History of Car

Grenville Steam Carriage c.1880
Top speed 20 mph (32 km/h)
Engine type: vertical steam boiler
Made in UK

Railway engineer Robert Neville Grenville from Glastonbury, UK, was one of dozens of Victorian inventors to build a steam powered road carriage. Grenville’s vehicle has survived.

Daimler 1886
Top speed 10 mph (16 km/h)
Engine type: 462 cc, one-cylinder
Made in Germany

Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach fitted their engine into a stagecoach in 1886, creating the first four-wheeled, gas-engined vehicle to reach 10 mph.

Stanley Runabout 1898
Top speed 35 mph (56 km/h)
Engine 1,692 cc, straight-two steam
Made in USA

Twins Francis and Freelan Stanley built over 200 of these inexpensive and reliable steam cars in 1898–99. In 1906 a more powerful model reached 127 mph (204 km/h).

Daimler Cannstatt 4HP 1898
Top speed 16 mph (26 km/h)
Engine 1,525 cc, V2
Made in Germany

In June 1887, Daimler equipped a workshop for 23 employees in Cannstatt, Stuttgart, to build his engines. The engines were still fitted to modified stagecoaches.

Franklin Model A 1902
Top speed 25 mph (40 km/h)
Engine 1,760 cc, straight-four
Made in USA

John Wilkinson designed the first four-cylinder car in the United States for Herbert Franklin. The air-cooled engine had overhead valves and was mounted across the wooden chassis.

Benz (replica) 1885
Top speed 6 mph (10 km/h)
Engine 954 cc, single-cylinder
Made in Germany

Built in 1885 and patented in 1886, Karl Benz’s Motorwagen had many clever features: It was lightweight and had a four-stroke gas engine, rack steering, and steel spoke wheels.

Lanchester 1897
Top speed 20 mph (32 km/h)
Engine 3,459 cc, straight-two
Made in UK

Brothers Frederick, George, and Frank Lanchester ran their first car in 1896 with a single-cylinder engine. The following year they built this car with a two-cylinder engine.

Sunbeam-Mabley 1901
Top speed 20 mph (32 km/h)
Engine 230 cc, one-cylinder
Made in UK

John Marston’s Sunbeam bicycle factory, along with Maxwell Maberley-Smith, developed this unusual vehicle with a seat either side of a central belt drive.

Clément-Gladiator Voiturette 1899
Top speed 20 mph (32 km/h)
Engine 402 cc, one-cylinder
Made in France

Bicycle magnate Adolphe Clément saw the potential of the motor industry and promoted several marques. This simple voiturette had a 2.5 hp De Dion– type engine under the seat.

Reference:

Car The Definitive Visual History of the Automobile by DK