1930: The First Automobile Trip in North America, from Manhattan to Managua

Imagine setting out on a road trip in a 1929 Ford Model A Roadster, with the stated goal of traveling from Manhattan to Mexico and Central America, after only a week’s worth of preparation. This is exactly what brothers Arthur Lyon and Joe Lyon Jr. did on March 23, 1930. The Lyons acquired some camping gear, studied a few maps, and mounted in the car’s rear seat a fifty-five-gallon oil drum equipped with a gas feed for extra fuel. They divided up the princely sum of $324 in cash to fund the...