The Cugnot - The World's First Self-Propelled Vehicle

There is a lot of debate about when the first automobile was created and who invented it. One of the strongest contenders is a self-propelled steam-powered vehicle created by French Army Captain Nichols Cugnot in 1770. He built what he called the “Fardier Vapeur” or Steam Carriage to carry heavy artillery pieces on the battlefield. Cugnot’s invention worked but not well enough to survive the tumultuous times before the French Revolution. It ended up in a museum and he went into exile. The Cugnot looks like a combination between a whisky still and a barbecue pit on wheels but it was a stunning breakthrough in automotive technology. Businessman and vintage car collector Alain Cerf moved from his native France to Pinellas Park, Florida where he grew his business and his collection. In 2006, it became the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum. In 2010, Cerf decided his collection needed a full-scale working replica of the vehicle Cugnot invented. It has pride of place in the museum’s fleet of eighty cars. The museum is open to the public. It is located at 3301 Gateway Centere Blvd. in Pinellas Park which is between St. Petersburg and Clearwater on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Visit the museum’ web site at www.tbauto.org/ for more information.