What Was The Top Speed Of The First Gas-Powered Car?

Today's highways are littered with some of the best high-performance sports cars you can buy. Capable of tremendous speeds, 200 miles an hour is the norm for cars like the Aston Martin One-77. Meanwhile, cars like the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport can even reach over 300 miles an hour. These insane speeds are even more impressive when considering that the first gas-powered car maxed out at only 10 miles per hour.

That car was driven in July 1886 by Karl Benz, who later went on to co-found Mercedes-Benz. The car's speed was made possible by a 0.75 horsepower one-cylinder four-stroke gasoline motor. It was built into a modified horse carriage that could seat two people, making it the world's first three-wheeled car. Benz had actually applied for the patent in January of the same year, and the car he drove was branded Model No.1. 

While it was a far cry from the cars we know today, it did include some components that would later be used in vehicles moving forward, including an electric startup and cooling system. Up to the point of Benz's new invention, if you were traveling any faster than 10 miles per hour, you were likely riding a horse or sitting on a train. In fact, during the years that followed, many people preferred to keep riding trains or using horse-drawn carriages, as they were faster — and far more reliable.

Automobile technology greatly improved after the first gas-powered car hit 10 miles per hour in 1886. In 1899, the La Jamais Contente, an electric car, reached 65 miles per hour, a land speed record at the time. Records continued to be set, and broken, in the years that followed. However, these were usually single-shot efforts, and your everyday cars were not reaching these speeds.

When it came to mass production and speeding up commercial cars, Henry Ford led the way. Ford's Model T, which was introduced in the fall of 1907, had a top speed of between 42 and 45 miles per hour. Though not the first mass-produced car in America, the Model-T was insanely popular and was powered by a 2.9-liter four-cylinder engine with 20 horsepower. The Ford Model A, however, went a step above with a top speed of 65 miles per hour. First unveiled in December 1927, the Model A had a 3.3-liter four-cylinder engine with 40 horsepower on a three-speed manual transmission. Public demand for the Model A was huge, and by the time the car hit production, Ford was scrambling to fill over 400,000 orders.

It didn't take long for mass-produced vehicles to achieve 100 miles per hour. By 1929, the Duesenberg Model J was able to reach a top speed of 116 miles per hour with its 7.0-liter straight-eight engine producing 250 horsepower. While Ford's Model A was built for everyday drivers, the Model J was custom-made and marketed to wealthy buyers. At the time, Model J buyers were looking to get their hands on the fastest car on the market.