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Allow me to begin my tale, that of cars that hath changed the world in many variants. It all began in the 18th century..
1770 In France, a military engineer named Nicholas Joseph Cugnot builds a large steam-driven vehicle. It could only operate for 12 to 15 minutes before running out of steam, and its tremendous weight and poor balance made it very difficult to steer.
1784 James Watt patents a steam carriage. However, no practical applications come of it.

An 1897 Leon Bollee.

1785 John Fitch invents a steam-propelled boat in New Jersey (for which he receives a patent in 1791). The following year, in 1786, he organizes a company to build steam engines. He even builds a model of a road vehicle with an engine. However, he committed suicide during development of these ideas. Oh well.
1787 Oliver Evans patents a steam engine in Maryland, for use in land transportation.
1791 Nathan Read receives a Federal patent for a high pressure boiler and improved cylinder. He begins plans to apply these to land carriages.
1797 Richard Trevithick begins work on a high-pressure steam engine in England. James Watt opposes his work, feeling that it is publicly hazardous.
1801 Cornishman Richard Trevithick builds a steam carriage, which undergoes a public run on Christmas Eve. It carries several people, driving uphill at around 5 to 6 miles per hour, and along level roads at 8 to 9 miles per hour. During another run a few days later, the boiler catches fire, destroying the carriage. This shows how unstable engines in the past were - very unstable.
1803 Richard Trevithick builds an improved steam carriage ( it didn't explode so much ), which is shipped to London. It drives around London, reaching speeds of 8 to 9 miles per hour, or around 14 km/h. His funding then runs out, and the engine is sold.
1807 In Switzerland, Isaac de Rivaz patents a trolley powered by a primitive gas engine, which could drive across a room. It had difficulty in operation, as its exhaust valve had to be manually operated. Note : It was extremely pollutive.
1825 Thomas Blanchard completes one of the first few operable steam carriages of the United States in Massachusetts. It was able to drive forward and in reverse, steer and climb hills. He publicly demonstrated the vehicle the following year.
1835 A steam wagon is built in Vermont, and demonstrated successfully by an unknown inventor.
1837 Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith from Vermont, patents the first electric motor. A pre 1901 Duryea. More to come.. just click on those cute little green words down there
1844 New Yorker Stuart Perry constructs an internal combustion engine, using turpentine as fuel. It was patented in 1844 and 1846, and had a two-cycle method of operation.
1853 Richard Dudgeon begins work on an operable steam carriage ( whoa! a steam carriage that might actually work! ), and it is exhibited in the Crystal Palace in 1857. He builds another in 1866, which undergoes public trials.

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