• HOME
• 
• AUTO LISTINGS
• 
• FINANCE
• 
• NEWS
• 
• DIRECTORY
• 
• REVIEWS
• 
• FORUM
• 
• BLOG
• 

Did Renaissance Man Leonardo da Vinci Invent the Car?

For Close to 120 years Karl Benz and Daimler Gottlieb Have Been Considered By Most to be the Inventors of the Automobile

Whose idea was it to create the worlds first self-propelled vehicle? As far as teachers and textbooks are concerned, this title belongs to the German duo of Karl Benz and Daimler Gottlieb whose three-wheeled 0.75 horsepower carriage chugged out onto German streets in early 1886.

This widely-accepted school of thought excludes the one-off steam-powered vehicles which were designed and built prior to the gasoline-powered Benz, on the premise that they were not successful and very few were made.

It appears that the argument that proponents of steam-powered vehicles propose is a moot point, however, but not because Benz and company

Who invented the first self-propelled vehicle? It may be the "Renaissance Man" himself, Leonardo da Vinci.

are necessarily the true inventors of the automobile. Several hundred years earlier in the 15th century Leonardo da Vinci, one of the worlds most prolific inventors, artists and thinkers, a man who was no doubt responsible for the term "Renaissance Man" due to such famous paintings as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, plus his countless mechanical sketches and "doodles" including a helicopter, a submarine, a tank, a robot, a parachute and a suspension bridge, invented the automobile first.

Say what?

Historys first self-propelled vehicle was sketched by Leonardo in around 1,478. (Photo: Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence)

Move over Karl and Daimler, as it seems historys first self-propelled vehicle (until were otherwise told) was sketched by Leonardo in around 1,478, 408 years before the German team made its first three-wheeler, and 431 years before Henry Fords first Model T rolled off the assembly line in Detroit, USA.

To put the date in question into context, 1,478 is 328 years before the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, 305 years before the American Revolution, and 14 years before Columbus discovered the continent Fords masterpiece was built on when he sailed the ocean blue in 1492. Needless to say, the "car"

Recently the technical plans for Leonardos car have been used to create a full-size working model. (Photo: Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence)

was invented an awfully long time ago.

And why all the fuss about the origin of the automobile so many centuries after the fact? Recently the technical plans for the Leonardos car have been used to create a full-size model that is now on display, highlighting the recent expansion of Museo Leonardiano di Vinci (the Leonardiano Museum). Located in the quiet Tuscan town of Vinci, Italy, this museum specializes in Leonardos sketches and inventions. It is the place to visit for fans of any sort of mechanical creativity, as its solely dedicated to his intellectual genius, rather than his artistic side.

The model of the car was put from strokes of ink on the yellowed pages of the Codex Atlanticus, to a full-scale

Springs, coils and other innovations were involved in powering and steering the vehicle. (Photo: Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence)

working model. The long and arduous process reportedly took years to complete. After the drawings discovery in 1905 by Italian scholar Girolamo Calvi, it took 70 years for someone to piece together individual springs, coils and drums seen in the design and make sense of it all.

The part that confused all who worked on the project was a set of leaf springs. To be clear, the car did not have a suspension system as modern day convention would think. Rather, the springs were a part of the cars steering system. Another stumbling block concerned the vehicles source of power, and how it moved. The projects momentum began to grow after Italian professor Carlo Pedretti applied other designs throughout the codex to conclude that springs, coils and other innovative designs were involved in powering and steering the vehicle.

Page:  1

AUTOMOBILE REVIEWS BY MAKE

Acura  Audi   Bentley   BMW   Buick   Cadillac   Chevrolet   Chrysler   Daewoo   Dodge   Eagle   Ferrari   Ford   Geo   GMC   Honda   Hummer   Hyundai   Infiniti   Isuzu   Jaguar   Jeep   Kia   Lamborghini   Lexus   Lincoln   Lotus   Maserati   Mazda   Mercedes-Benz   Mercury   MINI   Mitsubishi   Nissan   Oldsmobile   Plymouth   Pontiac   Porsche   Saab   Saturn   Scion   Subaru   Suzuki   Toyota   Volkswagen   Volvo