The car boot (wheel clamp), specifically the "Denver Boot," was invented by Frank Marugg in 1944 and patented in 1958. The Denver police officially began using the device to immobilize vehicles with outstanding parking tickets on January 5, 1955.
As an antique dealer who regularly attended antique fairs Peverett saw the potential of bringing this idea to the UK ultimately organising the first large non charity boot fair at Nepicar farm in Kent in September 1980 with fellow organisers Harold Woolley and John Powell.
Frank Marugg's "Denver Boot" is now known as simply a "parking boot." Here, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation has clamped Marugg's invention on a Ford Explorer. Frank Marugg (1887–1973) was an inventor who developed the “Denver Boot,” a device that immobilizes a vehicle for ticketing purposes.
The most accepted theory is that it comes from "boot locker," a storage compartment on horse-drawn carriages. Around the 1600s, a boot referred to an exterior seat attached to a carriage, often used by guards or coachmen.
American automakers like Buick and Duesenberg were among the first automakers to incorporate a trunk onto the back of a car. However, this was still a rudimentary design that was separate from the vehicle's bodywork.
Like it or not, in the name of safety and convenience most manufacturers want to control more of your driving experience. Hence, they are moving away from the manual, old school cable actuated systems in favour of an EPB for many reasons.
It's hard to think of any device in modern history that can provoke more feelings of intense rage, grief and sheer desperation than the wheel clamp, wheel boot, parking boot, or auto immobilizer. All these are names for what's commonly known as the Denver Boot - because it was invented right here in Colorado.
The trunk (American English) or boot (British English) of a car is the vehicle's main storage or cargo compartment, often a hatch at the rear of the vehicle.
Since 1972 when the Ford Cortina took the lead of the UK ranking, a Ford has been the number one car in the country every single year. The Cortina managed to stay on top in 1975 despite the progress of the more recent Ford Escort.
Fredrick William Bremer, a plumber and gas fitter, built the first British four-wheeled petrol-engined motor car. Starting work in 1892, when he was 20, the still incomplete car made its first run on a public highway in December 1894.
The main purpose of a car boot is to enforce parking regulations and compliance by showcasing the immediate and costly consequence for any parking violation. It also serves as a means to ensure that any late or overdue traffic fines are properly paid.
Dickey seats in early motor cars – sometimes called 'mother-in-law seats' – were inherited from horse-drawn carriages, where they were customarily occupied by servants or by guards on mail coaches. Originally they were called simply 'dickeys'; the Oxford English Dictionary traces the first use of the term back to 1801.
The wheel was invented around 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia, and was actually predated by inventions like the lever and pulley, the plough and needlework. So, when you imagine the invention of the wheel, you might find yourself picturing a caveman clumsily carving rough stone with primitive tools – but you'd be wrong.
A merger that took place following the First World War would see the manufacturer become 'Mercedes-Benz' – the brand we know today. BMW came around a little later, launching in 1916 as a manufacturer of aircraft engines. It wasn't until 1928 that the brand become an automobile manufacturer.
Jake Brakes are illegal in some areas due to the loud noise they create when compressed air is released through the exhaust. This noise disrupts residential neighborhoods, leading many cities and towns to prohibit their use near interstates and residential zones.
Part of your vehicle's brake system, the emergency brake operates independently of the main brake system to keep your vehicle from rolling away. Also known as a parking brake, hand brake and e-brake, the emergency brake was originally designed to be used if the vehicle's main braking system would fail.
The UK is rapidly shifting to a driving culture dominated by automatic vehicles, and the rise of EVs is only speeding that process along. The data from 2025 shows that manual gearboxes aren't just falling out of favour, they're slipping off the market altogether.
It goes all the way back to when horse-drawn carriages were the norm. The driver would sit on a chest that held his belongings, including – yes – his boots. The original name was "the boot locker", which in time became shortened to just "the boot."
