugnot Fardier—was made by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769. It was a steam-powered tricycle." (SOURCE: TheFactFile.org)