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First true automobile (Benz)
Karl Benz creates the first practical gasoline-powered automobile in Germany -
First four-stroke engine (Cannstatt-Daimler)
Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach invent the first four-wheeled, four-stroke engine in Germany. It is known as the “Cannstatt-Daimler.” -
First American gas-powered car (Duryea brothers)
Brothers Frank and Charles Edgar Duryea invent the first successful gas-powered car in the United States -
Ford's first automobile (Quadricycle)
Henry Ford builds the Quadricycle with friends in the shed behind his duplex on Bagley Avenue in Detroit -
First American car company (Duryea brothers)
The Duryea brothers start the first American car manufacturing company in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is called Motor Wagons. -
First Michigan automobile company (Olds Motor Vehicle Co.)
Ransom E. Olds founds the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in Lansing -
Ford's first company (Detroit Automobile Co.)
Henry Ford founds the Detroit Automobile Company. It closes three years later. -
Detroit's first automobile plant (Olds)
Ransom E. Olds opens the first auto manufacturing plant in Detroit -
Ford's second company (Henry Ford Co.)
Ford founds Henry Ford Company, which he will leave a year later. The company will be reorganized and become Cadillac. -
Ford Motor Company founded
Ford joins investors, including the Dodge Brothers, to found Ford Motor Company -
General Motors founded (Mott and Durant)
Charles Stewart Mott and William Durant found General Motors in Flint, Michigan. -
First Ford Model T (Ford Piquette Plant)
Ford rolls out the first Model T from their plant on Piquette Avenue in Detroit