Time trip.(short history of the automobile)
From: Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
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Date: 4/8/2005
Imagine showing up at the prom in these wheels! This steam-powered car (left) was the first self-propelled road vehicle ever built. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot produced the military tractor in 1769 to haul artillery for the French army. Cugnot's creation definitely had drawbacks; its top speed was 2.5 miles per hour, and it ran out of steam after 10 to 15 minutes of use. Cugnot himself wasn't perfect either--he got into the world's first car accident two years later, when he ran his second ...
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