6.1 Early Petrol Powered Motorised Vehicles

• France: In 1863 Jean Joseph Etienne Lenior (Belgian, naturalized French) fitted a 1.5 hp petrol fuelled internal combustion engine that he had built in 1862 to an experimental three-wheeled wagon.

• In 1863 he successfully completed several journeys around Paris.

• It is considered by many to be the first public roadworthiness demonstration of a spark-ignition, petroleum fuelled, motorised vehicle.

• Austria: In about 1870 the German-Austrian inventor Siegfried Marcus assembled and tested an experimental four-wheeled motorised cart.

• To the basic craft, which had no seats, steering, clutch or brakes, he fitted a petrol fuelled, two-stroke, single cylinder internal combustion engine that he had developed.

• Because the vehicle had no clutch the rear wheels had to be lifted clear of the ground before the engine could be started.

• In 1888/89 a "Second Marcus Car" was built. It was powered by a 1 hp, four-stroke engine and included many of the features that were missing in Marcus’ first vehicle.

• There are reports that this car existed in 1875 but evidence to support this claim has not been found.

• United States: In 1877 George Baldwin Selden designed the first car in America to be fitted with a petrol powered internal combustion engine.

• He applied for a patent in 1879 but did not build the vehicle until 1905.

• France: In 1884 Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville and Leon Malandin built and patented a vehicle that consisted of a four-stroke, liquid fuelled engine mounted on an old four-wheeled horse-drawn cart.

• The engine contained many innovations that were well ahead of its time, including pistons with rings, exhaust muffler, etc.

• The vehicle was not a success and there was no real evidence that it was ever driven.