La Marquise is the world's oldest running automobile, as of 2011. It is an 1884 model made by Frenchmen De Dion, Bouton and Trépardoux. The car was a quadricycle prototype named for de Dion's mother.
In 1887, the Count of Dion drove La Marquise in an exhibition that has been called the world's first car race, though no other car showed up. It made the 32-odd-kilometre (20 mile) Paris-to-Versailles round trip at an average speed of 25.5 km/h (almost 16 mph). The following year, he beat Bouton in a three-wheeler with an average speed of 29 km/h (19 mph).
Fueled by coal, wood and bits of paper, the car takes 30–40 minutes to build up enough steam to drive. Top speed is 61 km/h (38 mph).
As the oldest car, it wore the number "0" in the 1996 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. The vehicle was sold at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance for $3.52 million. It sold again in 2011 for $4.6 million, a record price for an early automobile.
See also
- History of the automobile
- De Dion-Bouton
- American De Dion (automobile)
- Delamare-Deboutteville
- List of automobile sales by model
- Most expensive cars sold in auction
References
- ^ Valdes-Dapena, Peter (2011-10-10). "World's oldest car sells for $4.6 billion". CNN. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
- ^ Duchene, Paul (2007-08-19). "For Sale: '84 Model. Runs Great". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- Valdes-Dapena, Peter (2007-06-28). "World's oldest car for sale: Steam-powered 1884 car will be auctioned at Pebble Beach in August". CNN. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- McDermon, Daniel (2007-08-21). "The Classics of Pebble Beach, '07 Edition". The New York Times (blog). Retrieved 2007-11-15.
External links
Multimedia:
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