World's Oldest Running Car Up For Sale

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World's Oldest Running Car Up For Sale

Posted by samzenpus on Friday September 23, 2011 @06:40AM from the 40-rods-to-the-hogshead dept.

cylonlover writes "A very special car will cross the auctioneers block next month — it's the world's oldest running motor car, a historic 1884 de Dion Bouton et Trepardoux Dos-a-Dos Steam Runabout. The second prototype built by Count de Dion, the car participated in the world's first automobile race, which only attracted one competitor. It completed the course, and although it's arguably not possible to have a race without two competitors, this is the car that 'won' that race, achieving a claimed top speed of 37 mph on the straights."

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37 mph? Too fast.... by Retron · 2011-09-23 06:43 · Score: 2

37mph is more than you need for most Sunday afternoons on the M25!
1. Re:37 mph? Too fast.... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 07:26 · Score: 1
  
  37 MPH ought to be enough for anybody.
2. Re:37 mph? Too fast.... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 10:30 · Score: 1
  
  As a college educated American, I call BS on this. Cars were invented by Henry Ford. Ask 100 Americans and democracy will tell you that Hank invented them.
Yes, but... by Shoe+Puppet · 2011-09-23 06:45 · Score: 0

...does it run DOS?

--
(+1, Disagree)
1. Re:Yes, but... by johnmorganjr · 2011-09-23 13:19 · Score: 0
  
  Forget DOS........ it is running linux that is why it still is running.
2. Re:Yes, but... by Coren22 · 2011-09-26 08:20 · Score: 1
  
  It also still hasn't needed a reboot.
  
  --
  APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
Count de Dion by Megahard · 2011-09-23 06:46 · Score: 1

I'm picturing him standing on top of his car as it's puttering down the road, singing My Heart Will Go On.

--
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
None by shmeeps · 2011-09-23 06:47 · Score: 2

Someone let Jay Leno know.
So, will this car/auction be on Top Gear? by ByOhTek · 2011-09-23 06:48 · Score: 2

That is to say, the real Top Gear (UK), not any of the other cheap imitations.

--
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
1. Re:So, will this car/auction be on Top Gear? by Coldmoon · 2011-09-23 06:53 · Score: 2
  
  That is to say, the real Top Gear (UK), not any of the other cheap imitations.
  Agreed - it would be hilarious to see James trying to drive that thing during the intro review segment...
  
  --
  Coldmoon over Dark water...
2. Re:So, will this car/auction be on Top Gear? by MightyMartian · 2011-09-23 07:08 · Score: 1
  
  "We're going to see what it's like to drive it to Norway!"
  
  --
  The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
3. Re:So, will this car/auction be on Top Gear? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 07:23 · Score: 0
  
  and now we give it to .... 'the stig...'
4. Re:So, will this car/auction be on Top Gear? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-27 05:14 · Score: 0
  
  Sorry This is a steamer, the car on Top Gear had an internal combustion engine, hence the jokes about James breaking is wrist cranking the engine.
Yes, it does... by davidwr · 2011-09-23 06:49 · Score: 2

... Drive On Streets.

--
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Looks pretty nice by need4mospd · 2011-09-23 06:50 · Score: 2

Now show me the Carfax.
1. Re:Looks pretty nice by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 07:06 · Score: 0
  
  A fax machine for your car? Or faxing a car through a fax machine?
2. Re:Looks pretty nice by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 08:03 · Score: 0
  
  You must have been waiting forever just to use that joke...
3. Re:Looks pretty nice by SomePgmr · 2011-09-23 08:32 · Score: 1
  
  That would be an interesting line item...
  
  Competed in Steampunk DARPA Grand Challenge... 80 years before there was a DARPA.
4. Re:Looks pretty nice by Tablizer · 2011-09-23 09:41 · Score: 1
  
  Now show me the Carfax.
  Here ya go:
  http://www.faxpipe.com/images/fax-machine.png
  http://www.faxpipe.com/fax-history.html
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
Leno? More likely some reality show by spazmonkey · 2011-09-23 06:52 · Score: 1

Then lowered and have some 19" alloys and a sound system put on it.
1. Re:Leno? More likely some reality show by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · 2011-09-23 07:31 · Score: 1
  
  Nah on those shows they start off with a piece of crap and make it into a polished turd. And besides I thought it had to be some 1980's GM, Ford, or Chrysler hooptie.
  
  --
  Time to offend someone
2. Re:Leno? More likely some reality show by dr_dank · 2011-09-23 07:34 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  This car was featured in the popular zoetrope: "Pimpeth Thine Horseless Carriage".
  
  --
  Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
3. Re:Leno? More likely some reality show by Kozar_The_Malignant · 2011-09-23 07:37 · Score: 1
  
  Not forgetting the dingle-balls, chrome, chain-link steering wheel, and tangerine metalflake paint job.
  
  --
  Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
4. Re:Leno? More likely some reality show by need4mospd · 2011-09-23 09:52 · Score: 1
  
  Greetings good sir, we have deduced that you prefer horseless carriages, so we inserted a horseless carriage in thine horseless carriage, so thee could journey by vehicle whilst thee embarks on an automobile excursion.
I'd bet he's looking at buying it by Quila · 2011-09-23 06:52 · Score: 1

Good chance he'll get it.
1. Re:I'd bet he's looking at buying it by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · 2011-09-23 07:36 · Score: 1
  
  He already has a Stanly Steamer so why not another steamer especially since it is unique vehicle in automotive history. These are the type of vehicles that he says he like to collect.
  
  --
  Time to offend someone
2. Re:I'd bet he's looking at buying it by shmeeps · 2011-09-23 07:54 · Score: 1
  
  He actually owns several steam cars, so I wouldn't be surprised if he is interested.
Must be scrapped by Quila · 2011-09-23 06:54 · Score: 1

It doesn't meet government safety, environmental or fuel consumption regulations.
1. Re:Must be scrapped by GameboyRMH · 2011-09-23 07:01 · Score: 0
  
  Hey it's steam-powered. That means it runs on coal, that sexy America-tastic power source. You guys love coal right?
  Insurance will still be a bitch on a car this old though...
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
2. Re:Must be scrapped by the+eric+conspiracy · 2011-09-23 07:13 · Score: 1
  
  Steam powered means it will run on anything that can generate steam including matter-antimatter reactions.
3. Re:Must be scrapped by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · 2011-09-23 07:24 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I know you were going for a funny but it would only have to comply with the regulations that were in effect when the vehicle was made, so none. Granted it may have to have one of those orange triangles on the back, but other than that it should be perfectly street legal. Also if the car isn't currently in the US it can easily be imported as it is old enough to not have to comply with current regulations (I know this because I looked into importing a car a few years back) and there wouldn't be any import restrictions on it. That is one of the great things about old vehicles is the lack of regulations, also vehicle age is determined by the chassis age not the engine so swapping out and old blown engine with the new one means you can strip off all the emissions controls and only run with the ones needed at the time of vehicle manufacture. This is why I like that my project car is a pre-emissions vehicle (it has some but they are very limited as it only has to deal with crankcase emissions), so basically I can do what ever I want with it.
  
  --
  Time to offend someone
4. Re:Must be scrapped by GameboyRMH · 2011-09-23 07:35 · Score: 1
  
  True, but steam engines from that era were typically designed to run on coal.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
5. Re:Must be scrapped by ShavedOrangutan · 2011-09-23 07:56 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Hey it's steam-powered.
  It runs on steam, the same way a Prius runs on electricity.
  
  --
  Godaddy is a scam and a ripoff.
6. Re:Must be scrapped by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 08:24 · Score: 0
  
  or charcoal, but cars usually used some kind of liquid fuel like "Kerosene" or ethanol.
7. Re:Must be scrapped by Amouth · 2011-09-23 08:47 · Score: 2
  
  not really - it's a 4 seater so you don't get the "sports car" rate.. and i bet the blue book on it is crap. i've got a 79 midget.. and the insurance "value" of the car is ~300$.. when i added it to my insurance ~10 years ago it actually lowered my overall rate because it divided into the drive time of my then more modern and "valuable" car.
  
  --
  '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
8. Re:Must be scrapped by the+eric+conspiracy · 2011-09-23 11:06 · Score: 1
  
  Just refit the boiler with a matter-antimatter core and you are good to go.
9. Re:Must be scrapped by drinkypoo · 2011-09-23 11:28 · Score: 2
  
  AFAICT, in California the vehicle smogs as the donor, and you're never allowed to swap a motor older than the vehicle, truck into car, or diesel into non-diesel. Once it's pre-smog, though, it no longer requires checks for registration.
  If you live someplace else you're probably right.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
10. Re:Must be scrapped by MightyYar · 2011-09-23 11:33 · Score: 1
  
  Or just throw a picture of Justin Bieber down there in the firebox. Free energy.
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
11. Re:Must be scrapped by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 12:27 · Score: 0
  
  Doesn't it also mean that you can download another one if you lost it as long as you have an internet connection?
12. Re:Must be scrapped by MiniMike · 2011-09-23 16:59 · Score: 1
  
  Well, would that car have any wood in it? You just might run into some unexpected difficulties importing it...
13. Re:Must be scrapped by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 17:29 · Score: 0
  
  Actually, the motoring public is running into BIG problems now in California, because they are now starting to retroactively apply regulations STRICTER than vehicles were required to meet when new, and stricter than were applied say five years ago. Yep, your car could be running just as well now as it ever did, passed every year, but all of a sudden it fails -- because the regs have been artificially tightened up. Glad I don't live there. Oh, my "Prove yourself" word is "disdain". Which is what I feel towards CA's doing this.
14. Re:Must be scrapped by drinkypoo · 2011-09-23 23:27 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, the motoring public is running into BIG problems now in California, because they are now starting to retroactively apply regulations STRICTER than vehicles were required to meet when new, and stricter than were applied say five years ago
  Not me, I drive diesels constructed before 1996, which do not require any emissions testing. I'm still subject to gross polluter rules, of course. Neither of my diesels smoke except at heavy load however, so I'm safe there, too.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
15. Re:Must be scrapped by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-25 02:47 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, because caring about air quality is such a bad thing.
Still? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 06:55 · Score: 0

Is it just me or does it look like it had a 2nd use? That fixture above the copper condenser coil looks conspicuously like a tap.
1. Re:Still? by MightyMartian · 2011-09-23 07:10 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Yes, sadly it ran into hard times in the 1930s and had to hire itself out as a beer fountain.
  
  --
  The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
88 mph by doramjan · 2011-09-23 06:59 · Score: 1

At only 37 MPH it's never going to get fast enough to activate its flux capacitor to get back to 1884... When's the Mr. Fusion scheduled to be invented again?
1. Re:88 mph by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 07:07 · Score: 1
  
  It's okay, there's been plenty of inflation since 1884, that 37 MPH is much more now.
2. Re:88 mph by swanzilla · 2011-09-23 07:09 · Score: 1
  
  2015.
  
  --
  0 = 1 + e^(Alt something)
3. Re:88 mph by Nanosphere · 2011-09-23 07:17 · Score: 1
  
  Someone needs to get that recently discovered nuclear yellowcake from the Libyans.
4. Re:88 mph by smbarbour · 2011-09-23 08:04 · Score: 1
  
  But where will you get the pinball machine parts to replace it?
5. Re:88 mph by cffrost · 2011-09-23 16:30 · Score: 1
  
  But where will you get the pinball machine parts to replace it?
  Easy; 1985!
  
  --
  Thank you, Edward Snowden.
  
  "Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
Inexpolsible by perry64 · 2011-09-23 07:01 · Score: 1

One of the nameplates on the boiler said it was "Inexplosible." CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!
1. Re:Inexpolsible by Tablizer · 2011-09-23 09:46 · Score: 1
  
  I once ignored a bi-lingual safety warning because the Spanish word for "Warning" is something very similar to "Advertisement". I thought it was spam. Don't worry, my eyebrows grew back.
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
Already done :P by ryzvonusef · 2011-09-23 07:18 · Score: 1

they did something almost similar, take a look, it's hilarious:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWTcPdYfsAc

--
I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!
1. Re:Already done :P by ryzvonusef · 2011-09-23 08:04 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, I re-played the video to hear the name, and unless there were different models of the de Dion Bouton, it *is* the very same car!
  
  --
  I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!
2. Re:Already done :P by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 09:01 · Score: 1
  
  Its a different model, the one they were driving was a production car (the article is about a prototype) and it appears to be gas powered, not steam like this one.
3. Re:Already done :P by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 09:11 · Score: 0
  
  No, that was an internal combustion engine the one in the article is steam-powered.
4. Re:Already done :P by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 09:47 · Score: 0
  
  Of course it isn't. Compare the images of the car in TFA with the one Top Gear drove. The latter looks far more modern. Plus, it doesn't run on steam. The presence of a starting handle is a good indication of that.
5. Re:Already done :P by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 21:21 · Score: 0
  
  de Dion Bouton made a metric asston of different models, in the early 1900's they were the world's largest car maker.
  May and Clarkson are driving one of the later petrol powered models in the video, world's best-selling car pre-WW1
Progress by Sponge+Bath · 2011-09-23 07:20 · Score: 1

It takes more than half an hour to prepare before it can drive, requires watering every 20 miles, and has a top speed of 37mph. That sounds like most of the crap American cars from the 70s I drove. A funny video they could make would have it cut off by Mr. Bean in his British Leyland Mini 1000.
Analogy by samkass · 2011-09-23 07:30 · Score: 1

Could someone please work this car news into a linux analogy for me please?

--
E pluribus unum
1. Re:Analogy by Kozar_The_Malignant · 2011-09-23 07:40 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  The oldest bootable copy of the original linux on a 5.25 inch floppy is being auctioned.
  
  --
  Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
2. Re:Analogy by Qwell · 2011-09-23 07:42 · Score: 1
  
  Sure thing.
  It would be like somebody selling Softlanding Linux System floppies.
  
  --
  As of 10/06/03, I hate COBOL developers.
3. Re:Analogy by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 08:36 · Score: 0
  
  It would be like buying Linus Torvalds.
4. Re:Analogy by geekoid · 2011-09-23 08:59 · Score: 1
  
  Yes.. it;s like someone selling MINIX disks..
  
  --
  The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
5. Re:analogy by shoor · 2011-09-23 14:50 · Score: 1
  
  The first pascaline up for auction?
  The first difference engine?
  The first Jacquard loom?
  The first Hollerith tabulator?
  Actually, I probably go with Konrad Zuse's Z1 if any of these still existed. As it is, I think it would have to be the Smithsonian auctioning off ENIAC.
  Note that up above there are linux analogies.
  
  --
  In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice they're different. (Yogi Berra & A. Einstein)
6. Re:Analogy by BrokenHalo · 2011-09-23 21:06 · Score: 1
  
  It would be like somebody selling Softlanding Linux System floppies.
  I actually have some SLS floppies in a box in my garage. I don't imagine anybody would want them though. However, I predict a lot of interest in this car. Hell, if I had that kind of money and the space to store and maintain it, I would put in a bid myself.
7. Re:Analogy by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 21:14 · Score: 0
  
  8" floppy surely .....
8. Re:Analogy by dunkelfalke · 2011-09-24 05:13 · Score: 2
  
  We are talking about Linux, so 3.5" floppy disk would be appropriate. They were ubiquitous in 1991. You can go for double density disks, though, since they were cheaper. Bonus points for drilling a hole in the capacity indicator and formatting the floppy for high density resulting in no errors in Norton disk doctor.
  
  --
  "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Jay Leno, ftw! by AlienIntelligence · 2011-09-23 07:37 · Score: 1

A car with extremely unique provenance?
Don't even bother going to that auction Jay will pay whatever it takes.
-AI

--
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion
Remember to check by cyberfin · 2011-09-23 07:39 · Score: 1

if it's been declared stolen or SORN. Also get a mileage check from its last MOT and that it has no speeding fines against it. Avoid any nasty surprises.

--
"I'm taking this loop off." - Jack O'Neill
1. Re:Remember to check by petermgreen · 2011-09-23 09:58 · Score: 1
  
  Since you are using british terminology i'm assuming you are reffering to the UK, I can't seem to find anything in TFA about where the care is located.
  
  Avoid any nasty surprises.
  While I'd agree your list of things to check for is good for those buying cars in general I don't think they are the most important things in this case.
  I doubt anyone cares too much about the mileage on a car like this. You don't buy a car like this because of the mileage or lack thereof. You buy it to own a price of history. Did cars of that age even have an odometer?
  I'm not sure why anyone would file a SORN for such an old car when they could just get a tax disc. It's not like you have to pay road tax.
  It's being sold by a major auctioneer so one would expect them to have done the legal checks to see if it was stolen etc.
  I'd think the main things to check would be the mechanical condition of the car. Whether it has a MOT and if not how much it would cost to restore it to the point it gets through one and that sort of thing.
  
  --
  note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
2. Re:Remember to check by cyberfin · 2011-09-23 20:11 · Score: 1
  
  I suppose that I would just want to make sure that the car is in good nick. You know, make sure that the granny that owned it didn't take it drag racing before going to church...
  
  --
  "I'm taking this loop off." - Jack O'Neill
3. Re:Remember to check by Coren22 · 2011-09-26 08:34 · Score: 1
  
  At 37 MPH is it even possible to get a speeding ticket? The lowest speed limit I have seen in the US at least was 30 MPH (on public roads at least...) and a cop surely won't pull you over for 7 mph over, it isn't worth it.
  
  --
  APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
4. Re:Remember to check by cyberfin · 2011-09-26 09:38 · Score: 1
  
  Oh, speedcameras in Britain... they will get you.
  
  --
  "I'm taking this loop off." - Jack O'Neill
5. Re:Remember to check by Coren22 · 2011-09-27 03:09 · Score: 1
  
  Perhaps we should rename all speed cameras (and red light cameras) as a tax enforcement device. It would be much harder to hide from the public that all a speed camera is is income for the state. It surely doesn't make the roads safer.
  
  --
  APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
Crush it! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 07:45 · Score: 0

Maybe GM can buy it and crush it to show that
Fuck Gizmodo by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 07:46 · Score: 0

Why are you linking to that trash?
1. Re:Fuck Gizmodo by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 08:00 · Score: 0
  
  It's not Gizmodo. Why do you even care since you apparently can't read?
Bogus! by coats · 2011-09-23 07:55 · Score: 3, Informative

The world's oldest running car is an 1830's vintage French steamer, currently on exhibit at the Automobile Museum in St. Petersburg FL.
FWIW.

--
"My opinions are my own, and I've got *lots* of them!"
1. Re:Bogus! by DRJlaw · 2011-09-23 08:11 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  The world's oldest running car is an 1830's vintage French steamer, currently on exhibit at the Automobile Museum in St. Petersburg FL.
  The admitted replica?
  Which is of a 1770s vintage French steamer that is not run and itself a frankenbuilt reconstruction of the vehicle?
  
  Yet the boiler of the Conservatoireâ(TM)s fardier today is clearly under-specified, too small, and without any means to top it up with water. The cylinders are uncharacteristically poorly made and thereâ(TM)s no safety valve fitted to the boiler, even though a valve was known to be a necessity even back in 1770. And there are also discrepancies between descriptions and drawings made around 1770, and those made once the fardier was installed in the museum.
  Alain was baffled but intrigued. He went back to his research and found a comment from the 18th century relating how looters (after scrap metal) were chased from the arsenal. It seems the bronze cylinders and distributor were stolen and almost certainly remade by the museum many years later.
  But what of the clearly inefficient boiler and the apparently redundant leaf spring? Alain suggests that, following the infamous accident, the original â" and now damaged â" boiler might have been swapped for the smaller experimental boiler from the 1769 fardier, and reassembled incorrectly with the chimneys back to front. It seems feasible, as does his theory that the accident was caused by someone inadvertently operating the regulator lever while the fardier was steaming up.
  Running car my hiney.
2. Re:Bogus! by hierophanta · 2011-09-23 09:44 · Score: 1
  
  interesting stuff, wish i had a mod point for ya
3. Re:Bogus! by steelfood · 2011-09-23 12:34 · Score: 1
  
  Running car my hiney.
  Put it on the top of a hill, give it a light tap, and I assure you it'll run like a charm. You'd never know the boiler was on backwards. Why, I bet your friends will be clamoring for one too once they see how cool having one is, except well, there's one and only one in the world. Who wouldn't want that kind of prestige?
  Think about it. But not too long because I have three other guys who were here earlier who said they're interested. In fact, I'm expecting a call this very afternoon from one of them. But since you're here already, what the heck, I'll give it to you now and send him to voicemail. Plus, just because you look like such a great guy, I'll throw in some floor mats for free. But not the Toyota ones, because we all know the Japanese have nothing on the French when it comes to floormats.
  
  --
  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
4. Re:Bogus! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 22:04 · Score: 0
  
  The Compiegne museum actually has a 1878 "La Mancelle" by Bollee which was from a commercial run, not a single prototype. So even not including experimental pieces like Cugnot's, this de Dion doesn't qualify for the title by a few years. Of course, I can understand why the auction house would want to prop it like that.
Totally steampunk by istartedi · 2011-09-23 08:01 · Score: 1

Totally steampunk. Miniaturizing the locomotive and taking it off-track was an obvious approach towards independant motorized transit. This makes me wonder, what are the oldest running vehicles in the various tech categories (gasoline powered, diesel, electric, and hybrid). You could break this down even further I suppose. Oldest fuel injected vehicle still running? Less interesting though. Yeah I know I could google it, and maybe I will later...

--
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
1. Re:Totally steampunk by Chrisq · 2011-09-23 08:36 · Score: 1
  
  For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  Intensive?
  And who cares about whom?
2. Re:Totally steampunk by Pentium100 · 2011-09-23 09:01 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder what steam car would be possible to build using modern materials/tools. I probably would be quite good, well apart from the 'takes x minutes to build up steam" part.
3. Re:Totally steampunk by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 18:25 · Score: 0
  
  He meant 'for all intents and purposes'.
  http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_the_saying_'all_intents_and_purposes'_or_'all_intense_purposes'
4. Re:Totally steampunk by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 18:39 · Score: 0
  
  Whom do you care about?
5. Re:Totally steampunk by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-24 00:22 · Score: 0
  
  YHBT
  YHL
  HAND
6. Re:Totally steampunk by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-24 08:12 · Score: 0
  
  think about this, we have stove tops that can bring a pot of water to boil in under 30seconds now days. Capacheno(msp) that shot out steam in to our wonderful drinks in less than a min too. so it is possible to have a 30sec start on a steam engine powered car. :)
7. Re:Totally steampunk by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-25 08:17 · Score: 0
  
  Late model Stanley Steamers had flash boilers that took 30 seconds - yes, just half a minute - to build enough pressure for driving. The boilers were wire wound like RN gun barrels and were almost explosion proof as a result: the boilers would leak like buggery at rivets and plate joints well before the wire winding could fail. The cars were also very quiet for the time, and fast: one held the automobile speed record from 1906 to 1911. Stanley used condensers, giving greatly increased distances between water fills.
  All in all, very neat practical designs - just not very cheap.
  Modern design techniques, materials, tools, and control systems should be able to improve on what Stanley achieved in the early 20th century.
8. Re:Totally steampunk by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-25 11:32 · Score: 0
  
  I do not think that word means what he thinks it means :)
9. Re:Totally steampunk by Macgrrl · 2011-09-25 15:38 · Score: 1
  
  Whom are you, whom whom, whom whom.
  
  --
  Sara
  Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
Re:!Bogus by blivit42 · 2011-09-23 08:48 · Score: 1

I looked it up at www.tbauto.com. Said car is a reproduction 1770 Fardier de Cugnot. From the website:

"The original Fardier de Cugnot has been in the collection of the Le Conservatoire de Arts et Metiers, Paris, France since 1801. Currently on display is one reproduction Fardier on loan from the Deutsche Ban Museum in Nuremberg, Germany, as well as a completely functional, faithful reproduction that was created from the ground-up by The Tampa Bay Auto Museum."

So, the oldest car is on display in Paris (I have not investigated whether it works or not), and the one(s) in St. Petersburg are replicas, so nothing has yet to disprove that the car in TFA is the world's oldest working car.
Not so sure by Gription · 2011-09-23 09:03 · Score: 1

Jay's real interest is in cars with displacements rated in gallons. This might catch his eye but if there was a locomotive converted to street use he wouldn't even notice this one.
It's missing... by Chewbacon · 2011-09-23 09:38 · Score: 1

Spinnners. A dixie horn. A trunk rattling subwoofer. A trunk, come to think of it. And junk.

--
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
Delorean from 1885 by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 10:07 · Score: 0

The second oldest running car would be the Delorean from 1885. Oh wait, it wasn't running. Doc had to push it with a choo choo.
Re:Apple releases iPod by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 11:03 · Score: 0

No hooves. Less space than a covered wagon. Lame.
analogy by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 11:12 · Score: 0

I'm confused, does anyone have a computer analogy?
Top Gear by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 17:21 · Score: 0

They had a de Deon Bouton on Top Gear (UK), on an episode they referred to as "earliest autos". They tried to find the oldest automobile with modern-style controls. It turned out to be a Cadillac. The de Deon -- they got it going alright, but when it came time to stop.. well, they had literally (word-for-word) translated the French instructions to English, they frantically tried to figure out what to do, and in fact blew right through a "Give Way" (yield) sign at the end of the road before they figured out some multiple lever pulls and so on to stop it. It was pretty difficult!
Progress by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-23 19:38 · Score: 0

So, a vehicle manufactured in 1884 is more stable than a Segway and gets better gas mileage than anything that any company receiving government bailout money is manufacturing today. We are so screwed.
Incidentally... by BrokenHalo · 2011-09-23 20:57 · Score: 1

Many years ago, I had an old Lanz tractor that ran on crude oil. It took about 15 minutes with a blowtorch to heat up the manifold enough to make the stuff burn, but once it was going it would run forever.
Vehicle Inspection is going to be a hassle by Tymst · 2011-09-23 23:18 · Score: 1

Too bad unleaded coal is so expensive at Shell these days.