The very first car was invented in 1769 by a French engineer and mechanic named Nicolas Joseph Cugnot and he used a steam engine to power his vehicle. It wasn’t until 1889 that an internal combustion engine was used by two Germans, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, to invent the first modern car. The mass production of cars began in 1908 when Henry Ford built the Model T. This allowed everyone to buy a car and changed the world forever.