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In 1478, Leonardo Da Vinci sketched a picture of the first self propelled cart. The invention had no engine but was propelled by gears and cogs.
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Thomas Newcome created the first steam engine allowing for self sufficent machinery.
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James Watt used Thomas Newcome's Steam engine technology to invent the first compact steam engine. This steam engine could be used to power future automobile machinery.
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Nicolas-Joseph Cugnut was a French inventor who used James Watts compact steam engine design to design the first steam powered automobile.
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Unfortunatly, the design for a steam engine was impracticle as it was too heavy and unbalenceed. A Frenchman named Etienne Lenoir patented the first gas engine in Paris in 1860 to solve this problem.
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Lenoir had a separate mechanism to compress the gas before combustion. In 1862, Alphonse Bear de Rochas figured out how to compress the gas in the same cylinder in which it was to burn which would later be known as the Otto Cycle.
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Nikolaus Otto patented the Otto cycle engine which de Rochas had neglected to do.
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Using the Otto engine, Karl Benz patented the Motorwagon on January 29, 1886 making it the the first gas powered automobile.
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The curved Dash Oldsmobile was the first mass produced automobile. The company produced 19,000 cars between 1901 and 1907. It was the first to use interchangable parts and the assembly line.
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Henry ford released the model T automobile. This was the first automobile avalible at an affordable price for the average American.
