The first Car?

 You learn something every day.....hopefully.  I've been reading an old guide book to Northern Ireland called "Thank You Now", written by someone called Oswell Blakeston.  It was published in 1960.

Towards the end of the book, one small sentence caught my eye, "Lisburn can claim another first for Ulster: a man called Rowan built the very first car to be put on the road in 1836".  Remember, the date for Stephenson's Rocket was 1829, so that would make this a very early attempt at a car.

This warranted a quick Google search, but only one decent lead comes up:  Did Doagh man John beat Karl Benz by creating world's first car? - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

The basics of the story are that John Rowan built a steam powered vehicle 50 years before Benz and drove it around the streets of Belfast to show it working and to entice potential investors, but they could not see the potential.  Have a look at the Belfast Telegraph Article link above.  If true, this could be interesting.



The picture is of a memorial to John Rowan in the town of Doak.  It comes from that Belfast Telegraph Article, so I make no claim to own it.

Enjoy.

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