Today, a cross-country road trip can be planned in minutes. In 1903, there were no Interstate highways, no gas stations, virtually no useful road maps for the West, and only about 150 miles of paved road in the entire United States—all of it inside cities. Most roads were dirt tracks built for horses and wagons. Many Americans still considered the automobile an expensive novelty that might never become practical transportation. Then Horatio Nelson Jackson put $50 on the table

The 1894 Benz Patent-Motorwagen "Velo", displayed at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, is a remarkable piece of automotive history.

The 1902 Gardner-Serpollet Œuf de Pâques, or "Easter Egg," represents a remarkable achievement in the history of steam-powered...

The Curved Dash Oldsmobile is credited as the first high-volume mass-produced automobile. It was introduced by the Oldsmobile company in...