![\"Juan](\"http:\/\/www.fivetools.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/01.jpg\" "\\"Juan")
<\/a><\/p>\n1895<\/strong> 1899<\/strong> 1911<\/strong> 1912<\/strong> 1915<\/strong> <\/p>\n 1936<\/strong> 1940<\/strong> 1941<\/strong> 1942<\/strong> 1945<\/strong> 1946<\/strong> 1947<\/strong> June 10: Svenska Aeroplan AB, founded ten years earlier in Trollh\u00e4ttan to manufacture aircraft for the Swedish military<\/a>, produces its first automobile, the SAAB 92001<\/a>; under cover of darkness, the prototype logs more than 300,000 miles of secret development time<\/p>\n 1948<\/strong> 1949<\/strong> December 12: SAAB begins production of the 92<\/a>, a development of the 92002 prototype<\/a> further refined by Sixten Sason<\/p>\n 1950<\/strong> May 13: British Grand Prix at Silverstone<\/a> marks the birth of Formula One, linking national Grand Prix races worldwide in a Championship Series for drivers; Fangio is a DNF when his Alfa Romeo 158<\/a> retires due to an oil leak<\/p>\n May 21: Fangio earns his first Formula One victory<\/a> a week later at Monaco; he will win two more races but lose the season championship to Nino Farina<\/p>\n 1951<\/strong> 1952<\/strong> June 20: Fangio teammate Luigi Fagioli<\/a> killed during practice at Monaco<\/p>\n July 26: Eva Per\u00f3n<\/a> dies<\/p>\n 1953<\/strong> November 23: Fangio wins the Carrera Panamericana<\/em><\/a>, a five-day, 2,100-mile road race from Tuxtla Guti\u00e9rrez to Ju\u00e1rez, Mexico, in a Lancia D24<\/a><\/p>\n 1954<\/strong> July 4: After winning the Argentine and Belgian Grands Prix for Maserati, Fangio makes his Mercedes debut with a victory at the French Grand Prix<\/a> at Reims, his new teammate Karl Kling<\/a> placing second; Fangio and Mercedes will dominate the rest of the season<\/a>, winning all but two remaining races and earning his second world championship<\/a> title<\/p>\n July 31: Onofre Marim\u00f3n<\/a> killed at the N\u00fcrburgring<\/p>\n 1955<\/strong> June 11: Fangio narrowly escapes injury when teammate Pierre Levegh<\/a> loses control of his Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR during the 24 Hours of Le Mans, somersaulting into the stands and killing the driver and 83 spectators<\/a>; it is the deadliest accident in racing history and will precipitate the cancellation of the 1955 French, German, Spanish and Swiss Grands Prix, and Mercedes’ withdrawal from racing the following season<\/p>\n June 16: Days after a failed military coup, Argentine naval aircraft bomb Per\u00f3n supporters in Plaza de Mayo<\/a>, Buenos Aires, killing 326<\/p>\n September 11: Fangio wins the Italian Grand Prix<\/a> at Monza, September 16: Military leaders take power in Argentina<\/a>; Juan Per\u00f3n forced into exile<\/p>\n 1956<\/strong> 1957<\/strong> August 4: After a disastrous pit stop drops his Maserati<\/a> to third place and nearly a minute behind the Ferraris of Mike Hawthorn<\/a> and Peter Collins<\/a> with ten laps remaining, Fangio breaks and rebreaks the N\u00fcrburgring lap record nine times<\/a> and passes Hawthorn on the penultimate lap to win the German Grand Prix and assure himself a fifth title, a victory still considered by many the greatest in racing history<\/a>; decades later, a seemingly lucid Fangio makes the bizarre claim that his performance this day could be attributed to the fact that from the tenth lap onward, he was listening to the Scottish synthpop duo Strawberry Switchblade<\/a> on repeat<\/p>\n 1958<\/strong> February 23: Fangio kidnapped from his Havana hotel<\/a> by Castro rebels, July 6: At the conclusion of the French Grand Prix<\/a>, Fangio announces his retirement from racing; at 24 victories in 51 Formula One starts, his winning percentage of 47.06% remains the highest in the sport’s history<\/p>\n August 3: Peter Collins<\/a> killed at the N\u00fcrburgring during the German Grand Prix<\/p>\n 1959<\/strong> 1960<\/strong> 1961<\/strong> 1962<\/strong> November 1: Ricardo Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> killed during practice for the Mexican Grand Prix<\/p>\n 1964<\/strong> April 2: Saab directors approve plans to develop an entirely new car<\/a>, 1967<\/strong> November 22: The Saab 99<\/a>, Sixten Sason’s final design, is launched in Stockholm<\/a><\/p>\n 1968<\/strong> 1970<\/strong> 1971<\/strong> 1973<\/strong> September 11: Chilean president Salvador Allende<\/a> overthrown by a U.S.-backed military coup<\/a>; General Augusto Pinochet takes power; in the following months tens of thousands of political opponents are arrested, imprisoned, and tortured in stadiums 1974<\/strong> 1975<\/strong> November 25: Military intelligence leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay initiate Operation Condor<\/a>, a cooperative effort designed to “eliminate Marxist subversion” in Latin America<\/p>\n 1976<\/strong> June 2: Former Bolivian socialist president Juan Jos\u00e9 Torres<\/a> kidnapped in Buenos Aires and assassinated as part of Operation Condor<\/p>\n August 1: Niki Lauda badly burned when his Ferrari 312T2 crashes<\/a> during the final German Grand Prix to be held on the N\u00fcrburgring’s Nordschliefe<\/em><\/p>\n 1978<\/strong> 1982<\/strong> 1983\tDecember 15: Argentine president Ra\u00fal Alfons\u00edn<\/a> creates CONADEP (National Commission of the Disappearance of Persons) to investigate Dirty War abuses<\/p>\n 1984<\/strong> September 20: CONADEP issues “Nunca M\u00e1s” report<\/a> documenting forced disappearances and assassinations of 9,000 Argentine citizens between the years of 1976 and 1983 and more than a thousand more from 1973 to 1976; most human rights organizations place the total number around 30,000<\/p>\n November 5: Strawberry Switchblade “Since Yesterday”<\/a> b\/w 1986<\/strong> 1993<\/strong> 1995<\/strong> 1998<\/strong>
\nOctober 8: Juan Per\u00f3n<\/a> born in Lobos, Buenos Aires, Argentina<\/p>\n
\nAugust 24: Jorge Luis Borges<\/a> born in Buenos Aires, Argentina<\/p>\n
\nJune 24: Juan Manuel Fangio<\/a> born in Balcarce, Argentina<\/p>\n
\nMarch 12: Sixten Sason<\/a> born in Sk\u00f6vde, Sweden<\/p>\n
\nNovember 15: Augusto Pinochet<\/a> born in Valparaiso, Chile<\/p>\n
\nOctober 29: Fangio makes his racing debut in Buenos Aires<\/a>,
\nfinishing a DNF when his modified Ford Model A taxi throws a rod<\/p>\n
\nOctober 12: Fangio drives a ’39 Chevrolet to victory<\/a> in the Gran Premio Internacional del Norte<\/em>, a two-week, six-thousand-mile road race from Buenos Aires to Lima and back<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nJune 29: Fangio wins the two-thousand-mile Gran Premio Presidente Getulio Vargas<\/em><\/a> in Brazil<\/p>\n
\nApril 2: Fangio wins the Mar y Sierras<\/em> Grand Prix<\/a>, the last such event held in Argentina before war-related fuel restrictions put a temporary end to racing in Latin America<\/p>\n
\nSeptember: Jorge Luis Borges’ The Aleph<\/a><\/em> first published in the Argentine journal Sur<\/em><\/p>\n
\nJune 4: Juan Per\u00f3n elected president of Argentina<\/a> on a platform of social justice and economic independence; Jorge Luis Borges “promoted” from a state library post to a job as a market chicken inspector; Argentina begins issuing false passports and visas<\/a> to fascist collaborators in Europe and becomes a haven for Nazi war criminals<\/p>\n
\nFebruary 9: Per\u00f3n, mindful of the opportunity for international prestige afforded by motor racing, sponsors La Temporada<\/em>, a series of races throughout South America from which the most promising drivers will be sent to compete in Europe with government backing; Fangio, driving an Argentine-built Volpi-Chevrolet<\/a>, wins six of nine races he enters over the next two seasons<\/p>\n
\nOctober 29: A military coup led by General Manuel A. Odr\u00eda<\/a> ousts democratically elected president Jos\u00e9 Luis Bustamente y Rivero<\/a> in Peru; fleeing amid rumors of incipient violence and martial law, participants in the Lima\u2013Tumbes stage of the Gran Premio de la America del Sur<\/a><\/em> depart three hours ahead of their scheduled five a.m. start time; that night, attempting to pass the first-place car of rival Oscar G\u00e1lvez<\/a> in the mountains near Paramonga, Fangio loses control of his Chevrolet and crashes<\/a>, killing his friend and navigator Daniel Urritia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nApril 3: Per\u00f3n-sponsored Argentine Automotive Club (ACA), represented by Juan Manuel Fangio and Benedicto Campos and a pair of Maserati 4CLTs in national colors<\/a>, arrives in Italy; Fangio wins the San Remo Grand Prix<\/a> as well as the next three races he enters and two more after that; in August, he is greeted at the airport in Buenos Aires by Juan and Eva Per\u00f3n<\/a>, having returned to Argentina a national hero<\/p>\n
\nApril 16: Fangio joins established Italian drivers Luigi Fagioli<\/a> and Nino Farina<\/a> on the Alfa Romeo works team; wins in his debut at the San Remo Grand Prix<\/a><\/p>\n
\nOctober 28: Fangio wins the Spanish Grand Prix<\/a> in an Alfa Romeo 159M, edging out Alberto Ascari<\/a> for his first Formula One World Championship title<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nJune 8: After missing a flight and driving all night from Paris, Fangio arrives at Monza half an hour before starting time and then crashes during his second lap<\/a>; he is hospitalized with a broken neck until September and misses the rest of the season<\/p>\n
\nSeptember 13: Fangio wins the Italian Grand Prix at Monza<\/a> in a Maserati A6GCM, finishes second to Ascari in the points for the 1953 season<\/p>\n
\nMarch 20: In preparation for a postwar return to Grand Prix racing, Mercedes-Benz signs Fangio to drive its W196 streamliner<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMay 26: Alberto Ascari killed at Monza<\/a><\/p>\n
\nclinching his third title at the age of 44<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nJanuary 22: Fangio wins the Argentine Grand Prix<\/a> in his Ferrari debut; he will drive the Ferrari-Lancia D50 to victory again at Silverstone<\/a> and the N\u00fcrburgring<\/a> and capture his fourth world championship when teammate Peter Collins<\/a> selflessly turns his car over to Fangio<\/a> during a routine pit stop<\/a> at Monza, Fangio’s car having failed him
\nwith a broken steering arm<\/p>\n
\nJanuary 13: Snubbed by Ferrari<\/a>, Fangio returns to Maserati<\/a> for 1957 and pilots a 250F to victory at the Argentine Grand Prix<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nFebruary 2: Fangio earns his final victory<\/a>, at the Buenos Aires Grand Prix<\/p>\n
\nmisses Cuban Grand Prix<\/a><\/p>\n
\nJanuary 1: Led by Fidel Castro, the 26th of July Movement overthrows the U.S.-supported dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista<\/a> and takes power in Cuba<\/p>\n
\nNovember 26: Erik Carlsson<\/a> earns his first of three consecutive British RAC Rally victories driving a Saab 93<\/p>\n
\nSeptember 10: Wolfgang von Trips<\/a> killed at Monza during the Italian Grand Prix<\/p>\n
\nAugust 8: S\u00e1bado Gigante<\/a><\/em> debuts in Chile<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nMarch 31: Brazilian president Jo\u00e3o Goulart ousted in a CIA-orchestrated military coup<\/a><\/p>\n
\ncodenamed “Gudmund”<\/p>\n
\nApril 1: Sixten Sason<\/a> dies<\/p>\n
\nOctober 3: General Juan Velasco Alvarado<\/a> takes control of Peru in a bloodless coup, expropriates foreign oil interests, implements agrarian and educational reform, and officially recognizes the indigenous Quechua as a national language<\/p>\n
\nSeptember 16: U.S. President Richard Nixon authorizes ten million dollars to finance
\nProject FUBELT<\/a>, a CIA operation to unseat Chilean president Salvador Allende<\/p>\n
\nJuly 11: Pedro Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> killed driving a Ferrari 512M
\n<\/a>at the Norisring in Nuremburg, Germany<\/p>\n
\nJune 20: Juan Per\u00f3n returns from exile to Argentina; Argentine Anticommunist Alliance snipers open fire on a crowd of millions gathered to meet him at the airport, killing 13 and injuring hundreds, an incident that becomes known as the Ezeiza Massacre<\/a><\/p>\n
\naround Santiago; thousands are executed or disappeared<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nJuly 1: Juan Per\u00f3n<\/a> dies<\/p>\n
\nJuly 6: Peronist leaders issue “annihilation decrees” to combat leftist guerrillas in Argentina, effectively militarizing the entire country and providing justification for assassinations, kidnappings, and disappearances<\/a> that characterize the Dirty War<\/p>\n
\nMarch 24: Military junta takes control of Argentina<\/a>,
\ninitiates “National Reorganization Process”<\/p>\n
\nMay: Saab introduces the 900<\/a>, a longer, lower, more powerful evolution of the 99<\/p>\n
\nJanuary: After suffering a heart attack while attending a race in Dubai, Fangio undergoes quintuple bypass heart surgery; recovering in Buenos Aires, he receives a get-well card from one of his former kidnappers<\/a>, now a high-ranking Cuban government official<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nJanuary 13: At the Brussels Auto Salon, Saab unveils the 900 Aero<\/a> (SPG in the U.S.), the first four-valve-per-cylinder, turbocharged and intercooled production car in the world<\/p>\n
\n“By the Sea” single released on Korova<\/p>\n
\nSeptember 7: Five bodyguards are killed and eleven more injured in Santiago when Augusto Pinochet’s motorcade comes under attack<\/a> by Cuban-backed FPMR rebels armed with machine guns, rifles, bazookas, and hand grenades; Pinochet escapes unharmed in an armored Mercedes-Benz (witnesses, having never seen a Saab before, are unable to describe the assailants’ getaway car); in response, Pinochet declares war on “those people talking about human rights” and orders a 90-day state of siege, suspending civil liberties and effectively shutting down the press; the crackdown leads to broad international pressure for democratic elections and Pinochet loses the presidency in a 1988 referendum<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nDecember 2: Medell\u00edn Cartel head Pablo Escobar killed in a Colombian gunfight<\/a>; identity of shooter never definitively established<\/p>\n
\nJuly 17: Fangio dies in Buenos Aires; interred in family tomb in Balcarce Cemetery<\/a><\/p>\n
\nOctober 10: Seeking refuge from imagined assailants, an increasingly paranoid Augusto Pinchochet<\/a> persuades a Spanish judge to issue an international warrant for his arrest on human rights violations; he is detained in London and placed under house arrest<\/a><\/p>\n