Oldest Still-running Car Sells for $4.6 million

What's the price of propulsion? In this case, it's $4.6 million.

That's the price paid for the world's oldest still-running vehicle, a steam-powered car from france that sold at auction in the U.S. The car has a nickname of La Marquise, but has a much longer actual name of the De Dion-Bouton et Trepardoux Dos-a-Dos Steam Runabout. Built under the longer name, the car was put together in 1884 and was driven in the first automobile race three years later.

Only four men owned the car in its long life. The latest previous owner was John O'Quinn, a collector from Texas, who had bought it in 2007 for $3.5 million.

The longer name of the vehicle comes in part from the man for whom it was built, Count De Dion. His mother, of course, was La Marquise.

The car seats four people back-to-back, eliminating the presence of a back-seat driver because they can't see where they're going — only where they've been. And that's just as well because the driver doesn't have a steering wheel; rather, the driver is tasked with maneuvering a tiller that resembles nothing so much as a common garden implement.

The new owner won't be going very fast in this vehicle, or very far — the car gets only half a mile to the gallon. But the new owner probably didn't buy it to run it in any races. If he or she is in any way like one of the previous owners, it will be more than 80 years before the car changes hands again.