1725 : Groundbreaking auto engineer is born
Nicolas Joseph Cugnot, the French engineer who designed and built the world's first automobile, was born in Austrian Lorraine on this day. Cugnot arrived in Paris after the Seven Years War with the hope of tinkering with several inventions he had conceived during the war, including a steam-driven vehicle. After six years, Cugnot succeeded in building two steam-propelled tractors--which were actually huge and heavy tricycles. Although they may not have had power steering or cruise control, these massive tricycles are considered the world's first automobiles.