In the United States

• Production this year-123,990 passenger cars and 3,297 trucks and buses
• By year's end, more than 290 makes are built in the US, in 24 states, 45 from Michigan, 44 from Indiana, 39 from Ohio
• The Selden patent was sustained as valid and infringed upon by Ford
• President William Howard Taft and Mrs. Taft ride in a White Steamer to the inaugural ball.
• The American death toll in horse-related accidents is 3,850-more than in motor vehicle accidents
• The 5th Vanderbilt Cup Race, on Long Island, was won by Harry Grant in an Alco, on October 30
• Fabric or cape tops, called one-man tops, appeared on the market
• First electric horn
• Legislators from New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut meet to plan a uniform traffic code
• D W Griffith's movie 'Drive For Life' has a high-speed car chase
• The first rural section of concrete pavement, a one-mile stretch, opens on Woodward Ave near Detroit on July 4 at a cost of $13,534
• First event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a hot air balloon race
• This year's Glidden Tour is the longest ever at 2,636 miles
• Detroit: 1,000 cars on display in Glidden Auto Parade; said to be biggest in history
• A Maxwell-Briscoe was driven from New York to Oakland by Alice H. Ramsey, the 1st woman to make the cross-country trip
• The Ninth National Automobile show focuses on customer satisfaction, not merely taking orders. Some 71% of gaoline-engined cars exhibited are four-cylinder, 27% are six-cylinder
• Some steering wheels have a corrugated underside to prevent hand slippage
• This year's manufacturing trends include larger numbers of cellular-type radiators, greater use of magnetos, more chrome-nickel steel and vanadium steel
• High-tension ignition systems replace make-and-break setups on most cars
• Louis Chevrolet, auto racer, drove a 40-horsepower Buick to victory in the Cobe Cup race in Crown Point, Indiana on June 19
• Barney Oldfield drove his German Benz racer to five world records on August 21 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Oldfield drove his 120-horsepower machine to world records at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 miles
• Joan Newton Cuneo beats the famous driver Ralph DaPalma in a road race in New Orleans. Shortly after that, the American Automobile Association bans women from racing
• On November 20, federal court rules Standard Oil in violation of Sherman Antitrust Act, orders cessation of trade; case to go to Supreme Court
• Incandescent lamps are used in automobile headlights. They replace carbide flame jets
• When women take up automobile driving, a new field open for fashion designers. Special clothes for motoring include a long viel to keep a lady's hat in place. 'Automobile wrinkles' are soothed away by the application of raw, freshly cut cucumbers

US Auto Manufacturers

• Sears-Roebuck offers cars in its catalog
• Maxwell begins successful advertising campaign in rural weeklies
• In 1909, 10,607 Ford Model-T's were sold. By the 1920's 50% of all registered cars were Model-T's
• The first 800 Model T's produced were brought out with 2 levers and 2 pedals
• Cadillac, Oakland and other automakers join General Motors Company
• The Hupmobile featured transmission clutch in unit with the motor, multiple-disc clutch,& fuel reserve in gasoline tank
• Hudson Motor Car Company is founded, with the first cars produced in July (as 1910 models)
• Louis Chevrolet, famous racer, began work on a six-cylinder passenger car of his own design, in his Detroit shop
• Henry B. Joy became president of Packard
• Gramm trucks featured overdrive transmission
• The White Company built a gasoline engine driven car to replace the famous White Steamer
• W. S. Seaman & Company (later Seaman Body Corp.) built their first automobile bodies in Milwaukee.
• Buick's four cylinder Model 7 is huge, with 5 X 5-inch bore and stroke for 392.6 cid; only 85 are sold for 1909-1910
• Packard launches a smaller, less expensive Model 18 with a 265.7 cid, four-cylinder engine

And From Around the World

• Ford opens a Model-T assembly plant in Britain.
• Paris adopts one-way streets.
• Alfa-Romeo, Suzuki Loom Works are founded
• Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later British Petroleum) formed
• Payne-Aldrich tariff taxes autos imported into the US at 45%
• European countries set common noise and smoke regulations
• August Horch has a falling-out with his co-directors, and leaves the company. He sets up the August Horch Automobilwerk, and his old company, Horch sues. August Horch renames his company Audi