U.S. Dark Blue 4¢ Wheels of Freedom stamp was issued to coincide with the opening of the 1960 National Automobile Show in Detroit, Michigan on 15.10.1960. The stamp pictures a steering wheel with a car, truck, and tractor in each section. On either side of the wheel are the Western and Eastern Hemispheres of Earth.
The first day of issue postmark was made very appropriately on this cover at Detroit, Michigan – the Centre of the U.S. Automotive Industry.
This stamp was issued to honour the contributions of the automobile industry to American life, in conjunction with the National Automobile Show. Its design symbolizes the worldwide importance of motor vehicles for transportation, commerce, and food production.
Detroit, Michigan, is one of the world’s great industrial centres. As the leading automotive production centre in the United States, Detroit has earned the nicknames Automobile Capital of the World and Motor City. More than 10% of the workers in metropolitan Detroit are employed in automotive manufacturing.
As the centre of automobile production, Detroit was the first city to have a paved concrete road (1909), the first to install a traffic light (1915), and the United States’ first urban freeway (1942).
Thank you Merja for this cover.
Very nice this FDC! Detroit really is a 20th century icon.
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