Actually, B-dub, it was Henry Ford what originally used left handed & right handed wheel nuts, if my history books were right. That was 'cause the "power wrenches" all ran off of a single overhead shaft, with a belt hangin' down so if the wrench pointed one way it spun clockwise but when it pointed the other way on the other side of the line it spun counterclockwise.

Some of the aircraft factories here had similar "torque wrench" power shaft setups in the late '30s or so, but they got rid of all the overhead shaft drives when all the able bodied bodies left and stuff had to be done with "less skilled(?)" workers. (They only lost a few arms wrapped up in the belts before they figured it out.)

And yes, I too have busted a lug on a "not all that old" Dodge junker when I got on the wrong side of it. Of course it had drums, and the bearings needed some fresh grease anyway, so the replacement wasn't all that hard, although the argument at the parts shop that tried to sell me a wrong-way threaded replacement did get a little ... ... (tense?). (They didn't much care for a 15 y.o. smart-ass kid have'n to 'splain things to 'em?)

John