Antique car

An antique car, in the general sense of the term, is an automobile that is an antique. Narrower definitions vary based on how old a car must be to qualify. In the United States, an antique car is generally defined as a car over 25 years of age, this being the definition used by the Antique Automobile Club of America. However, the legal definitions for the purpose of antique vehicle registration vary widely. The antique car era includes the Veteran era, the Brass era, and the Vintage era, which range from the beginning of the automobile up to the 1930s. Later cars are often described as classic cars. In original or originally restored condition antiques are very valuable and are usually either protected and stored or exhibited in car shows but are very rarely driven.

The Veteran car era, Brass car era, and the Vintage car era, are part of the Antique car classification as all automobiles produced prior to World War I are considered to be antiques.

On Christmas Eve in 1801, Richard Trevithick of England built and ran a steam-powered carriage, called the Puffing Devil, that is considered the first horseless carriage but Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot has the claim of the first steam-powered vehicle with the fardier à vapeur in 1770. The first production of automobiles was by Karl Benz in 1888 in Germany and, under licence from Benz, in France by Emile Roger.

The time line is not exact but Thomas Davenport as well as Robert Anderson (of Scotland) built a battery electric car between 1832 and 1839.

The era of automobiles began in the U.S. when George Selden of Rochester, NY filed a patent on May 8, 1879, but the patent was not approved until November 5, 1895. This was the first U.S. patent for an automobile. By the time a patent was approved many automobiles were in production. Charles Duryea built a three-wheeled, gasoline-powered vehicle in 1893, and his company built 13 cars of the same design in 1896. Gasoline automobiles were produced by Elwood Haynes in 1894, by Ransom Olds in 1895, Charles King and Henry Ford in 1896. Automobile races stirred the public interest and bicycle and buggy manufacturers began to convert to making automobiles.

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