Who built the first motor car?
first MOTOR CAR
The first MOTOR CAR with an internal-combustion engine was built by the Belgian engineer J.J. Etienne Lenoir at the factory in la rue de la Roquette, Paris in May 1862. Lenoir had originally trained as an enameller, but later turned his attention to railways, inventing electric brakes and a new kind of railway signalling system. While employed as consulting engineer to the Paris engineering firm of Gautier et Cie, he began experimenting with internal-combustion engines fueled with illuminating gas. His first essays in this direction were of immense size, but by 1862 he had produced an engine small enough to fit to a carriage. The 14 hp engine ran on liquid hydrocarbon fuel at 100 rpm.
The first PETROL-DRIVEN MOTOR CAR was built in 1883 by 27-year-old Edouard Delrmare-Deboutteville, the son of a cotton-mill proprietor, who was inspired with the idea of seeking an alternative to horse transport for carrying cotton goods from his father’s factories at Montgrirnont and Fontaine-le-Bourg to the railhead at Rouen. With the help of his mechanic, Charles Malandin, Delaware-Deboutteville modified an 8 hp stationary gas-engine for use with petrol as a fuel, and fitted it to a four-wheeled hunting-brake. Road tests were carried out between Deboutteville’s home at Fontaine-le-Bourg and nearby Cailly. The effect of the brake’s iron-tyred wheels on the rough stone pave was too much for it, and the vehicle was eventually abandoned as too fragile for the power of the motor. Deboutteville subsequently built a rubber-tyred tricycle, but the motor was too neavy and the frame collapsed. After this setback the inventor abandoned the idea of self-propelled carriage and concentrated his attention on stationary engines, winning a number of awards for his improvements and receiving the Legion d’honneur in 1896.
The first successful petrol-engined car, representing the beginning of the continuous development of commercially practicable motor vehicles, was built by the Rheinische Gasmotorenfabric Karl Benz of Mannheim.
