The Invention Of Car


The invention of the car is one of the most influential inventions in the human history and a beginning of a colorful car history. Still it is kind of hard to decide who invented the first car in history. Not because there aren't enough data on that subject but because it's a bit hard to define what is already a car and what is only an attempt to invent one.


Still, there are a few people that are almost always mentioned when we are talking about the invention of a car. First one is Ferdinand Verbiest who built the first steam powered car in history in 1672 (this is not confirmed).

Second one, who can bear the name of the inventor of the first car in history is Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot who built the first self-propelled wheeled automobile and drove around with it in the year 1769. Again it is not quite confirmed that the car really worked but Cugnot later developed new version of the car that for sure worked. This car still ran on steam power and was really heavy and slow so it never went in production.


So the invention of car had to wait for the internal combustion engine to be invented.

One of the milestones is also the first automobile patent that was granted in 1886. But the real milestone vehicle was built in Germany in 1889 by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach.

Car had 1.5 hp, two-cylinder gasoline engine, it had a four-speed transmission and traveled at 10 mph.

Another gasoline-powered car was build the same year by Karl Benz.

All these guys were the car pioneers and had their part in the invention of car. For more car history, browse the rest of the site.