The History of the Automobile

Steam Powered Car

1769

The first Steam powered automobile was invented by Nicolas Joseph Cugnot at the Paris Arsenal.

Rivaz Engine

1808

Francois Isaac De Rivaz designed the first car powered by the Rivaz engine an internal combustion engine that was fueled by hydrogen.

First effective gas engine

1876

Nikolaus August Otto invented an effective gas engine.

First Practical Automobile

1885

Karl Benz built the world’s first practical automobile powered by an internal combustion engine

First four wheeled Automobile

Mar 8, 1886

Gottlieb Daimler took a stagecoach and adapted it to hold an engine thereby designing the world’s first four wheeled automobiles

First Pneumatic tire

1888

John Boyd Dunlop invented the first pneumatic or rubber tire.

First Diesel engine

1890

Rudolf Diesel invented the first diesel engine

First Gasoline Powered Car

1891

John W Lambert created Americas first gasoline powered car.

First Gasoline Powered Car Manufacturers

Sep 20, 1893

America's first gasoline-powered commercial car manufacturers were two brothers, Charles Duryea, and Frank Duryea. On September 20, 1893, their first automobile was constructed and successfully tested on the public streets of Springfield, Massachusetts.

Henry Ford

1908

Henry Ford was the first to mass produce by improving the assembly line to manufacture automobiles (the model T). He invented a transmission mechanism popularized in gas powered automobiles.