Girl With Old Antique Retro Classic Car

The era of automobiles began in the U.S. when George Selden of Rochester, NY filed a patent on May 8, 1879, but the patent was not approved until November 5, 1895. This was the first U.S. patent for an automobile. By the time a patent was approved many automobiles were in production. Charles Duryea built a three-wheeled, gasoline powered vehicle in 1893, and his company built 13 cars of the same design in 1896. Gasoline automobiles were produced by Elwood Haynes in 1894, by Ransom Olds in 1895, Charles King and Henry Ford in 1896. Automobile races stirred the public interest and bicycle and buggy manufacturers began to convert to making automobiles.
Racing
Racing began shortly after the production of the automobile. The first official auto race in the world was a 732 mile, round trip race, in the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris Rally . The first race in the U.S. was the six car, 54.36 mile race, from Chicago’s Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois and back. Racing necessitated the need for advancement and helped spur inventions that assisted in improvements to the automotive industry.