The Early Days of Motoring
The automobile was little more than a buggy with a motor at the turn of the 20th century but that didn't stop people from trying to test its limits. Wealthy men like William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. wanted to spur the car makers into improving their products and thought racing would push them to the limits. The Glidden Tours were about endurance and were tests to see if these mechanical marvels could survive. Others headed to Ormond Beach, Florida to see how fast they could go in a straight line down the hard back sand. There was little or no regard for the spectators' safety. It was pure excitement. The Library of Congress has preserved these early films and this is a compilation of some of the first looks at the automobile age. S049
About Car
A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat 1-8 people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are over 1.6 billion cars in use worldwide as of 2025. The French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first steam-powered road vehicle in 1769, while the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed and constructed the first internal combustion-powered automobile in 1808. The mode...
More about Car→Added
Know someone who'd love this clip?
Share it with friends and fellow fans.