PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA

What is believed to be the world’s oldest working car is expected to fetch up to £1 million when it comes to auction next month.

The steam-powered four-seater, known as La Marquise, left, was originally made by the French manufacturers De Dion, Bouton et Trépardoux in 1884. It appeared a year before Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, both Germans, built their first experimental gas-powered cars.

According to Gooding and Co, the auctioneer, the car has had only three owners. In 1887 it won the world’s first automobile race, from Paris to Neuilly and back, covering a distance of 19 miles (31km) at an average speed of 26mph (42km/h).

The following year it won the world’s second automobile race against a steam-powered tricycle.

David Gooding, of the auctioneer, said: “Out of all the remarkable automobiles I’ve had the pleasure to consign, the De Dion Bouton is one of the most historically important automobiles to come to auction in a very long time.”

La Marquise will be auctioned on August 19 in Pebble Beach, California.

The last vehicles to carry the De Dion badge rolled off the production line in the early 1950s.

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