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The world's oldest running car is up for auction. The 1884 De Dion Bouton Et Trapardoux Dos-A-Dos Steam Runabout has been owned by the same family for the past 81 years.
With only had four owners in 127 years the vehicle, named the "La Marquise" after the Count de Dion's mother, participated in the the world's first auto race. To be fair it was the only motorised vehicle to pitch up, but that didn't stop the La Marquise from reaching a top speed of 59.5.km/h over the 32km course.
The steam-powered vehicle is reportedly capable of 61km/h and a cruising range of 32km on a single tank of, er, water.
A total of 20 De Dion tricycles were built and, of those, only six remain. If you want to make this piece of motoring history yours, you'd better be prepared to splash out a few million as the De Dion is expected to fetch as much as R20-million.
Watch a video on the La Marquise history below:
With only had four owners in 127 years the vehicle, named the "La Marquise" after the Count de Dion's mother, participated in the the world's first auto race. To be fair it was the only motorised vehicle to pitch up, but that didn't stop the La Marquise from reaching a top speed of 59.5.km/h over the 32km course.
The steam-powered vehicle is reportedly capable of 61km/h and a cruising range of 32km on a single tank of, er, water.
A total of 20 De Dion tricycles were built and, of those, only six remain. If you want to make this piece of motoring history yours, you'd better be prepared to splash out a few million as the De Dion is expected to fetch as much as R20-million.
Watch a video on the La Marquise history below:
