On this day in 1967, General Motors — at the time the world's largest automaker — celebrated manufacturing its 100-millionth car made in America.
So what car was No. 100 million? A 1967 Chevrolet Caprice Custom Coupe two-door hardtop, which rolled off the assembly line at the plant in Janesville, WI.
GM surpassed 25 million cars made in 1940, and business peaked in 1962 when GM produced 51 percent of all U.S.-made cars. That year, GM celebrated the 75 million milestone, and reached 100 million 5 years later.
GM actually reached 100 millionth North American car built about a year earlier in March 1966 with an Oldsmobile Toronado hardtop couple, but that figure included Canadian-built cars.
The Detroit-headquartered company was founded in 1908 in Flint, MI, and surpassed Ford Motor Company as the world's biggest automaker by the early 1930s. GM held that title all the way until 2008, when it was hit hard by the Great Recession and was surpassed by Toyota. GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2009.
The historic Janesville plant opened in 1919 and was the largest operating GM plant when it was idled in December 2008 and ceased all production in April 2009.
Here's the actual 1967 Chevrolet Caprice at the Sloan Museum, Flint, MI.
And here's one of the GM's original ads for the historic car;
