Cars can sometimes surprise us with their resilience. Almost everybody remembers driving their first car, wincing at the horrendous sounds coming from the engine and cursing the gearbox with a mind of its own - and yet the car, miraculous and unfaltering, continues its noble plight.

It’s always a beautiful moment to spot a beautifully kept classic car while you’re out for a drive, but have you ever wondered… what is the oldest car in the world that still runs today?

3 - La Marquise (1884)

“Hang on a minute,” you might be thinking, “if the first motor car wasn’t built until 1885, how can there have been cars before that?” You’ll of course be familiar with the steam engines that paved the way for the industrial revolution, allowing for huge train networks, factories and machines. A lesser-known fact is that in rare cases, steam engines were used to power cars, which pre-dated the introduction of petrol. Steam-powered cars didn’t find their place in history like steam trains and ships, primarily because the rough terrain on the roads didn’t show off their talents very well, so most projects didn’t get far off the ground.

La Marquise is famous not only for being one of the oldest cars that still run today, but also for attending the world’s first car race! Unsurprisingly, considering the time period, it was the only car to attend, and completed the 20 mile trip around from Paris to Versailles at a lightning-fast 16mph. The car was commissioned by French entrepreneur Count De Dion, after seeing a steam-powered toy car in a shop and requesting a life-sized model! Fueled by coal, wood and bits of paper, the car would take around 30-40 minutes to build up enough steam to drive! It bore the number 0, as the oldest car in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run in 1996 and went on to be sold in 2011 for $4.6 million, a record figure for an early automobile.

2 – Grenville Steam Carriage (1775)

This unusual vehicle was built by Robert Neville-Grenville (brilliant name!), who reportedly received the world’s first engineering degree from Cambridge University! The carriage was built by Grenville and George Jackson Churchward, who would go on to become the chief engineer for Great Western Railway from 1902 to 1922. Boasting six passenger seats and a top speed of 20 miles an hour on a flat road, a reverse lever and footbrake which were nothing short of revolutionary for the time, the carriage consumed 4/5 gallons of water and around 5/6 pounds of coal per mile.

It was used around the Glastonbury area for 20 years, before being converted for use as a stationary engine to drive a cider mill. It was rediscovered in the late 1930s, and overhauled by John Allen and Son’s, going on to lead the 1946 London Jubilee Cavalcade through Regent’s Park, in celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the motor industry before being donated to Bristol City Museum a year later. In 1977, it was again restored to full working order (even passing an MOT) to that it could take part in the Bristol Lord Mayor’s Jubilee Procession. In 2000, it was the oldest participant in the London to Brighton veteran car run, completing the journey in approximately 9 hours! Following this, it was loaned to the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, where it is thought to be the oldest self-propelled passenger vehicle that remains in full working order. This begs the question - what could the oldest working vehicle possibly be?

1 – The Cugnot Steam Tractor (1769)

The steam-powered brainchild of French Army captain Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot, this was the world’s first self-propelled vehicle. The project began 1765, when Cugnot began experimenting with steam engine vehicles to transport supplies and artillery.

By 1769 Cugnot had completed a working self-propelled steam vehicle, which could carry four tons and travel at a speed of nearly 5mph, but was reported to be highly unstable due to poor weight distribution. Helpfully, it had no brakes, so if you started to wobble, you were in trouble! Notably, there are reports of this leading to the tractor being involved in the world’s first car accident, when Cugnot crashed into the brick wall of a Paris garden!

Impractically, the vehicle’s fire needed to be relit every half an hour, and after a small number of trials on roads nearby, the project was abandoned, but deemed interesting enough that the tractor was kept in the French military arsenal, and Cugnot received a pension of 600 livres a year for his innovative work. In 1800, the tractor was transferred to the Conservatoire National des arts et metiers, where it can still be seen in slow, wobbly action today!

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