Automobile Blog June Archive

The Oldest Car And The Oldest Carmaker

By Sam Heisin at 06/14/08 18:48

Ever wonder how the first ever car invented looked like?

Unfortunately, the oldest cars that were invented are not in the roads anymore. But the oldest car that was built and still running up to now is right there at the side of your screen.

That one is steam-powered car is made by De Dion, Bouton & Trépardoux of France in 1884 and is most commonly known as the La Marquise. It is fueled by coal, wood and some paper and will need at least 30 to 40 minutes before it could build up enough steam for it to run and be driven at 38 miles per hour.

It uses a thin metal wheel with with solid rubber wrapped in it. Owning it makes you the first ever car race winner as well because this car won the first ever car race in the world in 1888. So obviously it's not Henry Ford who built the first ever car as what most younger American generations know. That particular car holds a very high value, and it prove it when it was auctioned and sold to a whopping $3,250,000 at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Though it can still be used, the new owner might have thought its better off as a displaying material.

It is also a good point to note that Henry Ford and his company is not the first car maker to mass produce cars. The oldest manufacturer to mass produce cars is definitely the Oldsmobile group.

Oldsmobile manufactured their first car mass production in 1897, with Henry Ford building his company around 6 years after.

However, Oldsmobile is already not currently in existence. It was phased out in 2004 and the last of its car is named Oldsmobile Alero.

During the time it's still active, it has produced 35.2 million cars! Its name last for 107 years in the car making history of the United States and of the whole world. Car brands like Daimler and Peugeot are the oldest car brands but did not mass produced cars before Oldsmobile did.