FIRST self-propelled automobile

This is an accurate, running replica of the VERY FIRST self-propelled automobile, using steam.
A Cugnot in 1770. Imagine 93 years before Henry Ford was even born........w/sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsEbeCrPcA8
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The phrase " beats walking" really doesn't apply here does it? Still cool. Would have been pretty mad scientist for its time.

 

Pretty neat, but driving it apparently sucks with a face full of steam the whole time. It always amazes me to see something from that long ago that is pretty complex as far as all the fabbed up metal work that went into that thing.

 

Thanks for the post, always good to add some History to the HAMB, here is a link to some stuff Roper built here in the USA. http://www.stanleymotorcarriage.com/SteamPacingBike/index.htm

 

It's less the face full of steam than the fact the boiler is in front of you and you can't see the road.

 

Gotta represent for the home team!

 

That's pretty damn cool.

Note: It was used by the French Army to haul artillery, notice the cannon strapped under the chassis.

Rich

 

Some women would pay good money for that steam facial treatment. Probably not a good business opportunity, though.

Vintage machinery absolutely fascinates me. I'm sure some of the automotive pioneers got a lot of chiding from aquaintances, not to mention what some of their wives must have thought.

"Honey, I'm going out to the shop to work on this steam powered contraption."

"When are you going to fix the butter churn?"

 

So does that explain why they never won a war? their artillery never got there on time!

 

that cannon is for tailgaters.,lol that thing was pretty rad for its day. hell to drive in the summer but it must have been pretty warm in the winter.

 

Thanks exwestracer, a sister car to the ones in your photo won the first ever auto race in the USA, Chicago to Evanston and back 54.36 miles. J.Frank Duryea won it in 10 hours 23 minutes on Thanksgiving Day 1895. The second place Benz driver became unconscious from exposure, and the riding umpire was forced to drive the last hour. The other photo is two Locomobile steamers in a 1900 race at the Binghanton State Fair.

 

Cool..
The first Daimler was displayed here some years ago...[first internal combustion car] ..was from the 1800s and the transmission gears were exposed...absolutely magnificent machine work! Seems like the gears were all brass if memory serves.

 

That explains the rear-view mirror... so they can see the war!

 

Now, now, to be fair, they did win the French Revolution...................of course, they fought themselves.

 

Before this turns nasty, the French DID hold the FIRST Auto Race ever back in 1894.

 

That was a pretty cool video. Thanks.

 

I can see why that model didn't catch on with the public. It's not too practical. Still, it's interesting.

 

You'd think that anyone smart enough to build that would also be smart enough to turn the seat around and drive with all that steam behind them!

 

that was cool. i love to see the old technology... but somehow i kept thinking how i would hook a sbc to it.

 

If they would "fire" the cannon, the mph's would pick up considerably.

 

Yeah, I dont get some of the replies on this Thread...

Why is it so hard for some people to give credit where credit is due?

This was the first self propelled vehicle ( the original was ), and it was also the first self propelled military vehicle.
And the guy that built it happened to be French...

All of us Automotive enthusiasts owe a lot to the French.
Weither you like it or not.

Ever look into the history of the Offy/ Miller/ Drake?


I'm not a fan of most French automobiles, but like I said...
Credit where credit is due.

 

I always wondered why they hung the boiler off the front like that, maybe it was to get traction on the drive wheel? I also really appreciated seeing how it was driven - ratchets on the front wheel! - very interesting and well done replica....

 

I believe louis chevrolet was french as well. That contraptions is cool. Dig the ratchet drive.

 

A lot of early machines dont make sense to us, looking at it now with all the lessons we have learned over the years.

You cant compare this vehicle to what came after, and you cant compare it to what came before.

Because there was no before....

 

Here in the USA? I'm in Australia.

 

Neat machine but the front wheel drive wasn't very smart at all. Wonder how often they had to stop and throw a log on the fire.

 

Now that some history...

 

i thought Louis Chevrolet was born in Switzerland but raised in france.

 

Louis-Joseph Chevrolet (December 25, 1878 – June 6, 1941) was a Swiss-born American race car driver of French descent, co-founder of the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911 and later, the Frontenac Motor Corporation in 1916 which made racing parts for Ford's Model T.