.
This is the oldest motor vehicle car in the world that
still runs.
It was built one year before Karl Benz and Gottlieb
Daimler invented the internal combustion engine.
The world's oldest
running motor vehicle has been sold at auction for an astonishing $4.62
million, more than double the pre-sale estimate, as two
bidders chased the price up in a three-minute bidding war.
The 1884 De Dion Bouton
et Trepardoux Dos-a-Dos Steam Runabout drew a standing ovation as it was driven up onto the stage at Friday's RM Auction in Hershey,
Pennsylvania - to prove that this 127-year-old car really does run! - and
attracted a starting bid of $500 000, which was immediately doubled to $1
million.
Encouraged by the
applauding crowd, the bidding went swiftly up to $4.2 million - $4.62 million including the 10 percent
commission - before the car was knocked down to a unnamed buyer.
The Dos-a-Dos
(Back-to-Back) Steam Runabout was built in 1884 by George Bouton and
Charles-Armand Trepardoux for French entrepreneur Count de Dion, who
named it 'La Marquise' after his mother.
In 1887, with De Dion
at the tiller, it won the world's first ever motor race (it was the only
entrant to make the start line!) covering the 32km from the Pont de
Neuilly in Paris to Versailles and back in one hour and 14 minutes (an
average of 25.9km/h) and, according to contemporary reports, hitting a
breathtaking 60km/h on the straights!
La Marquise has only
had four owners, remaining in one family for 81 years, and has been
restored twice, once by the Doriol family and again by British collector
Tom Moore in the early 1990's. Since then, it has taken part in
four London-to-Brighton runs and collected a double gold at the 1997 Pebble
Beach
d'Elegance in
California.
Count de Dion winning the
first ever motor race.
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