R.E.Olds builds his first horseless carriage. It is a three wheeled steam powered vehicle.
At the time, steam and electric powered carriages were more common than combustion engines, which were more complex and harder to control.

Ransom's (seen at the steering lever) 2nd attempt at a horseless carriage. The vehicle had a flash boiler and four wheels. Its engine had an estimated 4 HP for a top speed of 15 MPH.
The vehicle was highlighted in an 1892 issue of Scientific American. It was sold a year later for $400, and shipped to Bombay, India but never delivered, because the ship sank en route.
This marked the first sale of a Michigan-made vehicle and likely the first U.S. export of a vehicle.

R.E.Olds applies for (in 1895) and receives (in 1896) a patent for a "Gas or Vapor Engine".
See also - Patent for "Combined Gas and Steam Engine".
The engine was installed in this vehicle, which was a four-wheeler with rubber tires and tiller steering and carriage body supplied by Clark and Son of Lansing.
Completed in the summer of 1896, the car, with its water-cooled 5HP engine and a top speed of 18 MPH, was demonstrated for the local newspaper on Aug. 11, 1896, two months after Henry Ford's Quadricycle in Dearborn.