Every good thing comes to an end and for this last volume I wanna honor some more African-Americans who paved the way for black participation in the automotive and racing industries. These trailblazers not only fought for civil rights, but also made incredible strides in automotive technology and safety, and spurred on others to make the industry what it is today. Many do not know of the legend of C.R. Patterson, the only known African American founder of an automotive company. C.R. Patterson & Sons Company was founded in 1893, after a partnership with J.P. Lowe in the carriage-making business. C.R. Patterson is the epitome of rags to riches, as he was born a slave in a West Virginia plantation in 1833. After escaping to Ohio in 1862, C.R. Patterson began to learn blacksmith trade skills that would then develop into the automotive trade he took upon later in life. C.R. Patterson & Sons were direct competitors to newly established Ford, and without the same funding, C.R. Patterson switched his focus to manufacture trucks, buses, and other utility vehicles. C.R. Patterson & Sons became the go to brand for buses in midwestern school districts that had recently converted from horse-drawn carriages in 1920. The C.R. Patterson & Sons Company bus made headway in helping school districts across the country convert from traditional horse drawn carriages to one of the very first combustion engine vehicles and led the way to the transportation we see in businesses and schools today. When we get behind the wheel of a vehicle, a simple task like shifting gears is second nature. But without the contributions of Richard Spikes, shifting gears might not be so easy. He helped enhance the automatic transmission with his revolutionary patent in the 1930s. Even after he became legally blind later in his life, Spikes didn't stop inventing. He created an automatic safety brake in 62 that was eventually built into school buses nationwide.