Many people think that Henry Ford was solely responsible for the development of the automobile in America, but Henry Ford did not generate the first American automobile. No, the very first American-made automobile was constructed by Charles and Frank Duryea. The Duryea brothers were bicycle mechanics who produced the first American "horseless carriage" in their workshop in Springfield, Maryland, in 1893.
This initial American-made car had an one-cylinder, gasoline engine and a three-speed transmission, and it was mounted on an used horse carriage. It could travel at the remarkable (top) speed of 7.5 miles per hour.
The following year, 1894, Frank Duryea built a second horseless carriage that had a two-cylinder engine, and this was the car that Frank Duryea drove in the initial American automobile race on Thanksgiving Day, 1895.
The other entrants within the race were two electric cars and three gasoline-powered Benz machines from Germany. The course ran a total of 54 miles from downtown Chicago to Evanston, Illinois, and back. The race was sponsored by The Chicago Time-Herald newspaper.
It took 10 hours on that snowy Thanksgiving Day in 1895, but following many breakdowns and repairs, Frank Duryea crossed the finish line first and won the very first American automobile race with an average speed of 7.5 miles per hour.
There have been a few changes produced to auto racing inside the ensuing 213 years, to say the least. Street racing is no longer legal in any state, as well as the average speed of the winning car driven by H?lio Castroneves at the 2007 Indianapolis 500 was 151.774 miles per hour.
Automobile racing has become big business. I'll bet that Charles and Frank Duryea in no way even dreamed of a horseless carriage that could travel 500 miles in under three and a half hours!
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This article is courtesy of Auto District, automotive classifieds featuring trucks for sale , including used cars .
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