<P> In 1867, Canadian jeweller Henry Seth Taylor demonstrated his 4 - wheeled "steam buggy" at the Stanstead Fair in Stanstead, Quebec and again the following year . The basis of the buggy, which he began building in 1865, was a high - wheeled carriage with bracing to support a two - cylinder steam engine mounted on the floor . </P> <P> One of the first "real" automobiles was produced by Frenchman Amédée Bollée in 1873, who built a self - propelled steam road vehicles to transport groups of passengers . </P> <P> The first carriage - sized automobile suitable for use on existing wagon roads in the United States was a steam - powered vehicle invented in 1871 by Dr. J.W. Carhart, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Racine, Wisconsin . It induced the State of Wisconsin in 1875 to offer a $10,000 award to the first to produce a practical substitute for the use of horses and other animals . They stipulated that the vehicle would have to maintain an average speed of more than 5 miles per hour (8.0 km / h) over a 200 - mile (320 km) course . The offer led to the first city to city automobile race in the United States, starting on 16 July 1878 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and ending in Madison, via Appleton, Oshkosh, Waupun, Watertown, Fort Atkinson, and Janesville . While seven vehicles were registered, only two started to compete: the entries from Green Bay and Oshkosh . The vehicle from Green Bay was faster, but broke down before completing the race . The Oshkosh finished the 201 - mile (323 km) course in 33 hours and 27 minutes, and posted an average speed of six miles per hour . In 1879, the legislature awarded half the prize . </P> <Dl> <Dt> Pre WWII </Dt> </Dl>

When was the first car in america invented